Telangana launches Agri Data Exchange to drive data-backed solutions
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the World Economic Forum (WEF), Indian Institute of Science (IISc, Bengaluru) and Telangana Government have launched an Agriculture Data Exchange (ADeX) to boost agricultural production, putting to use enormous data that stakeholders in the primary sector generate.
The exchange will connect with stakeholders to build a digital public infrastructure (DPI), which will facilitate start-ups and other stakeholders, to access data and develop solutions for farmers.
“The exchange will not store any data. It will just ensure free and real-time flow of data among the stakeholders. Right now, the exchange has five data providers, five users and five use cases. Going forward, we would like to have 50 data providers, 50 users and 50 use cases,” J Satyanarayana, former bureaucrat, who led several e-governance and government IT frameworks, said.
He said talks were on with the Centre to integrate the exchange with the Central agricultural database, in order to help start-ups and other stakeholders to tap the enormous volumes of data and develop IT solutions.
“This platform is a business-to-business platform. Farmers do not directly get the benefit, but they would benefit from the IT products and solutions developed by the start-ups,” he said.
The ADeX and ADMF (Agriculture Data Management Framework), which governs how the data should be managed, were formally launched by Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao here on Friday.
“Both ADeX and ADMF provide the right platform to ensure fair and efficient usage of agricultural data by the industry and start-ups and provide a big boost to the data economy, specifically in the agri-sector,” the Minister said.
The exchange is an open source, open standard and interoperable public good, democratising access to data and enabling the public and private sector to build applications and deliver services to benefit society.
“Data and digital ecosystems are critical for responsible innovation in the agriculture sector. The ADeX and ADMF highlight the power of multi-stakeholder communities and collective action in addressing complex challenges in the agriculture sector,” he said.
The software platform facilitates the secure, standards-based exchange of data between agricultural data users and agricultural data providers.
“ADeX will prove to be a game changer in the agriculture ecosystem, providing impetus to research and innovation in the sector, and creating value by mobilising data for healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices,” said G. Rangarajan, Director of IISc.
In Phase-I of the project, the ADeX Platform has been deployed in Khammam district, and over a period, will be expanded to the entire State.