Centre Working With Microsoft To Empower Farming Community, Pushing Agri Technology In Real Sense

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is developing the India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) report with the support of the department's high-level task force to strengthen the farm business of India. 

Microsoft India Pvt Ltd and the Ministry of Agriculture have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to improve the lives of farmers and their businesses. Microsoft has chosen 100 villages throughout the country to engage with to solidify the agri ecosystem and empower farmers through data analytics. 

Farmers' income will rise as a result, and the country's agriculture industry will become more efficient. 

"As a result of this, the Department is in the process of finalizing a framework for establishing Agristack in the country," the ministry said.

"Agristack will serve as a foundation for developing innovative agri-focused solutions that leverage digital tools to contribute effectively to increasing farmer income and improving the efficiency of the Agriculture sector in the country." 

The government has recently picked a few prominent technologies, agri-tech, and startup companies and encouraged them to collaborate and produce Proof of Concepts (PoC) based on data from specific districts and villages. 

Proposal for the Memorandum of Understanding was sought on the Department's website. 

These Proofs-of-concept will aid in the understanding of the Agristack service and solutions that can be constructed utilizing accessible data, with some of them being scaled up at the national level if found to be helpful to farmers, according to the ministry.