Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare aims to improve awareness, knowledge and efficiency of farmers. Keeping in view of the overall goal of increasing farmers’ incomes and following the recommendations of the Doubling of Farmers Income (DFI) committee, the Digital Agriculture Division has been created by reorienting the erstwhile Information Technology Division.
The National eGovernance Plan in Agriculture (NeGPA) has been modified to include new & emerging technologies in the field of Digital Agriculture. During the last financial year (2021-22 NeGPA), pilot projects have been sanctioned in 10 States (details given below) as per this modified NeGPA.
The Division is also engaged in creating a federated Farmers Database by compiling information of the farmers from various databases available with the Government and linking them with land records. The Division is in the process of entering into MoUs with various leading Agriculture/Technology/Other players in the Country for developing Proof of Concepts (PoCs) on the farmers database. The IDEA Concept has been finalised.
The Division also is in-charge of an attached office – Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC). MNCFC was established, initially, to provide in-season crop forecasts and assessment of drought situation using state of the art techniques and methodologies developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Over the years, its scope of work has expanded and it is now involved in various activities of the Department. (http://www.ncfc.gov.in/)
Apart from the above, a comprehensive ICT strategy has been developed
not only to reach out to farmers in an easy and better way but also
for planning and monitoring of schemes so that policy decisions can be
taken at a faster pace and farmers can be benefited quickly. To
empower different sections of rural areas, different ICT strategies
have been devised:
a). Those who have access to digital infrastructure can get the
information through websites/web portals.
b). Those who have smart phones can access the same information
through mobile apps.
c). Those who have basic phones, can get this information through SMS
advisories sent by experts.
d). To get the personalized information; farmers can call at the toll
free number of Kisan Call Centre – 18001801551.
