Digital Agriculture Mission

What is the Digital Agriculture Mission?

Digital Agriculture Mission is an umbrella scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2024 with an outlay of Rs 2,817 crore, including a central share of Rs 1,940 crore. The mission funds the creation of digital public infrastructure for Indian agriculture, the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey, and other information technology initiatives taken up by the central government, state governments and academic and research institutions.

Digital Agriculture Mission is best understood as plumbing rather than as a benefit. The mission itself hands no money to a farmer. What it builds is the identity and data layer. A verified Farmer ID, a record of the crop actually sown, a map of the soil: on which schemes like PM-KISAN, crop insurance, the Kisan Credit Card and MSP procurement can run without repeated paperwork.

Key objectives

• Build a trusted, farmer-centric digital identity and land linkage so that schemes can be delivered without repeated document collection.
• Replace estimate-based crop data with plot-level digital crop records.
• Bring crop, soil, weather and water data into one geospatial decision system.
• Reduce the paperwork burden on farmers claiming benefits, credit and insurance.

Main features

• Three digital public infrastructures: AgriStack, the Krishi Decision Support System and Soil Profile Mapping.
• Federated design. The registries are created and maintained by state and union territory governments, not held centrally in one database.
• Consent-based use of farmer data for service delivery.
• Support for the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES) for yield estimation.

What are the components of the Digital Agriculture Mission?

AgriStack is the farmer-centric digital public infrastructure and has three foundational registries, all built and maintained by states:

• Farmers' Registry. The Aadhaar-linked Farmer ID, also called Kisan Pehchaan Patra, linking a farmer to the land parcels held in the state's land records.
• Geo-referenced village maps: village revenue maps tied to actual coordinates so a plot on paper matches a plot on the ground.
• Crop Sown Registry, the record of what is actually growing on each plot in a season, populated through the Digital Crop Survey.

Krishi Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS) is a geospatial platform that unifies crop, soil, weather and water resource data. Its uses include crop advisories, yield estimation, drought and flood assessment, and faster settlement of insurance claims.

Soil Profile Mapping builds detailed soil profile maps to support site-specific nutrient recommendations rather than blanket fertiliser advice.

Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES) modernises crop yield estimation, moving from manual crop-cutting sampling toward digitally captured and verifiable results.

Who is eligible under the Digital Agriculture Mission?

You can register for a Farmer ID if:

• You are a farmer holding land recorded in a participating state or union territory, since the Farmer Registry is built on the state land records system.
• You have an Aadhaar number and a mobile number linked to that Aadhaar for OTP verification.
• Your state has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture and started Farmer Registry enrolment. Nineteen states had done so as of April 2026.

You cannot apply if:

• You are looking for a cash benefit, subsidy or loan from this mission. Digital Agriculture Mission pays no individual benefit and there is no beneficiary list to get your name on.
• You are an individual, company or startup seeking a project grant. Mission funds go to state governments, central agencies and academic and research institutions, not to individuals. Institutions engage through their state agriculture department or the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, not through a public application form.
• Your state has not yet begun Farmer Registry enrolment. There is no central form that bypasses the state portal.
• You hold no recorded land interest in the state land records — the Farmer Registry is built on land parcel linkage, and landless applicants are not eligible for a land-linked Farmer ID.

What documents are required for Farmer ID registration?

How to apply for a Farmer ID under the Digital Agriculture Mission

1. Check whether your state has launched Farmer Registry enrolment. The Ministry of Agriculture has advised states to run camp-mode registration in villages, so the camp is usually the fastest route.
2. Attend the village registration camp with your Aadhaar card, your Aadhaar-linked mobile phone and a copy of your land record.
3. If you prefer to register online, open your state's farmer registry portal: every participating state runs its own, since AgriStack is federated, and choose farmer self-registration.
4. Enter your Aadhaar number and verify with the OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile number.
5. Select your land parcels from the land records fetched for your village, and confirm that the khasra or survey numbers shown against your name are correct.
6. Record your consent for the use of your identity and land data in scheme delivery, then submit.
7. Wait for verification by the revenue or agriculture official of your village. Once approved, your Farmer ID is generated.
8. Download or print the Farmer ID from the state portal and keep the number safe. You will quote it while applying for schemes, credit and insurance.

How much benefit does the Digital Agriculture Mission provide?

The Digital Agriculture Mission carries an outlay of Rs 2,817 crore with a central share of Rs 1,940 crore, but none of it reaches a farmer as cash. The benefit to a farmer is procedural: once your Farmer ID exists and your land parcels and sown crop are recorded, schemes that would otherwise ask for fresh land papers, affidavits and verification can identify you digitally.

Separately, the Finance Ministry allocated Rs 5,000 crore as an incentive to states for creating the Farmers' Registry under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2024-25. That money is an incentive to state governments, not a payment to farmers.

What progress has the Digital Agriculture Mission made?

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 19 states had signed memoranda of understanding for AgriStack, and 9.25 crore Farmer IDs had been created across those states as of April 2026. The Farmer ID target is 11 crore over three years to 6 crore in 2024-25, 3 crore in 2025-26 and 2 crore in 2026-27. The Digital Crop Survey covered 400 districts in 2024-25 and was planned to extend to all districts in 2025-26.

Why the Farmer ID matters for other schemes

• PM-KISAN and other DBT schemes can verify landholding from the registry instead of asking for fresh documents.
• Crop insurance claims can be assessed against the recorded sown crop rather than disputed declarations.
• Kisan Credit Card and other agricultural credit applications can draw on verified land and crop data.
• MSP procurement registration becomes easier when the sown crop and acreage are already on record.
• Advisories on weather, pest outbreaks and nutrients can be targeted to your actual plot and crop.

Help and grievance redressal

• Village or block agriculture office, the first stop for Farmer ID registration, correction of land parcel linkage and camp schedules.
• District agriculture officer for escalation of registry errors.
• Kisan Call Centre: 1800-180-1551, 6 am to 10 pm, in 22 languages.
• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare portal, agriwelfare.gov.in, for mission documents and state contacts.

Farmer ID registration is free. No agent can charge you to create a Farmer ID, and no official will ask for your Aadhaar OTP over the phone.