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Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said the government reviewed the progress of the AgriStack Digital Agriculture Mission and other key agricultural schemes, highlighting the creation of Farmer IDs to identify farmers and track assets linked to them, including land at National Conference on AgriStack under the Digital Agriculture Mission and Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses at the ICAR Convention Centre, Pusa, New Delhi.
"Today, we reviewed two significant schemes of the Government of India. Under the AgriStack Digital Agriculture Mission, we are creating Farmer IDs to identify farmers. The Farmer ID includes details of all assets linked to the farmer, including land," he said. He also reviewed the progress of land parcel mapping, noting that the work has been slower in some states. He said Maharashtra successfully distributed Rs 14,000 crore to lakhs of farmers within five days, while Chhattisgarh had performed remarkably well in crop procurement, along with several other states. Chouhan also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to achieve self-reliance in pulses. "Maharashtra successfully distributed Rs 14,000 crore to lakhs of farmers within just five days. Chhattisgarh has performed remarkably well in crop procurement, as have many other states. The Prime Minister has pledged to achieve self-reliance in pulses," he added. Assam Agriculture Minister Pijush Hazarika also participated in the National Conference. Addressing the conference, Minister Hazarika highlighted Assam's progress in pulse cultivation, including Arhar demonstrations, black gram cultivation and Front Line Demonstrations. He stressed the potential of rice-fallow areas and char and chapori belts for expanding pulse cultivation. The Minister also highlighted challenges faced by Assam's small and marginal farmers due to floods and erratic rainfall and requested priority allocation of breeder seeds suitable for the North Eastern region. Hazarika also requested 100 per cent subsidy on certified pulse seeds for farmers in Assam for an initial period of two to three years, particularly to support small and marginal farmers and encourage new farmers to take up pulse cultivation. He also proposed that certified seed allocations may alternatively be utilised for Seed Minikit Distribution. Hazarika further requested that Assam's small tea growers, who have now started receiving Farmer IDs under AgriStack, be brought under the ambit of PM-KISAN so that they can also avail the benefits of the scheme. The Minister also highlighted Assam's initiatives under AgriStack, including high-yield village clusters, post-harvest infrastructure, Custom Hiring Centres and integration of Soil Health Card data with Farmer Field Schools. (ANI)
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