Digital technologies in agriculture

Digital technologies are finding increasing use in the agricultural value system, and farmers are increasingly becoming more informed, the Centre informed parliament recently.

There are various Digital Initiatives, such as National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A) wherein, funds are provided to the State(s)/UT(s) for project involving use of modern technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Robotics, Drones, Data Analytics, Block Chain etc. After receiving proposals from the States, funds are released for development of various solutions.

Also the Government has announced for development of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for agriculture as an open source, open standard and inter-operable public good to enable inclusive farmer centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence etc including UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Also, National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a pan-India electronic trading portal, networks the existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. Digital services are provided to traders, farmers, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPO), Mandis through various modules of e-NAM platform such as FPO trading module, warehouse based trading module.

Besides, Under PM KISAN Scheme, fund is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the eligible farmers under Direct Benefit Transfer mode. Farmers can do their self- registration through the Farmers Corner in the portal.  There are other initiatives in this regard also.

National e-Governance Project on Agriculture (NeGPA) has been also leveraged to build Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture as an open source, open standard at interoperable public good as per the budget announcement for the 2023-24

Also, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has also compiled more than 100 mobile apps developed by ICAR, State Agricultural Universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras and uploaded on its website. These mobile apps developed in the areas of crops, horticulture, veterinary, dairy, poultry, fisheries, natural resources management and integrated subjects, offer valuable information to the farmers, including package of practices, market prices of various commodities, weather related information, advisory services, etc.

Further, ICAR has developed a Digital multimedia platform named as “Kisan Sarathi ” which is being used to provide advisories to the farmers through 731 KVKs across the Country. While these initiatives appear promising, the government needs to create awareness so that more and more farmers are benefited.

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