The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) announced a significant financial commitment of ₹6,000 crore to strengthen the Agri Stack initiative under the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM) during the National Conference on Agri Stack: Turning Data into Delivery, held at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi. The funding, aimed at transforming India’s agricultural landscape through technology, will support States in building robust digital infrastructure for farmer-centric governance.
The allocation includes ₹4,000 crore for developing Farmer Registries, including legal heir systems, and ₹2,000 crore for conducting Digital Crop Surveys. The funds will be disbursed on a first-come-first-served basis, incentivizing States to accelerate their adoption of digital tools. Shri Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary (Agriculture), emphasized the importance of linking State Farmer Registries with updated Records of Rights (RoR) to ensure accurate farmer identification and seamless delivery of schemes like PM-KISAN, PMFBY, and KCC.
A key highlight of the conference was the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Maharashtra, Kerala, Bihar, and Odisha, alongside the PSB Alliance with the National Farmers’ Welfare Program Implementation Society (NFWPIS). These agreements aim to provide small and marginal farmers with digital access to credit services through Farmer Registry-linked authentication, reducing paperwork and enhancing financial inclusion.
The conference also saw the launch of the Special Central Assistance (SCA) Guidelines, jointly unveiled by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Land Resources, alongside other dignitaries. Technical sessions addressed challenges such as outdated tribal land records and errors in crop survey data, proposing solutions like remote sensing, AI/ML tools, and automated data validation to improve efficiency.
Shri Pramod Kumar Meherda, Additional Secretary (Digital), MoA&FW, underscored the need for data quality assurance and compliance with Unified Farmer Service Interface (UFSI) standards. The initiative is poised to empower farmers with tools like Digitally Verifiable Certificates (DVCs) and farmer authorization systems, enabling secure sharing of land and crop information.
The Ministry’s commitment to leveraging technology for transparent governance marks a significant step toward inclusive, data-driven agricultural development, promising better access to services for millions of farmers across India.
