Agri schemes with 14 Tn outlay for modern farming approved

03 Sep 2024 CW Team

The Cabinet has approved seven schemes for the agricultural sector with an outlay of Rs 139.66 billion, aimed at modernising farming operations and making them more climate resilient by leveraging space and digital technology, managing natural resources more sustainably, strengthening agricultural extension centres, and utilising crop sciences to ensure food and nutritional security.

A key component of the programme is the Digital Agri Mission, which has been allocated Rs 28.17 billion. This initiative will create a robust Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the agricultural sector by using Agri Stack, which includes a farmers registry, village land maps registry, and crop acreage registry, along with AI and Big Data.

The move includes a tech-based crop yield estimation system (YES-TECH), which is expected to eliminate the outdated practice of random sampling and visual assessments, methods that have been in use with various modifications since the Mughal period. Instead, the digital crop survey will use geospatial data to provide a clear picture of the crops being sown across all farmlands in the country during different agricultural seasons. This tech-based data will feed into the agriculture ministry's "Krishi-Decision Support System" (DSS), offering a single platform for all farm-related information, assisting both farmers and policymakers. Additionally, this data will ensure the quick disbursal of crop loans and insurance claims to farmers.

The scheme is built on six pillars, which include a focus on research and education, plant genetic resource management, genetic improvement for food and fodder crops, pulse and oilseed crop improvement, research on insects, microbes, and pollinators, and the improvement of commercial crops.

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