The Government of India is working on creating a digital stack of agricultural data. That is storing data related to farmers. Apart from farmer details, the digital agristack also holds all information about which seeds to buy, weather updates, what manures and fertilizers to use, insurance, best agricultural practices to maximize the yield.
What is agristack?
Agristack has unique number for every farmer in the country. This numbered file will hold personal information of the farmer. This includes his financial data as well. Apart from farmer details, agri stack will also hold information about weather, agricultural commodity prices in the country and abroad, new science and research techniques, agricultural regulation and permissions.
How will it work?
- First agristack will create farmer database. Next, the database is linked with the data with the programmes and schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Sinchayee Yojana, Soil Health Card, Fasal Bhima yojana, etc.
- Every farmer will hold an ID in the system. This ID will be linked to his or her Aadhaar. The land holdings of the farmers are to be incorporated to this ID.
- So far, the agristack scheme has collected details of five crore farmers.
Concerns
Several people including experts and farmers believe that the centralized stack will hold farmer personal information. Holding such vital information without proper data protection law is dangerous. Also, the land details are not yet updated completely. Therefore, the system will use old inaccurate land records. So what is the use of creating the database, when the base data is itself wrong.
Benefits
The agristack will help farmers take informed decisions on which seeds to buy, what to grow, when to grow, how to maximize the yield. Apart from farmers, the other stakeholders such as suppliers and transporters can learn about new technology. According to NABARD, Digital Agristack is a game changer. NABARD is National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
IDEA in Agristack
The agristack is to be finalized by the India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture, called IDEA. IDEA will lay down the architecture of Agristack. It will create a foundation to develop agriculture focused technologies. This will eventually improve the efficiency of agriculture sector.
Role of Microsoft in Agristack
Around five companies have signed MoUs with government of India to implement agristack. Microsoft will create a Unified Farmer Interface.