Digital Agriculture Mission

The Digital Agriculture Mission is a Central umbrella scheme for digital public infrastructure in farming. This article covers its approval, its main components, and how its rollout is going so far.

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IndEco0070 · Indian Economy

Digital Agriculture Mission

Building farm data infrastructure on the model of Aadhaar and UPI

2 Sep 2024

Cabinet approves the mission

Total outlay of ₹2,817 crore, one of seven farmer-focused schemes approved the same day.

2024–25

AgriStack goes federated

19 states sign MoUs; pilots run in six states, one district each.

2024–2027

Farmer ID targets 11 crore

Phased across three years: 6 crore, then 3 crore, then 2 crore farmers.

4 Feb 2026

8.48 crore Farmer IDs generated

Already most of the way to the 11 crore target set for 2026-27.

Not One Database, Nineteen

AgriStack is a federated system, not a single central database. States build and hold their own registries — a deliberate design choice, modeled on how Aadhaar and UPI became shared national infrastructure.

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Must Know

• The Union Cabinet approved the Digital Agriculture Mission on 2 September 2024. It carries a total outlay of ₹2,817 crore, including a central share of ₹1,940 crore.
• The mission works as an umbrella scheme. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare implements it. It funds Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) projects run by the Centre, state governments, and agricultural research institutions.
• Its main DPI is AgriStack, a farmer-centric digital system. AgriStack gives every farmer a digital identity, called the Farmer ID. The government describes this as “Kisan ki Pehchaan,” or the farmer’s identity.
• AgriStack rests on three registries. State governments build and maintain all three: a Farmers’ Registry, geo-referenced village maps, and a Crop Sown Registry.

Good to Know

• The mission also builds a Krishi Decision Support System. It combines remote-sensing data on crops, soil, weather, and water. This data supports drought monitoring, flood monitoring, and yield assessment.
• A second DPI, Soil Profile Mapping, targets detailed 1:10,000 scale mapping. It covers 142 million hectares of farmland across India. About 29 million hectares were already mapped when the mission was approved.
• The mission also funds the Digital Crop Survey. This later became the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES). It uses mobile-based, scientifically designed crop-cutting experiments to estimate crop yields. Better yield data improves MSP procurement and crop insurance payouts.
• Farmer ID rollout follows a three-year target, totaling 11 crore farmers. The plan is 6 crore farmers in 2024-25, 3 crore in 2025-26, and 2 crore in 2026-27.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. When did the Union Cabinet approve the Digital Agriculture Mission, and with what total outlay?

2024-25 to 2030-31, ₹10,103 crore

1 September 2023, ₹1,940 crore

2 September 2024, ₹2,817 crore

2 September 2024, ₹14,235.30 crore

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Great to Know

• AgriStack works as a federated system, not one single central database. It’s a collaborative project between Central and state government agencies. Nineteen states have signed MoUs to help build it. Pilot projects have already run in six states, one district each: Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu.
• The Digital Agriculture Mission wasn’t approved alone. The same Cabinet meeting, on 2 September 2024, approved six other farmer-focused schemes too. Together, all seven schemes carried a combined outlay of ₹14,235.30 crore.
• Officials have compared this mission’s ambition to Aadhaar and UPI. Both of those became nationwide digital infrastructure that reshaped their sectors. The government hopes farm data can follow a similar path. Instead of scattered state records, it would become one shared national asset.

Current Affairs

• As of 3 August 2026, in a Rajya Sabha reply, the government put the Farmer ID count at over 10.31 crore. That’s up from 10.18 crore in July, and closer still to the 11 crore target. (Source: ChiniMandi)
• The reply also detailed the Digital Crop Survey (DCS). During Rabi 2025-26, it covered 648 districts, and more than 31.3 crore plots nationwide. (Source: ChiniMandi)
• Manipur has now joined the DCS process too, and started creating Farmer IDs. (Source: ChiniMandi)
• On data protection, AgriStack follows the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and its 2025 Rules. Farmer data stays federated, meaning each State owns and controls its own data. (Source: ChiniMandi)
• Under the YES-TECH initiative, the government now uses AI and machine learning for crop-yield estimation. It currently covers Paddy, Wheat, and Soybean. (Source: ChiniMandi)
• A separate tool, the Digital General Crop Estimation System (DGCES), now supplies timely, accurate data for official crop-production estimates. (Source: ChiniMandi)
• As of 20 July 2026, the government had generated over 10.18 crore Farmer IDs nationwide. That’s very close to the 11 crore target set for 2026-27. (Source: Telangana Today)
• Maharashtra transferred over ₹14,000 crore to 89 lakh farmers with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. This covered crop losses from the Kharif 2025 season. The state also made Farmer ID mandatory for government subsidies, starting April 2025. (Source: Biometric Update)
• Chhattisgarh used Farmer ID data and Digital Crop Survey records for paddy procurement. This helped process payments for about 32 lakh farmers there. (Source: Biometric Update)
• The mission also runs newer digital tools on the ground. The Kisan e-Mitra AI chatbot handles about 8,000 farmer queries a day, in eleven regional languages. A separate pest-surveillance tool has been rolled out to 10,000 agricultural extension workers. (Source: Biometric Update)