Parliament Question: Implementation of AIF

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1468 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 28th July, 2026 IMPLEMENTATION OF AIF

1468. SHRI MANISH JAISWAL:

SHRI LAVU SRI KRISHNA DEVARAYALU:

SHRI P C MOHAN:

SMT. MAHIMA KUMARI MEWAR:

SMT. KAMALJEET SEHRAWAT:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं िकसान क(cid:670)ाण मं(cid:361)ी be pleased to state :

(a) the cumulative capital investment leveraged through the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) for creation of farm-gate storage and logistics infrastructure across the country, State/UT-wise, including Andhra Pradesh, particularly in Palnadu district;

(b) whether the Bharat-VISTAAR multilingual Artificial Intelligence tool has been deployed in Andhra Pradesh and if so, the details thereof, including its role in reducing post-harvest losses and improving advisory services to farmers;

(c) the steps taken to address operational challenges in the rollout of technology- driven crop monitoring systems; and

(d) the measures being taken to expand such technology-enabled post-harvest infrastructure and digital agriculture initiatives, State/UT-wise including Andhra Pradesh particularly in Palnadu district? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं िकसान क(cid:670)ाण रा(cid:475)मं(cid:361)ी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a): As on 15.07.2026, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has leveraged a cumulative capital investment of ₹1,61,537.22 crore for the creation of Post harvest Infrastructure and viable farming assets including ₹ 50,332.66 crore for creation of farm-gate storage and logistics infrastructure. The State wise details are placed at Annexure. In Andhra Pradesh the scheme has leveraged a cumulative capital investment of ₹2,394.26 crore for farm gate storage and logistic infrastructure. In Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh, 111 projects with a project cost of ₹209.90 cr crore have been sanctioned under the scheme for farm gate storage and logistics infrastructure.(b): Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources) is a multilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tool conceived as an integrated and unified Digital Public Infrastructure platform to provide farmers with reliable, real-time, and location-specific personalized agricultural advisories while ensuring seamless access to a comprehensive range of allied agricultural and support services. As a national platform, it is accessible to farmers across the country, including Andhra Pradesh, for information on Central Government agricultural schemes, benefit status tracking, grievance redressal, and services such as weather updates, mandi prices, ICAR advisories, and other farmer support services, thereby facilitating informed decision-making and better crop management by farmers. The platform is available through a web portal, mobile application, AI chatbot and dedicated telephone line. At present, Bharat Vistaar Telephone service is available in 2 languages, i.e. Hindi and English; however, the chatbot, web portal, and mobile application are available in 10 languages including Telugu.

(c) & (d): DA&FW is leveraging satellite-based monitoring and Artificial Intelligence

(AI)-based analytical systems for forecasting agricultural risks and supporting timely crop management interventions across the country including the state of Andhra Pradesh. The Krishi Decision Support System (DSS) that integrates and standardizes geospatial and non-geospatial data, including satellite, weather, soil, crop signatures, reservoir and ground water data, enables monitoring of drought conditions, adverse weather events and flood inundation to provide near real-time risk alerts and support crop management interventions to reduce risk of crop loss across States/UTs including Andhra Pradesh.

The Department has launched the National Pest Surveillance System (NPSS) which is an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-based platform that provides real-time pest identification, surveillance and expert advisories to farmers on pest management across the States/UTs . Further, the system promotes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by recommending bio-control agents and bio-pesticides as the preferred option, while advising pesticides duly approved by the Registration Committee only when necessary and at recommended doses to prevent crop losses.

The Government has also introduced yield-based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) from Kharif 2016 to provide financial support to the farmers opting for crop insurance against crop loss/damage arising out of natural calamities, adverse weather incidence and to stabilize the income of farmers etc.

Comprehensive risk insurance is provided under the scheme from pre-sowing to post- harvest losses. Further, with effect from Kharif 2023, Government has rolled out Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YES-TECH) wherein yield estimation is done using satellite imagery and remote sensing data.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) provides AI-based monsoon and weather advisories across the country including the state of Andhra Pradesh to support informed agricultural decision-making . The advisories enable farmers to plan agricultural operations based on timely and location-specific weather forecasts. As on date, the initiative has reached approximately 5.28 crore farmers.

Krishi Vigyan Kendras are using Krishi Sarthi a ICT based platform to provide crop specific advisories to farmers. More than 2.97 cr farmers are registered on this platform Various steps have been taken to address the operational challenges in roll out of technology driven crop monitoring systems including ensuring ease of access to digital platforms by the farmers, through web portal, mobile application, SMS alerts , AI chatbots and dedicated telephone lines; making various digital services available in multiple regional languages for ease of understanding ; provision of dedicated help lines to address the queries of farmers along with an effective grievance redressal mechanism. In addition technical support and multi level training is provided to the States through Project Management Units at the national and state level .Annexure State wise detail of capital investment leveraged through the AIF for creation of Farm- Gate Storage and Logistics Infrastructure as on 15.07.2026:

S. No. State Capital Investment/ Project Cost (Rs. in Crore)

1. Andhra Pradesh 2,394.26

2. Assam 408.86

3. Bihar 1,852.07

4. Chandigarh 14.81

5. Chhattisgarh 1,393.61

6. Delhi 15.39

7. Goa 34.55

8. Gujarat 4,713.63

9. Haryana 1,736.68

10. Himachal Pradesh 303.46

11. Jammu And Kashmir 938.59

12. Jharkhand 203.69

13. Karnataka 3,313.52

14. Kerala 458.98

15. Ladakh 0.46

16. Madhya Pradesh 7,559.02

17. Maharashtra 5,484.29

18. Manipur 0.51

19. Meghalaya 10.47

20. Mizoram 0.76

21. Nagaland 5.68

22. Odisha 744.62

23. Puducherry 7.55

24. Punjab 2,219.20

25. Rajasthan 1,411.31

26. Tamil Nadu 1,221.71

27. Telangana 2,178.86

28. Tripura 10.29

29. Uttar Pradesh 7,405.78

30. Uttarakhand 2,833.01

31. West Bengal 1,457.00 Grand Total 50,332.66 *****