As majority population of our country depends of farming for earning their livelihood, it was observed that socio-economic condition of farmers of the country was not so good as they were still practicing decades-old conventional methods of farming, which have become totally obsolete these days. In order to give a boost to the farming sector so that it can produce ample amount of food-grains for meeting the growing needs of population, which is increasing with every passing day, making the nation self-dependent besides improving the socio economic condition of farmers, the Government is promoting adoption of smart farming methods through the use of technology and innovation in the agriculture sector in the country. While replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar told Government is implementing a Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM) which includes India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA), Farmers Database, Unified Farmers Service Interface (UFSI), Funding to the States on the new Technology (NeGPA), Revamping Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), Soil Health, Fertility and profile mapping. Under the NeGPA programme funding is given to State Governments for Digital Agriculture projects using emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Internet of Things (IOT), Block chain etc. Adoption of drone technologies is being done. To promote smart farming, the Government promotes Startups in the Agriculture sector and nurtures agri-entrepreneurs. The Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC) aims to increase water use efficiency at the farm level through micro irrigation technologies, i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. The GoI started eNAM (National Agriculture Market), an electronic trading portal which creates networks between the existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis for the farmers.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) promotes innovation, extension and education in agriculture. A total of 1575 field crop varieties were released for different agricultural crops during 2014-21. During 2014-21, 91.43 crore agro-advisories were provided to farmers through mobiles. ICAR developed 187 mobiles apps on different farm and farmer related services during 2014-21. These ICAR apps are now integrated on one common platform called KISAAN. The Farmer FIRST (Farm, Innovations, Resources, Science and Technology) initiative was launched during this period by ICAR with enhanced farmers-scientists interface to move beyond production and productivity.
