State Government's Innovative Initiative to Digitally Empower Farmers

Udaipur: Under the guidance of Chief Minister Shri Bhajan Lal Sharma, the state government is taking a significant step towards empowering farmers digitally. Following the success of the pilot project of Farmer Registry in Sikar under the AgriStack scheme, the state government has decided to implement it across the entire state. The Farmer Registry campaign will begin on 5th February across Rajasthan, where camps will be held at Gram Panchayat headquarters in all districts, and farmers will be registered, receiving an 11-digit unique ID.

**What is AgriStack and Farmer Registry?**

AgriStack is a digital agriculture project launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, aimed at providing farmers with easy access to services like affordable loans, high-quality agricultural inputs, localized advice, and market access. The project also aims to implement and make available various government schemes for farmers efficiently. As part of this, land-referenced revenue village maps (Geo-referenced village maps), real-time crop surveys based on GIS, and dynamic linking of records will be used to build a comprehensive farmer database (Farmer Registry).

Under the Farmer Registry, the details of farmers will be compiled under AgriStack’s digital infrastructure, and each farmer will be issued a unique 11-digit farmer ID, which will be linked to their Aadhaar and associated with all their agricultural land. This registry is designed to ensure accuracy, transparency, and timeliness in agricultural data. These three elements will provide real-time data to the government regarding farmers, their land, crop production, and related activities, facilitating better policy-making and program implementation. It will also make it easier for farmers to access benefits from various government schemes.

**Farmer Registry Campaign to Begin from 5th February**

The Farmer Registry campaign will commence on 5th February in all districts of Rajasthan. In Udaipur district, camps will be held in one Gram Panchayat per tehsil from 5th to 9th February (2 Panchayats per week), followed by camps in two Gram Panchayats per tehsil from 10th to 16th February (4 Panchayats per week), and from 17th February to 31st March, five Gram Panchayats per tehsil (10 Panchayats per week) will have camps. The District Collector (Land Records), Arvind Poswal, has issued a detailed program for organizing the camps in all tehsils and appointed officers for the successful execution of the campaign.

**What Will Be Included in the Farmer Registry?**

To prepare the Farmer Registry, the revenue department's land records database will be consolidated, and a comprehensive online list of farmers with the same name and father’s name will be created for each revenue village. This online list will be used to prepare the state-level Farmer Registry. Farmers’ land parcels will be linked to their Aadhaar numbers via an app/web application, and after obtaining their online consent, e-KYC will be carried out. The farmer's name, father's name, details of all land parcels, shareholding status, mobile number, Aadhaar number, and e-KYC details will be included in the registry. The registry will automatically update in case of any transfer of land ownership (such as inheritance or sale).

**Objective of the Campaign**

The campaign aims to create an Aadhaar-linked registry for all farmers in the state, which will make planning, beneficiary verification, and agricultural product marketing more efficient. It will ensure that farmers have easy and transparent access to various government schemes. The registry will simplify the identification and authentication of farmers for various schemes and services such as agricultural loans, credit cards, insurance, disaster management, and support for minimum support price (MSP) procurement. It will also ease the implementation of agriculture-related programs by different departments.

**Potential Benefits of the Farmer Registry**

With the Farmer Registry, beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Scheme will find it easier to continue receiving benefits and help in the scheme’s saturation. Farmers will have easier access to crop loans, agricultural infrastructure funds, and other development loans. It will simplify the process for farmers to receive crop insurance benefits, and also assist in identifying farmers for compensation in disaster management. Furthermore, farmers will be auto-registered for MSP procurement, and multiple verifications will not be required for accessing benefits.

By facilitating easy access to data through the Farmer Registry, the government will be able to distribute the benefits of schemes more effectively. The registry will also allow farmers to receive timely consultations and expand innovative agricultural programs.