Gandhinagar: About 63.3 lakh farmers in the state have so far enrolled in Farmer Registry, a digital agriculture initiative aimed at creating a unified digital identity for cultivators and linking it with land records and govt agricultural services, state govt said on Wednesday.The registration is being undertaken as part of Union govt’s Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), with the state govt seeking to build an integrated digital database of farmers, their landholdings and their eligibility for various schemes.Quoting Jayanti Ravi, additional chief secretary, revenue department, the statement said the farmer registry links a farmer’s Aadhaar ID with land records and generates a Unique Farmer ID. “Through Unique Farmer ID, farmers will be able to access various govt agricultural schemes and services more easily, quickly and transparently,” she said.Agriculture minister Jitu Vaghani said farmers have traditionally been required to repeatedly submit personal details, land-related information and eligibility documents while applying for different govt schemes. Farmer Registry seeks to create a common digital identity to reduce duplication in the process, he said.Once a farmer’s registration is approved, his identity is digitally linked with verified land records, creating a consolidated digital profile. The system is expected to simplify application processing and beneficiary verification for schemes such as PM-KISAN, Kisan credit card, agricultural credit and procurement of agricultural produce by govt under the price support scheme. It could also be used to deliver subsidies, agricultural assistance and digital farm services.The statement added that the long-term objective of the exercise is to use the Farmer ID as a common digital identity across the digital agriculture ecosystem. This could include integration with digital crop surveys, agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilisers, procurement and credit services.
