The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) hosted a high-level National Conference on “Agri Stack: Turning Data into Delivery” at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan in New Delhi, gathering senior officials from the Centre and States to take stock of the progress and future of Agri Stack under the Digital Agriculture Mission.
A key highlight was the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Maharashtra, Kerala, Bihar, Odisha, and the PSB Alliance, aiming to simplify credit access through Farmer Registry-linked authentication. The Ministry also launched Special Central Assistance (SCA) Guidelines with a total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore—Rs 4,000 crore for Farmer Registries and Rs 2,000 crore for the Digital Crop Survey, to be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis.
Inaugurating the conference, Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi stressed the urgency for States to dynamically link their Farmer Registries with updated land Records of Rights (RoR). He emphasized the role of digital datasets in enabling targeted delivery of schemes and personalized agricultural services. The Secretary of the Department of Land Resources underlined the importance of digitized land records and Aadhaar seeding for accurate farmer identification, amidst concerns over falling rural land value and income.
Additional Secretary (Digital), Pramod Kumar Meherda, presented the core features of Agri Stack, detailing how the unique Farmer ID is being integrated with major government schemes like PM-KISAN, PMFBY, and KCC. He highlighted upcoming digital services including farmer authorization systems and Digitally Verifiable Certificates (DVCs), designed to help farmers securely share land and crop information with banks, departments, and markets.
Technical sessions, led by the Chief Knowledge Officer and Advisor, explored infrastructure and data quality challenges. Issues such as outdated tribal land records and inconsistencies in crop survey images were discussed, alongside solutions using AI, remote sensing, and automated data validation.
State-level presentations showcased early successes and challenges. Maharashtra requested central support for establishing a Data Provisioning Engine and integrating AI for farmer advisories. Uttar Pradesh shared insights from linking Agri Stack with MSP procurement. Karnataka presented its innovative use of Agri Stack in banking, disaster relief, and personalized advisories based on soil health.
The DVC or “Kisan Pehchan Patra” was introduced, offering authenticated land and crop credentials integrated with DigiLocker. A multilingual grievance redressal portal and an AI-powered chatbot trained on Agri Stack data were also unveiled.
The conference concluded with an open discussion and a vote of thanks, reinforcing the Centre’s commitment to inclusive, data-driven agricultural transformation.
