Farmer
The government will give farmers a unique identity card like Aadhaar. For this, camps will be organized across the country. Through this identity card, farmers will be easily given the benefits of government schemes. Also, there will be no need for repeated verification. Giving this information, Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi said on Monday that taking a big step towards digitizing the agriculture sector, the government will soon start registering farmers across the country so that they can be provided a unique identification card (ID) similar to Aadhaar. Speaking on the occasion of Outlook Agri-Tech Summit and Swaraj Awards, Chaturvedi said that guidelines for the registration process will be issued soon, the implementation of which will start in the first week of October.
It will be easy to give benefits of government scheme
“Our target is to register five crore farmers by March next year,” the secretary said. He said the initiative is part of the government’s Rs 2,817-crore Digital Agriculture Mission approved by the Cabinet recently. He said a pilot project was earlier run in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and 19 states have already implemented the project. After the farmers’ registry is created, each registered farmer will be provided an “Aadhaar-like unique ID”. Chaturvedi said the unique ID will help farmers access various agriculture schemes, including the minimum support price (MSP) and the Kisan Credit Card programme, without any hassle.
The need for verification will also end
The data collected will also help the government in policy planning and targeted extension services. “At present, farmers have to undergo verification every time before applying for any agriculture scheme. This not only involves cost but some also face harassment. To solve this problem, we are going to create a farmers’ registry,” he said. The secretary said current government data is limited to agricultural land parcels and crop details provided by states but lacks individual farmer-wise information. The new registry aims to bridge this gap.
Camps will be organized all over the country
Chaturvedi urged progressive farmers, scientists and companies to spread awareness about the farmers’ registration process and encourage participation. Camps will be organised across the country for the registration drive. The government is also working on several other technological interventions, including the Kisan AI-based chatbox system, to improve services and support for farmers, the official said.
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