Lok Sabha Question No. 1344 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-11
Subject: AI and Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Farming
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1344

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11 TH  FEBRUARY, 2025

## AI AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE FARMING

## 1344.  SHRI SUKANTA KUMAR PANIGRAHI:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies into sustainable farming practices during the last five years; (b) the progress  achieved  under  flagship  programmes  like National Mission for Sustainable  Agriculture  (NMSA)  and  Paramparagat  Krishi  VikasYojana  (PKVY)  in promoting sustainable agriculture; (c) the specific measures proposed by the Government for the next four years to expand AI and technology use including addressing affordability and accessibility for small holder farmers; (d) the quantum of budget allocated for AI-driven agricultural initiatives during the last five years and provision made for the next five years; and (e) the details  of efforts made by the Government to foster collaborations with private sector  entities  and  international  organizations  to  support  innovation  in  agricultural
- technology with skill?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण राǛ मंũी

(SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

- (a):  The  Government  has  employed  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  methods  to  address various challenges in the agricultural sector to aid farmers. Some of the initiatives are given below:
- I.     'Kisan e-Mitra', an AI-powered chatbot, has been developed to assist farmers with responses to the queries about the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. This solution supports  multiple  languages  and  is  evolving  to  assist  with  other  government programs.
- II.       National Pest Surveillance System, for tackling the loss of produce due to climate change, utilizes AI and Machine Learning to detect pest infestation in crop issues, enabling timely intervention for healthier crops.

III. AI based analytics using field photographs for crop health assessment and crop health monitoring using Satellite, weather & soil moisture datasets for Rice and Wheat crop.

- (b):    Government  is  promoting  organic  farming  under  Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas Yojana (PKVY), a component of Pradhan Mantri- Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PMRKVY). The PKVY scheme provides end-to-end support to organic farmers i.e. from production to processing, certification and marketing in cluster based approach. The primary focus  of  the  scheme  is  to  form  organic  clusters  (other  than  North  Eastern States) to help them to create a supply chain.

Under PKVY, States/UTs are provided financial assistance of Rs. 31,500/ha for 3  years  in  the  organic  clusters  out  of  which,  Rs.  15,000/ha  is  provided  directly  to farmers through DBT for on-farm and off-farm organic inputs.  Financial assistance of Rs. 4,500/ha for 3 years is provided for marketing, packaging, branding, value addition etc.  Rs.  3,000/ha  for  3  years  is  provided  for  certification  and  residue  analysis. Assistance  is  also  provided  @Rs.  9,000/ha  for  3  years  for  training  and  capacity building.

Since 2015-16, under PKVY, total funds released Rs 2265.86 lakh. Total 14.99 lakh ha area has been covered under organic farming by developing 52289 clusters involving  25.30  lakh  farmers.  Total  6.22  lakh  farmers  have  been  registered  under Jaivik-kheti portal.

Further, a component called 'Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development'  has  been  launched  under  Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (RKVYRAFTAAR)  in  2018-19  with the objective of promoting innovation and agrientrepreneurship by providing financial support and nurturing the incubation ecosystem.  Under  this  programme,  start-ups  are  encouraged  to  use  innovative technologies to resolve challenges faced in agriculture and allied sectors. A total of 1176 start-ups have been selected in various areas of agriculture and allied sectors under this programme for providing financial support through Knowledge Partners and Agri  Business  Incubators  appointed  by  the  Department  for  implementation  of  this programme.

The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has been supporting Agribased startups under the project called National Agriculture Innovation Fund (NAIF) initiated  in  year  2016-2017.  It  has  two  components  viz.  (I)  Innovation  Fund;  (II) Incubation Fund and National Coordinating Unit (NCU):

- I.      Component  I:  10  Zonal  Technology  Management  Units  and  89  Institute Technology Management Units (ITMUs) established in 99 ICAR institutes provide a single-window mechanism to manage innovations, showcase intellectual assets, and pursue matters related to intellectual property (IP) management and transfer/commercialization of technologies in these institutes.
- II.      Component II:    Agri-business Incubator Centres (ABICs) are set up to speed up the delivery of the new technologies to stake holders. The ABICs are the nodal point to provide the desired link for Agriculture Research & Development (R&D) Institutions for  incubation/  commercialization  of  the  validated  technologies.  So  far,  50  AgriBusiness Incubation Centers have been established and are operational in the ICAR network under the NAIF scheme.

Apart  from  the  above,  the  Government  has  approved  the  Digital  Agriculture

Mission, which envisage the creations of Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture such as Agristack, Krishi Decision Support System, Comprehensive Soil Fertility & Profile Map and other IT initiatives. Agristack project is one of the major components of  this  Mission, which  consists of three foundational registries or databases in the agriculture sector, i.e., the Farmers' Registry, Geo-referenced village maps and the Crop Sown Registry. This system aims to enhance interoperability and convergence of efforts, fostering the development of applications in the agricultural sector using emerging digital technologies.

(c) to (e):     In  pursuance  to  Para  60  of  the  Budget  Announcement  2023-24 regarding "Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence' for the vision of 'Make AI in India and make AI work for India', Government has approved establishment of three Centres of Excellence (CoE) in Artificial intelligence (Al), one each in the areas of health, sustainable cities and agriculture with a total financial outlay of Rs. 990.00 Cr over the period of FY 2023-24 to FY 2027-28. For selection of CoEs, a nationwide  call  for  proposals  was  rolled  out  inviting  proposals  from  Higher  Education Institutions (HEIs) having NIRF ranking within the top 100 in the overall category. In phase-I, proposals from 11 consortiums were selected for submission of Proof of Concept (PoC). Thereafter, consortiums led by AIIMS Delhi -IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Ropar were selected in the areas of health, sustainable cities and agriculture respectively, through rigorous evaluation by an Apex Committee (which consists of industry  experts,  experts  in  the  field  of  AI,  academicians,  representatives  from concerned  Ministries  etc).  Each  CoE  is  a  consortium  of  top  academic,  research institutes along with industry partners, startups etc and represents a collaborative effort between lead institute and other institutions like IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Tirupati, IIT Guwahati, IIT Gandhinagar, IISc Bangalore, IIIT Hyderabad, AIIMS Patna, NIT Meghalaya, NIT Hamirpur, NIT Calicut etc.

*****