All farmers to get unique IDs, similar to Aadhaar cards, in the next three years – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Every farmer in the country will have his/her own unique ‘Farmer ID’, similar to an Aadhaar card, in the next three years with six crore of them getting it in 2024-25.
These IDs, created and maintained by the state govts/UTs, will be linked to various farmer-related data, including land records, livestock ownership, crops sown, and availed benefits.
Serving as farmers’ trusted digital identity, it will be a crucial feature of the country’s AgriStack, designed as a farmer-centric Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to streamline services and scheme delivery to cultivators, including crop loan and crop insurance.
Besides having farmers’IDs (farmers’ registry), the AgriStack will also have geo-referenced village maps and crop sown registry (digital crop survey) as its components.

Under the umbrella scheme, Digital Agriculture Mission, the Centre has already planned to create digital identities – Kisan Ki Pehchaan – for 11 crore farmers. Besides six crore of them who will get it by March next year, three crore will get it during 2025-26 and remaining two crore during 2026-27.
“We already have relevant basic data of 11 crore farmers who have been getting financial assistance under the PM-Kisan (income support scheme). Pilot projects have successfully been conducted in six states to test the creation of such IDs and the digital crop survey,” said an official.
The six states include Uttar Pradesh (Farrukhabad), Gujarat (Gandhinagar), Maharashtra (Beed), Haryana (Yamuna Nagar), Punjab (Fatehgarh Sahib), and Tamil Nadu (Virudhnagar). Nineteen states have, meanwhile, signed MoUs with the agriculture ministry for implementation of AgriStack.
Under digital crop survey, crops sown by farmers will be recorded through mobile-based ground survey in each sowing season. It’ll give a clear picture of acreage and more authentic yield estimation.
The Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES) will be used for scientifically designed crop-cutting experiments to provide precise yield estimates, enhancing agricultural production accuracy. It’s not only a prerequisite for making farm-related policy but also important for better disaster response, and quick disbursal of loan and insurance claims by reducing paperwork and the need for physical visits.
Digital Crop Survey will be completed in 400 districts during 2024-25 with remaining districts being covered in 2025-26. The Union cabinet on Monday approved Rs 2,817 crore for implementation of the Digital Agriculture Mission having two foundational pillars: AgriStack and ‘Krishi’ Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS).
The Krishi-DSS will integrate remote sensing data on crops, soil, weather, and water resources into a comprehensive geospatial system, providing timely and reliable information for the agriculture sector. Once the entire digital public infrastructure is in place, it will help provide tailored advisory services to farmers across the country for crop planning, health, pest management, and irrigation.

Additionally, the Mission includes ‘Soil Profile Mapping’ that will enable detailed soil profile maps on a 1:10,000 scale for approximately 142 million hectares of agricultural land. Twenty-nine million hectares of soil profile inventory have already been mapped.
All the data will be available on a single platform and displayed on a big-screen dashboard – Krishi Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) – set up here in the agriculture ministry at Krishi Bhawan, and can be easily accessed from anywhere at any time.