Centre Approves Odisha’s AgriStack Proposals; State Eligible for ₹155.48 Crore Incentives

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has achieved a major milestone in its digital agriculture transformation, with the Government of India formally assessing and approving the State’s proposals under the Special Central Assistance (SCA) for AgriStack, a Digital Public Infrastructure initiative for agriculture. With this approval, Odisha has become eligible for ₹55.48 crore for achieving the first milestone of the Farmers’ Registry (FR) and ₹100 crore for the successful implementation of the Digital Crop Survey (DCS).

The recognition reflects Odisha’s strong compliance with national standards, timely achievement of coverage milestones, and effective large-scale implementation, reinforcing the State’s leadership in adopting data-driven, farmer-centric digital reforms.

The Farmers’ Registry creates an authenticated and verified database of farmers, enabling accurate identification of beneficiaries for schemes such as PM-KISAN, CM Kisan and crop insurance, among others. The Digital Crop Survey, on the other hand, provides geo-referenced, plot-wise information on crops sown, helping the State prepare realistic estimates of cropped area and production, strengthen procurement planning, and ensure targeted delivery of agricultural schemes.

Together, the FR and DCS address three critical questions—who the farmer is, where the land is, and what crop is grown—forming the backbone of transparent and efficient scheme delivery under AgriStack.

Welcoming the development, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment and Energy, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, said the approval marks a proud moment for Odisha. He noted that the achievement reflects the State’s vision of making agriculture more transparent, efficient and prosperous, and urged the department to leverage these digital tools to script a new chapter of growth and sustainability in Odisha’s agrarian economy. The Deputy Chief Minister congratulated the Agriculture Department, technical teams involved in the initiative, and the farmers of Odisha for the historic achievement.

Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee, said the AgriStack approval would revolutionise data-driven farming in the State by ensuring transparency, efficiency and prosperity. Emphasising the importance of agriculture to livelihoods, procurement and input distribution in Odisha, he said both the Farmers’ Registry and Digital Crop Survey would play a critical role in shifting from estimate-based planning to verified, plot-level, evidence-based decision-making across production, procurement and markets.

Dr Padhee further noted that integration of these platforms with weather, soil, pest and price data would enable predictive analytics for production forecasting, advisories, pest alerts and price trend analysis, positioning Odisha at the forefront of digital innovation in agriculture.