Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told Parliament on Tuesday that the government plans to develop a federated National Farmers Database utilizing digitized land records to assist farmers receive proactive and personalized services.
The agricultural ministry has already started to work on developing 'Agristack,' a digital ecosystem for agriculture, in the country, which will aid the government in better planning for increasing farmer income and enhancing the efficiency of the agriculture sector as a whole.
In a written response to the Lok Sabha, Tomar said, "As a first move in this direction, the government has already begun creating a federated farmers' database that would function as the heart of the proposed Agristack."
There are no private sector firms associated with the construction of the Agristack. Leading Technology/Agri-tech/startup companies, on the other hand, were recognized and welcomed to work collaboratively with the central government to build proof of concepts (PoCs) based on small sections of data from the federated Farmers' database for specific specified areas (district/village), he added.
The MoUs have been made for a year to create PoCs on a pro bono arrangement with selected enterprises.
PoCs will aid in the understanding of solutions that can be constructed utilizing accessible data, and a few of them will be scaled up at the national level if they are found to be helpful to farmers.
Tomar also stated that the government would protect the privacy of the farmers' personal information.
"At the moment, the federated farmers' database is being constructed by combining publicly available data from the ministry and various government data repositories with digitized land records," he explained.
According to him, the agriculture ministry is working on a data strategy for the agriculture sector in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The new initiative's goal, according to the minister, is to enhance farmers' income by harnessing existing data and generating solutions based on the data. If states have already developed such a system, the effort will be to leverage it and take advantage of it.
"Certainly, the government intends to construct a federated National Farmers Database, with digital land records serving as data attributes," Tomar stated.
According to him, the planned database will ensure that input costs are lowered, farming is made easier, quality is enhanced, and farmers receive higher prices for their agricultural produce.
The minister stated that linking the farmer's database to the digital land record management system is critical in bringing vibrancy to the database.
The database is established to support online single sign-on services for universal access and culminate in proactive and customised services to farmers, such as direct benefit transfer, soil and plant health advisories, weather advisories, irrigation facilities, seamless credit and insurance facilities, seeds, fertilisers, pesticide-related information, market access in nearby logistic facilities, and more.
"At the moment, farmers' database would contain the farmers who are legitimate proprietors of the farmland as per the government database and as recognized by the state government," Tomar said when asked if landless farmers will be included in the planned database.
In the future, he said, the prospect of including others might be discussed with state governments and other stakeholders.
When asked if the database will be used to select recipients for government programs, Tomar responded that once completed, a federated national farmer database will assist in providing farmers with personalized and proactive solutions.
"The government may use the information to deliver targeted services in a more efficient, focused, and time-bound approach," he added.
