What Happened
- The Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), approved by the Union Cabinet on September 2, 2024, is being implemented as an umbrella scheme to build India's agricultural digital public infrastructure.
- As of early 2026, over 84 million (8.4 crore) Farmer Digital IDs — called 'Kisan ki Pehchaan' — have been generated, creating a unique farmer identity analogous to Aadhaar but specific to agriculture.
- The Krishi Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS), launched August 16, 2024, integrates satellite imagery, weather data, soil data, crop signatures, reservoir levels, and groundwater data into a unified geospatial platform for agricultural decision-making.
- The Digital Crop Survey has been rolled out to 400 districts in FY 2024-25, with national coverage targeted for FY 2025-26.
- Natural farming and climate-resilient agricultural techniques are being promoted alongside digital services, reducing chemical input dependency and improving long-term soil health.
Static Topic Bridges
Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM) and AgriStack
The Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM) is an umbrella Central Sector Scheme approved in September 2024 with a total outlay of ₹2,817 crore (central share: ₹1,940 crore). It builds India's agricultural Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) — a term for open, interoperable digital systems that serve public purposes, analogous to how UPI serves digital payments. The core element is the AgriStack: a federated digital database linking Farmer ID, land records, crop data, input usage, and government scheme eligibility — creating a single verifiable source of truth for each farmer.
- Approved: September 2, 2024
- Total outlay: ₹2,817 crore; central share: ₹1,940 crore
- Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
- Farmer IDs generated: 84 million+ (as of early 2026); target: 11 crore over 3 years (6 crore in FY24-25, 3 crore in FY25-26, 2 crore in FY26-27)
- Farmer ID: 'Kisan ki Pehchaan' — unique digital identity linking land records, crops sown, livestock, demographics
- Krishi-DSS: Launched August 16, 2024; integrates satellite, weather, soil, crop, reservoir, groundwater data
- Digital Crop Survey: 400 districts in FY24-25; all districts by FY25-26
Connection to this news: The DAM represents the systematic digitisation of India's agricultural data infrastructure — enabling precision targeting of subsidies, credit, insurance, and advisory services to individual verified farmers for the first time at national scale.
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in Agriculture
Digital Public Infrastructure refers to open, interoperable, reusable digital platforms built for public benefit — a concept India has pioneered through Aadhaar (identity), UPI (payments), and ONDC (commerce). Applying DPI principles to agriculture means creating shared open-access systems — Farmer ID registries, land record databases, crop monitoring platforms — that multiple government agencies, banks, insurance companies, and agri-tech firms can build services upon. India has actively promoted its DPI model in global forums including the G20 (where India's presidency in 2023 emphasised DPI as a development tool).
- DPI definition: open, interoperable, public-purpose digital platforms; typically governed by the state but accessible to all
- India's DPI stack: Aadhaar (identity), UPI (payments), ONDC (open commerce), now AgriStack (agriculture)
- G20 India Presidency 2023: DPI for agriculture was a key deliverable of the Agriculture Working Group
- Farmer ID linkages: connects to PM-KISAN eligibility, PMFBY (crop insurance), e-NAM (market access), Kisan Credit Card
- AGRISNET: predecessor digital network for agriculture; DAM supersedes and expands this framework
Connection to this news: Farmer IDs and Krishi-DSS are not standalone innovations — they are components of a DPI architecture designed to make all agricultural services more targeted, fraud-resistant, and data-driven.
Natural Farming and Sustainable Agriculture
Natural farming (also called Zero Budget Natural Farming — ZBNF or Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati) is an agro-ecological approach that eliminates external chemical inputs (synthetic fertilisers and pesticides), relying instead on on-farm biological inputs derived from cow dung, urine, and local plant materials. The central government launched the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) programme as a sub-scheme under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) to promote natural farming. Climate-smart agriculture practices (conservation tillage, crop diversification, water harvesting) are being integrated into district agricultural plans under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
- BPKP (Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati): sub-scheme under PKVY for natural farming promotion; farmer receives ₹12,200/hectare over 3 years
- PKVY (Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana): promotes organic and natural farming through cluster approaches; ₹50,000/hectare support
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA): one of 8 missions under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC); focuses on soil health, water use efficiency, integrated farming
- Soil Health Card: issued under Soil Health Card Scheme (launched 2015); tests 12 soil parameters; guides fertiliser use
- Chemical fertiliser subsidy: ~₹1.5-1.8 lakh crore annually — natural farming reduces this dependency
Connection to this news: Digital tools (Krishi-DSS, satellite crop monitoring) and natural farming techniques represent two complementary modernisation streams — data-driven precision management and input-cost reduction through biological farming — that together address India's agricultural productivity and sustainability challenge.
Key Facts & Data
- Digital Agriculture Mission outlay: ₹2,817 crore (central share: ₹1,940 crore)
- Approval date: September 2, 2024
- Farmer IDs generated: 84 million+ (as of early 2026)
- Total Farmer ID target: 11 crore over 3 years
- Krishi-DSS launch: August 16, 2024
- Digital Crop Survey coverage: 400 districts in FY2024-25; all districts by FY2025-26
- BPKP natural farming support: ₹12,200/hectare over 3 years
- PKVY organic farming support: ₹50,000/hectare
- Chemical fertiliser subsidy (annual): ~₹1.5-1.8 lakh crore
- Agriculture GDP share: ~17-18%; workforce share: ~46%