Parliament Question: Impact of Digital Agriculture Mission on farmers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3218 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20/03/2026 IMPACT OF DIGITAL AGRICULTURE MISSION ON FARMERS 3218 SMT. REKHA SHARMA: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state: (a) the objectives and components of the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM); (b) the manner in which digital tools and databases are improving farm planning, input delivery and transparency; (c) whether pilot projects have shown measurable benefits to farmers; and (d) the steps taken to ensure data security and inclusiveness for small farmers? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR) (a) to (c): The Government has approved the Digital Agriculture Mission in September 2024 with an outlay of Rs. 2817 Crore. Digital Agriculture Mission envisages the creation of a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Agriculture, such as AgriStack, Krishi Decision Support System, a Comprehensive Soil Fertility & Profile Map and other IT initiatives undertaken by the Central Government/State Government to enable a robust digital agriculture ecosystem in the country as a single source of truth for information on farmers, crops, livestock and fisheries and farmer centric digital solutions. The main features of the above initiatives are as follows: I. The AgriStack DPI consists of three foundational registries or databases associated with the agriculture sector, i.e., Geo-Reference Village Maps, Crop Sown Registry, and the Farmers Registry, all created and maintained by the State Governments/ Union Territories. The State Farmers Registry under the Digital Agriculture Mission covers all landholding farmers, including women farmers, livestock and fisheries and provides them a digital identity called Farmer ID. The Farmers Registry application also has the provision to onboard the tenant and lessee farmers. A State can decide to include such farmers in the Farmers' Registry as per the respective State policy on tenants and lessee farmers. Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sector farmers are also being included in the Farmers Registry. As of 16.03.2026, more than 9.17 Crore Farmer IDs have been generated.Further, the Digital Crop Survey has enabled plot-level visibility of crops and better estimation of areas sown across seasons, which in turn supports evidence-based planning for production estimation, procurement, input supply and logistics management. In Kharif 2025, the Digital Crop Survey (DCS) has been conducted in 604 Districts covering more than 28.5 crores plots. At the Central level, PM-KISAN and PMFBY beneficiaries have been validated using Farmer IDs, enabling quicker enrolment and faster settlements, while lakhs of farmers receive timely scheme information through verified digital workflows. i. In PM-KISAN, 5.91 crore Farmer IDs (as on 13.03.2026) have been seeded into the system, with 4.35 lakh new farmers onboarded directly using Farmer ID, simplifying enrolment and verification. ii. Similarly, PMFBY has integrated 2.9 crore Farmer IDs in Maharashtra into the National Crop Insurance Portal, enabling large-scale authenticated registrations and verified insurance disbursal. iii. AgriStack is also supporting MSP and Price Support Scheme (PSS) operations under PM-AASHA through targeted SMS campaigns, reaching farmers across states for multiple crops to improve awareness and participation in procurement processes, reaching 1.60 lakh Urad Dal farmers in Uttar Pradesh and 1.21 lakh Urad Dal farmers in Madhya Pradesh. At the State Level use of Farmer ID and crop sown data has demonstrated AgriStack’s role in improving targeting, timeliness, and transparency across State-led agriculture programmes. iv. Maharashtra, by integrating AgriStack with its MahaDBT platform has enabled farmers to access multiple Central and State schemes through a single digital interface using their Farmer ID. More than 35 lakh farmers are already registered on MahaDBT. v. Maharashtra also used AgriStack after damage to crops in Kharif 2025 to verify 89 lakh farmers using Farmer ID and disbursed disaster relief to them amounting to ₹14,500 crore in 5 days. vi. In Chhattisgarh, one of India’s largest paddy procuring States, AgriStack has been integrated with more than 2,700 procurement centres. The State has achieved significant transparency during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2025 paddy procurement by integrating 27.53 lakh Farmer IDs that eliminated duplication, corrected over-estimation, and improved procurement.vii. In Madhya Pradesh, AgriStack has enabled a pilot in three districts for identifying farmers and the quantity of fertilizer they require based on the land area, crops sown and general fertilizer recommendations. With this, Madhya Pradesh has operationalized Farmer ID–based validation in its e-Fertilizer system, completing 9.20 lakh authenticated registrations. viii. 27.09 lakh Soybean farmers in Madhya Pradesh have been informed through SMS to ensure greater awareness and participation in MSP procurement. ix. Uttar Pradesh and Odisha are using crop-grown data to procure paddy and wheat respectively, from farmers. Similarly, Tamil Nadu has enabled registration of 5.37 lakh farmer for the Kuruvai season. II. Krishi Decision Support System DPI is a geo-spatial platform that integrates satellite imagery, weather, soil, and crop data using Geographic Information System (GIS) to support agricultural planning and decision-making. This acts as an analytical platform (web-portal) for developing targeted advisories on crop planning, weather and soil. All 16 modules have been developed in Krishi DSS. III. A Nationwide Soil Resource Mapping project has been initiated by the Soil and Land Use Survey of India (SLUSI), which is creating the inventory of soils at a village-level on a 1:10,000 scale using high-resolution satellite and ground data to create standardized soil maps for rational land-use and crop planning; thus, promoting sustainable agriculture. Till December 2026, a soil survey of 39.10 million hectares has been carried out. IV. Digital General Crop Estimation System (DGCES) is a robust crop production estimation system that requires truthful and reliable data on area and yield. While the Digital Crop Survey provides crop sown area in near real-time, the new Digital General Crop Estimation System (DGCES) provides accurate and timely crop yield data for evidence-based estimates. Across the country, Digitized Crop Cutting Experiments have been conducted in 43,105 villages during the current financial year.(d): State Farmer Registry, is built in a federated architecture, which means the ownership of the data is with the respective States. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has developed the AgriStack in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, to ensure the complete privacy of farmers' data by ensuring that farmers' data is collected only with their consent and farmers have full control over their data for sharing with authorized entities for specific purposes. The Government of India also ensures robust data security in the AgriStack, which is fully compliant with the cybersecurity guidelines of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). AgriStack maintains farmers' information in an encrypted manner so that only the designated system can read it. Secure APIs and token-based authentication govern all data exchanges, ensuring controlled access to data. In addition, the government conducts regular security audits of all these IT systems to protect the data stored in them. Although internet penetration has increased in rural areas, additional steps have been taken to ensure the digital inclusion of farmers who do not have mobile phones. They can use existing support structures like Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPOs), Krishi Sakhis, and Common Service Centres (CSCs) to get them registered on AgriStack and access services and benefits. Further, the States are organizing the camps so that no farmer is left out of getting the benefits of AgriStack. *****