Gujarat become first state to generate Farmer IDs for 25% of farmers
Under the Digital Agriculture Mission announced in September 2024, Gujarat became the first state in the country to generate “Farmer IDs” for 25 percent of the targeted number of farmers in the state, stated an official release from the government, Friday.
This breakthrough in creating Digital Public Infrastructure under the mission represents a significant step towards creating a comprehensive standards-driven digital agriculture ecosystem as a part of the ‘Agri Stack initiative’ of the Government of India, the release added.
Farmer ID is a unique digital identity of farmers based on Aadhaar, linked dynamically to the State’s land records system, which means the Farmer ID gets automatically updated with the changes in the land record details of an individual farmer.
Apart from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh has generated Farmer IDs for nine percent of the total farmers of the state in PM KISAN. Maharashtra is at 2 percent, and other states like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Rajasthan have also initiated the process.
The Farmer ID, along with the crop sown data being captured digitally under the Digital Agriculture Mission, is intended to provide farmer-centric benefits including simplified and seamless access to government schemes streamlined paperless and contactless crop loans and credit that can be processed within an hour personalised agricultural extension services tailored to the farmer’s need, direct and transparent benefit transfers enhanced market connectivity and improved financial inclusion.
The digital identity will also serve as a transformative tool for actionable insights and informed policy-making to develop innovative farmer-centric solutions, ensuring efficient agricultural service delivery and creating a digital ecosystem for agriculture transformation, aiming to improve farmers’ incomes while focusing on sustainable agriculture.
To ensure comprehensive coverage for the generation of Farmer IDs, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Government of India has developed a multi-mode strategy for the States.
These modes are channels for Farmer ID generation such as Self Mode (self-registration by farmers using mobile), Sahayak Mode (assisted registration by trained field workers/volunteers), Camp Mode (Dedicated registration camps in rural areas), CSC Mode (registration through Common Service Centres). The Digital Agriculture Mission has enabled a collaborative effort among the States and the Central Government to build DPIs for the agricultural sector through MoUs on DPI for Agriculture and Special Central Assistance for Capital projects as an incentive for creating the Farmers Registry.