The Government of India achieved a landmark milestone in demonstrating the way forward in creating the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) under the Digital Agriculture Mission announced on the 2^nd of September, 2024. On 5^th December 2024, Gujarat became the first State in the country to generate Farmer IDs for 25% of the targeted number of farmers in the State. This breakthrough represents a significant step towards creating a comprehensive standards-driven digital agriculture ecosystem as a part of the ‘Agri Stack initiative’ of the Government of India.

A Farmer ID is a unique digital identity of farmers based on Aadhaar, linked dynamically to the State’s land records system, which means the Farmer ID gets automatically updated with the changes in the land record details of an individual farmer. The Farmer ID, along with the crop sown data being captured digitally under the Digital Agriculture Mission, is intended to provide the following farmer-centric benefits:

• Simplified and seamless access to Government schemes
• Streamlined paperless and contactless crop loans and credit that can be processed within an hour
• Personalised agricultural extension services tailored to the farmer’s need
• Direct and transparent benefit transfers
• Enhanced market connectivity
• Improved financial inclusion

The digital identity will also serve as a transformative tool for actionable insights and informed policy-making to develop innovative farmer-centric solutions, ensuring efficient agricultural service delivery and creating a digital ecosystem for agriculture transformation, aiming to improve farmers' incomes while focusing on sustainable agriculture.

To ensure comprehensive coverage for the generation of Farmer IDs, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Government of India has developed a multi-mode strategy for the States. These modes are channels for Farmer ID generation such as Self Mode (self-registration by farmers using mobile), Sahayak Mode (assisted registration by trained field workers/volunteers), Camp Mode (Dedicated registration camps in rural areas), CSC Mode (registration through Common Service Centres).

The Digital Agriculture Mission has enabled a collaborative effort among the States and the Central Government to build DPIs for the agricultural sector through MoUs on DPI for Agriculture and Special Central Assistance for Capital projects as an incentive for creating the Farmers Registry.

Further, under the Digital Agriculture Mission, the Centre has been enabling States by providing technical guidelines, reference applications, and computing capacity, augmenting state capacity, and providing training. The Government of India also provides financial incentives for organising registration camps and performance-based incentives to state functionaries involved in generating Farmer IDs.

At the State level, inter-departmental coordination and collaboration, especially among the Revenue and Agriculture departments, have been the highlights of the initiative. The States have enabled administrative and technical changes, including process reforms, to develop DPIs for the Agriculture sector. States have also set up Project Management Units (PMUs) and coordination teams to monitor progress, provide localised support, and ensure the quality and accuracy of data generated.

While Gujarat leads the way with 25% of Farmer IDs (of the total Farmers of the State in PM KISAN), other states are also progressing well. Madhya Pradesh has made a significant achievement in a short time, reaching 9%, Maharashtra at 2%, and other states like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Rajasthan have also initiated the process of generating farmer IDs.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare remains committed to supporting States in this transformative journey, ensuring every farmer benefits from the Digital Agricultural Revolution.

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