Digital Agriculture Mission and AgriStack

Context:

The Government of India launched the Digital Agriculture Mission in September 2024 to create a Digital Public Infrastructure for agriculture, enabling real-time, data-driven, and farmer-centric solutions across the country.

Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM):

Launch: Approved in September 2024.
Implementing Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
Core Objective: Develop a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for agriculture to provide timely and accurate crop-related information and enable innovative digital solutions.
Key Components:
- AgriStack DPI – Three foundational registries:
  - Geo-Referenced Village Maps
  - Crop Sown Registry
  - Farmer Registry – contains demographic, landholding, and cropping data to enable access to schemes, credit, insurance, procurement, and online input/output markets.
- Krishi Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS) – Integrates satellite, weather, soil, crop, water, and scheme data to provide:
  - Crop & soil maps
  - Yield estimation models
  - Drought/flood monitoring systems
- Soil Fertility & Profile Mapping – Nationwide Soil Resource Mapping at 1:10,000 scale by Soil and Land Use Survey of India (SLUSI) for rational land use and sustainable agriculture.

Other Initiatives:

Digital Crop Survey (DCS):

Uses geospatial technology for accurate, real-time crop area data at the plot level.
Supports transparent and evidence-based decision-making.

Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) Scheme:

Type: Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
Objective: Enhance water-use efficiency through micro-irrigation (drip and sprinkler systems).
Financial Assistance:
- 55% subsidy for small & marginal farmers.
- 45% subsidy for other farmers.
- Assistance limited to 5 hectares per beneficiary.
- State governments may provide additional top-up subsidies.
Benefits: Saves water, reduces fertilizer and labour costs, increases productivity and income.