Dharmapuri agriculture dept to improve digital portal to facilitate govt schemes

DHARMAPURI: Members of the Dharmapuri Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Department have taken steps to improve e-Agriculture in the district through the ‘Agristack’ portal. Over 1 lakh farmers have also enrolled in the portal.

Agristack is a digital portal set up by the Union Ministry of Agriculture to provide a data-centric service to farmers across the country. It has also been designed to ensure that various benefits reach the farmers efficiently and swiftly.

Under Agristack, farmers would have to upload their details to the farmer’s registry which will include complete details of a farmer’s lands, Geo-referenced village map registry, and crop survey details. Once complete, the registered farmers will be provided with a unique ID which will direct them to various government schemes.

V Gunasekaran, Deputy Director of Agriculture told TNIE, “In future, farmers will be provided various government schemes after referencing the farmer database. Apart from agricultural schemes, other department schemes which can be availed will also be displayed. Further, the most significant aspect is that they need not apply to various schemes through different means; it would be a one-stop centre to ensure farmers benefit from all schemes. The portal will have details about farmers including their KYC, PAN, Aadhaar, bank, and other details.”

Gunasekaran added, “Schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, crop insurance, and others will also be provided based on details in the registry. In Dharmapuri, a total of 1,00, 974 farmers’ details are already being uploaded.”

Speaking about benefits of Agristack, Joint Director of Agriculture, Maria Ravi Jayakumar, said, “It is an initiative for sustainable agriculture, Agristack also provides data on soil health, water usage, and climate conditions to help farmers farm sustainably and increase productivity. It provides updates on weather so that farmers can plan better and reduce crop losses. Agristack can help farmers get better access to credit.”

She added, “To ensure that the farmers are enrolled in Agristack, camps will be conducted in the rural areas across the district with the aid of various other departments. We urge farmers to actively participate in the registration and benefit from various schemes.”