Lok Sabha Question No. 2602 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-05
Subject: Digital Agriculture Mission
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Malaiyarasan D

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2602

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 05 TH  AUGUST, 2025

## DIGITAL AGRICULTURE MISSION

2602.  SHRI MALAIYARASAN D:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) the  steps  which  have  been  taken  to  ensure  that  the  Digital  Agriculture  Mission respects the rights and data privacy of farmers, particularly small and marginal farmers in Tamil Nadu;
- (b) the manner in which the Government plan to include and train farmers from rural and vernacular backgrounds to effectively use the digital tools introduced under the Mission;
- (c) the status of funds allocation and utilization under this Mission for Tamil Nadu;
- (d) whether the Government has consulted with the State Government of Tamil Nadu and  other  State  Governments  to  tailor  the  Mission  to  local  agricultural  practices  and challenges; and
- (e) the measures which are in place to ensure that the Mission does not exclude farmers without access to smartphones or reliable internet?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण राÏय मंğी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a) to (e): The Government has approved the Digital Agriculture Mission in September 2024.  The  Mission  envisages  the  creation  of  a  Digital  Public  Infrastructure  (DPI)  for Agriculture, such as AgriStack, Krishi Decision Support System, and a comprehensive Soil Fertility & Profile Map to enable a robust digital agriculture ecosystem in the country. This, in turn, would drive innovative farmer-centric digital solutions and make reliable crop-related information available to all  farmers  on time. The  AgriStack  DPI  consists of three foundational  registries  or  databases  associated  with  the  agriculture  sector,  i.e.,  GeoReferenced Village Maps, Crop Sown Registry and the Farmers Registry, all created and maintained  by  the  State  Governments/  Union  Territories.  At  present,  a  Memorandum  of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with 30 States/UTs for the creation and implementation of the Digital Public Infrastructure, including the State of Tamil Nadu.

The ownership of the data in Farmer Registry lies with the respective States. Apart from this, the Government of India also ensures strong data security in AgriStack, which is fully compliant with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and various other cyber security guidelines of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Unique Identification  Authority  of India, Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response Team (CERT-In). AgriStack keeps farmer information encrypted so that only designated systems can read it. Secure Application  Programming Interface (APIs)  and  token-based  authentication  govern all data exchange, ensuring controlled access to data. Moreover, the government conducts regular security audits of all these IT systems to protect the data stored in the IT systems. Additionally, farmer data from Agristack can only be shared with the explicit consent of the farmers via the consent manager framework in AgriStack.

Further, although smart phones are becoming available and accessible to everyone, major telecom companies of India have reached  almost every corner of the country with their services.  However, additional steps have been taken to ensure that farmers who do not have mobile phones can also avail of the benefits of digital services. Such farmers can register  themselves  on  Agristack  and  avail  services  and  benefits  by  utilizing  existing support facilities like Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Krishi Sakhis and Common Service Centres (CSCs). The States are also organizing camps so that no farmer is left out from the benefits of AgriStack. The Government is also making digital applications available in local languages such as, the Digital Crop Survey application being used in Tamil Nadu is in the regional language.

The  government  is  also  providing  administrative  and  technical  support  to  all  the States for the implementation of AgriStack.

- I. Providing training to the State officials.
- II. Software for Farmer ID and Digital Crop Survey.
- III. Support for hiring human resources for creating a Project Monitoring Unit.
- IV. Providing Cloud Infrastructure for implementing the project.
- V. The  Department  of  Expenditure  (DoE),  Ministry  of  Finance,  has  announced  a Scheme for Special Central Assistance (SCA) to States for Capital Investment during 2025-26 with a total allocation of Rupees 6000 Crores.
- VI. Further, the Government has advised the States to adopt a Camp-mode approach, under which financial assistance of Rs. 15,000 per camp has been provisioned to the States  to encourage  States  to  organize  field-level  camps  and  mobilise local administration.
- VII. To accelerate the creation and verification of Farmers' Registry, Rs. 10/- per Farmer ID has been provisioned from the administrative fund of the PM KISAN Scheme. This amount will be utilized to provide an honorarium to the field functionaries involved in the creation of the Farmers' Registry.

The  Digital  Agriculture  Mission  has  been  designed  in  consultation  with  various Central  Ministries,  State  Government/Union  Territories  through  organization  of  National Conferences. Further, the challenges in implementation of AgriStack are also monitored by the Steering Committee which comprises the Central Government officials along with State Government representatives. Further, regular meetings are held with State-level officials to incorporate  inputs  for  tailoring  the  mission  to  specific  agro-climatic  and  socio-economic conditions.

The State of Tamil Nadu has been allocated Rs. 29.934 Crore as Central share to conduct DCS under the Digital Agriculture Mission.

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