The Union Cabinet chaired, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved seven schemes on Monday to improve farmers’ lives and increase their incomes at a total outlay of Rs 14,235.30 crore.

Based on the structure of digital public infrastructure, the cabinet has approved the Digital Agriculture Mission which will use technology for improving farmers’ lives.

Advertisement

The Mission has a total outlay of Rs 2.817 crore. It comprises two foundational pillars: Agri Stack, and Krishi Decision Support System.

Agri Stack consists of a farmers’ registry, village land maps registry, and crop sown registry while the Krishi Decision Support System comprises Geospatial data, Drought/flood monitoring, Weather/satellite data, Groundwater/water availability data, and modelling for crop yield and insurance.

The mission has a provision for soil profile, digital crop estimation, digital yield modelling, connecting for crop loans, modern technologies like AI and big data, connecting with buyers, and bringing new knowledge on mobile phones.

Another scheme is the ‘crop science for food and nutritional security’ with a total outlay of Rs 3,979 crore. The initiative will prepare farmers for climate resilience and provide for food security by 2047.

It focuses on research and education, plant genetic resource management, genetic improvement for food and fodder crops, pulse and oilseed crop improvement, improvement of commercial crops, research on insects, microbes, pollinators, etc.

The third scheme is ‘Strengthening Agricultural Education, Management and Social Sciences’ with a total outlay of Rs 2,291 crore the measure will prepare agriculture students and researchers for current challenges.

The fourth scheme is the ‘sustainable livestock health and production’ with a total outlay of Rs 1,702 crore, the decision aims to Increase farmers’ income from livestock and dairy.

With a total outlay of Rs 1129.30 crore, the fifth scheme named ‘sustainable development of horticulture’ aimed at increasing farmers’ income from horticulture plants.

The other two schemes are strengthening Krishi Vigyan Kendra with an outlay of Rs 1,202 crore, and Natural Resource Management with an outlay of Rs 1,115 crore.