e-Governance for Agriculture in India
The Ministry of Agriculture’s, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation
(DAC) agreed to adopt the National e-Governance Program (NeGP) in the
agricultural sector in Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries as a
Mission Mode Project (A-MMP). The A-MMP is designed to meet the demands
of farmers through the dissemination of pertinent information to the
community and other associated stakeholders & services for assistance
through the many distribution channels available in their area. They
will be able to make sensible decisions with its help. The project was
to be first implemented in the states of Assam, Himachal Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala with a
centralized portal for implementation and management of services. The
targeted categories of agriculture to be brought under e-governance
include the following:
- Information on pesticides, fertilizers and seeds
- Information on soil health
- Information on crops, farm machinery, and, training and Good
Agricultural Practices (GAPs)
- Information on forecasted weather and agro-met advisory
- Information on prices, arrivals, procurement points, and providing
interaction platform
- Electronic certification for exports and imports
- Information on marketing infrastructure
- Monitoring implementation/evaluation of schemes and programs
- Information on fisheries
- Information on irrigation infrastructure
- Drought relief and management
- Livestock management
Agricultural Information System Network (AGRISNET) is a component under
the scheme titled ”Strengthening/promoting agricultural informatics &
communications” under the Ministry of agriculture. The goal of the
AGRISNET project is to build a long-term data bank of all agricultural
inputs in the states containing entries for all necessary information on
Agriculture and its linked fields and to gain access to them via a
secure network. The project aims to link all agricultural offices up to
the Block level with the state Department of Agriculture for improving
information access as well as to provide advisory services to the
farmers and related sectors through the usage of ICT.
As a result, e-agriculture refers to a new discipline that focuses on
improving agricultural and rural development through improved
information and communication systems. E-agriculture, to be precise,
entails the creation, design, development, testing, and implementation
of novel ways to use information and communication technologies (ICTs)
with a primary focus on agriculture, in the rural domain (K.
Venkateshwara Rao).
According to the Government of India’s Planning Commission’s
Agricultural Strategy for the Eleventh Plan, the aim of 4% growth in
agriculture can only be accomplished if land and water are fixed.
Increasing the productivity per unit of scarce natural resources can
only be achieved by putting better technologies to work. It is planned
to use a variety of distribution methods, including Rural Knowledge
Centers (RKCs), ICT-based delivery, farmer-to-farmer extension,
non-governmental organizations, and the commercial sector (Behera et
al., 2015).
Under the National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology, the
Indian government wants to grow, enhance, and implement the Sub Mission
on Agricultural Extension (NMAET). The NMAET’s approval assures that all
of the Department of Agriculture Cooperation’s (DAC) IT programmes are
compliant with the Mission. In addition, the Mission Mode Project of the
National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A) was launched in order
to promote rapid growth in the agricultural sector through the use of
ICT.
Stakeholders, particularly farmers, can access this project’s services
through a variety of channels, including government offices, kiosks,
Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Kisan Call Centers, Agri Clinics, Common Service
Centers, and web/mobile applications. All of these services particularly
belong to the G2C model of e-governance. Aside from that, they can use
the project’s different Center and State Agriculture portals to access
services. These portals ensure that processes are standardized and that
data flows more smoothly. Data and Disaster Recovery Centers,
block-level computer hardware components, project site preparation,
project management software, development of various applications,
customization, digitization, capacity building, and training and change
management, among other things, are all included in the project. One of
the project’s main goals is to discover and adopt the finest
e-Governance practices across the country, as well as to upgrade them to
include other types of applications in order to create a national
platform that is adaptable for the states. Under the (AGRISNET) scheme,
which falls under the Central Sector Scheme of ’Strengthening/Promoting
of Agricultural Information System,’ the program provides financial
assistance to all participating states for all development activities
that are not covered under the NeGP-A. However, if farmers require
financial support from the government of India, the states must conform
to the AGRISNET scheme’s requirements.
The National e-Governance Plan for Agriculture is a Mission Mode Project
funded by the federal government. During the 2010-11 fiscal year, Phase
I of the project was implemented in seven different states around the
country, in accordance with the 11th plan. The initiative has since been
expanded to include the rest of the country’s 22 states, as well as the
seven Union Territories.
Pesticide registration, seed testing results, prices, and arrival
details, GIS-based systems for prices and arrival details, pesticide,
fertilizer, and seed information, and district-level agro-met alerts are
among the major services covered by the plan. Farmers can use two
different strategies to benefit from this project’s services. The first
strategy is through mobile applications. For this, various mobile
applications have been developed. Some of them are Kisan Suvidha, Pusha
Krishi, Crop insurance, Agri Market, and India Weather. The second way
is through web applications. Some of the portals developed under this
are Farmers’ Portal, mKisan portal, Crop insurance portal, and
Participatory Guarantee System of India (PGS) portal. The various mobile
applications and web applications aim to disseminate correct information
to the farmers at the correct time like weather conditions for upcoming
days, availability of markets, information on crop insurance, etc
(Thomas, 2022).
With respect to organic farming, the Ministry of Agriculture, Department
of agriculture and Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) launched
the ‘JAIVIK Kheti’ portal to promote organic farming globally. It is a
one-stop portal where farmers can sell their organic products as well as
promote organic farming and its benefits. It is an e-commerce portal as
well as knowledge-sharing platform. Various case studies, videos, best
farming practices, success stories, and other information on organic
farming are a part of the knowledge repository. The e-commerce portal
offers a whole range of organic produce for selling purposes due to
which buyers can benefit by availing the organic products at cheaper
rates at their doorstep. For the overall development and promotion of
organic farming, the portal links stakeholders like regional councils,
local groups, farmers, buyers, government agencies, and input suppliers.
There are options of forward auction, price-quantity bidding, book
building, and reverse auction mechanism for giving farmers the best
option to get the best prices for their products which involves their
efforts and hard work ((Jaivik Kheti, 2022). The Jaivik Kheti portal not
only fits into the G2C model due to the transmission of information from
the government to citizens, but also under G2B due to its setup for sale
of agricultural products to farmers. The exchange of information between
different government departments also makes it fit for the G2G model.
In the private sector, ITC has played a major role through e-governance
in the upliftment of small and marginal farmers through the e-Choupal
model. It is termed as one of the most successful system. In a
ground-breaking step, ITC established e-Choupals, village internet
kiosks that provided real-time, up-to-date, relevant information on
weather, price discovery, Agri know-how and best practices, and other
topics. The kiosks are staffed by qualified local farmers who assist the
agricultural community in obtaining information in their own tongue.
Farmers have been able to increase output, improve quality, control
risk, and earn better prices by having suitable knowledge and services
available virtually at the farm gate. e-Choupal minimizes transaction
costs and assists farmers in fine-tuning crop varieties and qualities to
shifting trends by developing a more efficient marketing channel.
e-Choupal, India’s largest internet-based rural intervention, has
evolved into an ecosystem of services that cater to a wide range of
rural needs, from Agri-extension and other farm-related services to
retail outlets, insurance, and healthcare (ITC e-Choupal - Empowering
Indian Farmers, 2022).