Centre, Microsoft sign pact to promote digital agriculture in 100 Indian villages

The agricultural ministry and Microsoft India have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a pilot project in 100 villages of six states to promote digital agriculture. Microsoft will start a pilot project in 100 villages in 10 districts of 6 states (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh) to develop farmer interface for smart and well-organised agriculture, including post-harvest management and distribution.

For this project, Microsoft has tied up with its local partner, CropData. The project is for one year and both sides inking the MoU will bear the cost on their own.

Singing the MoU, agriculture minister Narendra Tomar said the agricultural economy is the backbone of the country. "The agriculture sector has contributed positively to our country's economy even in adverse conditions like coronavirus epidemic. Any loss to agriculture is a loss for the country. This is the reason why the Prime Minister has taken many tasks on priority basis."

Under the MoU, various tasks will be taken for the betterment of farmers in the selected 100 villages, which will enhance their income. This project will reduce the input costs for farmers and make farming easy. The ministry will also undertake similar pilot projects with other public and private players.

The move is aimed at increasing the income of farmers by removing the bottleneck of inconsistent information.

The pact was signed to give shape to PM Modi's vision to use modern technologies in the farming sector to make it more profitable and to attract new generations towards agriculture, a government statement said.