How Can Digital India Scheme Help Indian Farmers?

When we talk or read about agriculture, then we recognize India as a land of contradictions. Additionally, India produces 11% of the total global agriculture and also hosts the world’s largest number of malnourished people.

Moreover, the role of agriculture, as well as farming, is of providing livelihood to the farmers as well as to about half of the Indian population. Adding on to the same, though the smallholder farmers also use the government agricultural subsidies, the farmers have been marginalized. Therefore, keeping all this in mind let us now learn more about the How can Digital India Scheme Help Indian Farmers? So, let us begin now.

Based on several surveys and reports, it has been reported that the average debt of a farming household has risen fivefold in a decade with a suicide record of 300,000 Indian farmers since 1995. Adding on to the same, keeping the complexity of Indian agriculture in mind, it has been noted that a technology shift in the government policies will move the country towards strengthening Indian agriculture.

Let us now understand that how can Digital India Scheme Help Indian Farmers through the following points: –

1. Better prices- One of the biggest impacts of the Digital India Scheme is that it majorly focuses on reducing transaction costs by making the market prices better. Additionally, doing so also has the potential to connect with the farmers across the nation. Besides this, the Digital India Scheme will also help the farmers to release better profits.
2. Virtual Ecosystem- Under this scheme, India is witnessed as important to create a virtual ecosystem to support the delivery of localized services and information to farmers making agriculture sustainable as well as profitable for them. Moreover, doing so will also help in providing data regarding the timing of planting and harvesting, soil variability, market price volatility to farmers, moisture and nutrient levels, and rainfall variability.

3. Tailored recommendations-Under this, the maximum use of digital technology can be used as the key to increasing agriculture productivity by delivering the tailored recommendations to the farmers.

4. Direct cash transfer-Taking various initiatives towards making India digital will also additionally help the government in reaching out to the poor as well as the needy farmers of the country for the Direct cash transfers system. Moreover, not only will this help in increasing agricultural productivity but it will also help in replacing agricultural subsidies and reducing the debt of the farmer.

5. Social media usage- The Digital India Scheme will also majorly leverage the social media platforms and will also be an easily accessible medium for the farmers to learn about the best management practices to other farmers.

6. Savings– An intervention that has unlocked several tremendous opportunities for consumers is mobile money. In addition to the same, various initiatives like- BHIM, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, etc., can also play important roles.

Initiatives Taken by the Indian Government

As we have read about the contribution of the Digital India Scheme, let us now learn about the steps that are taken by the government. These steps are listed below: –

1. e-NAM
   

   eNAM Platform | Digital India| Digital Agriculture

E-NAM or also known as National Agriculture Market is an online trading platform that is used for agricultural commodities in India. Adding on to the same, the market also facilitates buyers, farmers, and traders. Not only this, the market is also helping in offering better proves for making the sales of the agriculture produce smooth.

2. BharatNet

Bharat Broadband Network Limited or also popularly known as BharatNet is a setup that falls under the Department of Telecommunications. Besides this, the department takes the responsibility of managing, operating, as well as establishing all the operations of the National Optical Fibre Network. In addition to the same, the department also aims towards providing connectivity to all the 250,000-gram panchayats in the country as doing so improves the level of communication in India.

3. National mission on agricultural extension and Technology

The only motive of this mission is to strengthen the agricultural extension as it will enable the delivery of improved agronomic practices as well as an appropriate technology to all the farmers.

4. AgriMarket app

This mobile application has been developed to keep the farmers updated about the latest price of the crops. Besides this, with the easy use of the AgriMarket app, the farmers can also get all the information about the prices of the crops in markets within a distance of 50 km.

5. Bharat Nirman

An effort taken by the government for the farmers, Bharat Nirman is for augmenting basic rural infrastructure. Moreover, the plan also aims towards supplying telecommunication facilities to the remote areas of rural areas.

6. e-governance efforts

Another initiative taken by the government is that it has put in operation the three portals- the mKisan portal, the farmer portal, and the Kisan Call Centre portal. Additionally, these three portals are set up to help the farmers in taking decisions for efficient farming climatic conditions.

Conclusion 

The Digital India Scheme was initiated by the government to help the farmers in numerous organized ways. In addition to the same, this scheme is a campaign that has been launched to make sure that all the government services are made available to the citizens. Besides this, the scheme has also resulted in an increase in the number of internet subscribers in India.