On September 14, 2021, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with 5 private companies at KrishiBhavan, New Delhi for pilot projects.
- The companies are CISCO, Ninjacart, Jio Platforms Limited, ITC (formerly India Tobacco Company Limited) Limited and NCDEX e-Markets Limited (NeML).
- These MoUs envisage the modernization of the Agriculture sector that will further aid in increasing the income of farmers.
About Pilot Projects:
JIO Platforms Limited:
Jio through its agri platform ‘JioKrishi’ aids in digitizing the agro ecosystem and to empower the farmers.
- Pilot Project– Jalna and Nashik districts of Maharashtra
ITC Limited:
It is engaged, inter-alia, in agri business through one of its business divisions called Agri Business Division. ITC has earlier pioneered a unique internet-based initiative called the ‘eChoupal’ network (hereinafter called e-Choupal). Now, it has proposed to build a Customized ‘Site Specific Crop Advisory ‘ service.
- Pilot Project – Sehore and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh
CISCO
Cisco, along with industry partner Quantela, has developed Agriculture Digital Infrastructure (ADI) solution, which includes hardware and software components for better farming and knowledge sharing.
- Pilot Project– Kaithal (Haryana) and Morena (Madhya Pradesh).
NeML
It is the leading National Spot Exchange in India. It proposed a digital marketplace to aid in enhancing the livelihood of farmers and promote inclusive development in the agriculture sector in India.
- Pilot Project– Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Devanagere (Karnataka) and Nasik (Maharashtra).
Ninjacart
63Ideas Infolabs Private Limited, operating under the brand name Ninjacart, is a technology based fresh produce supply Chain Company. It will develop and host the Agri Marketplace Platform (AMP), which will bring together all the participants in the post-harvest market linkage.
- Pilot Project– Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Anand (Gujarat) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh).
Click here for to read more about MoU partners
Key Points:
i.The pilot projects will support farmers to take informed decisions on sowing, seeds variety and best practices to adopt to maximize the yield.
ii.The above MoUs are on the lines of the Digital agriculture mission that has been initiated for 2021 -2025 by the Central government for projects based on new technologies like artificial intelligence, block chain, remote sensing and GIS technology, use of drones and robots etc.
iii.MoA&FW is also creating a federated Farmers Database which will be linked by the land records of farmers from across the country and a unique Farmer ID will be created.
- This database will have details of farmers along with benefits and support of various schemes of the Central & State Government.
- This information can be accessed for providing benefits to farmers in the future.
Recent Related News:
In July 2021, a digital platform ‘Kisan Sarathi’ was jointly launched by Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw to help farmers get ‘right information at the right time’ in their desired language.
About Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Narendra Singh Tomar Constituency– Morena, Madhya Pradesh),
Minister of State– Sushri Shobha Karandlaje (Udupi Chikmagalur, Karnataka), Kailash Choudhary (Barmer, Rajasthan)
