Rajasthan completes digital ID drive for 90.19 lakh farmers
Rajasthan has issued 90.19 lakh digital farmer identity cards, meeting the Union Agriculture Ministry's target and becoming the first northern State to do so.
Rajasthan has completed the digital identification of farmers, meeting the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare's target of issuing 90.19 lakh identity cards. The State is the first in northern India and the sixth in the country to reach the milestone.
The achievement, carried out jointly by the Agriculture and Revenue Departments, covers roughly 118% of the 76.54 lakh operational holdings recorded in the 2015-16 agriculture census.
State Agriculture Commissioner Naresh Kumar Goyal said the verified digital identity would link identity cards, land records and the crop registry. That interconnection, he said, would strengthen the delivery of services including crop insurance, fertiliser distribution and procurement of farm produce at the minimum support price.
Mr. Goyal added that the system is expected to improve farmers' access to agricultural credit, quality inputs, localised and need-based advisory services and market linkages. It would also support micro-irrigation, water conservation, seeds and agricultural inputs, and enrolments under the Prime Minister's crop insurance scheme.
The digital identity is intended to make it easier to identify eligible beneficiaries and to direct farm services more precisely.