Odisha Steps Up AgriStack Rollout, Reviews Farmer Registration and Kharif Digital Crop Survey

Bhubaneswar: With the state preparing for the Kharif cropping season, the Odisha government reviewed the implementation of the AgriStack initiative, laying emphasis on accelerating farmer registration and ensuring the timely rollout of the Digital Crop Survey to build a robust digital database for agriculture and improve delivery of farmer-centric services.

The review was conducted at the eighth meeting of the State Level Steering Committee on AgriStack-Odisha, chaired by Chief Secretary Anu Garg at Lok Seva Bhavan.

Senior officials from the Revenue & Disaster Management, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, Finance, Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Cooperation, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development, and MSME departments participated in the meeting. Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Pramod Kumar Meherda and AgriStack-Odisha Mission Principal Knowledge Officer Raji Jiwa Chawla joined the deliberations virtually.

AgriStack is a flagship digital agriculture initiative of the Centre and state governments that seeks to provide every farmer with a unique Farmer ID, enabling seamless access to government schemes, crop insurance, institutional credit, agricultural inputs and advisory services through a single digital platform.

Presenting the progress report, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Commissioner-cum-Secretary Sachin Ramachandra Yadhav informed the committee that Odisha has targeted registration of 44.38 lakh farmers across the state. So far, more than 20.75 lakh farmers have been enrolled, with Jharsuguda emerging as the best-performing district with a registration rate of 75.78 per cent.

Officials said nearly seven lakh farmers were registered between January and July this year, while May alone witnessed more than 2.29 lakh registrations. The committee also reviewed district-wise progress and discussed measures to accelerate enrolment in the remaining areas.

To strengthen implementation, the meeting proposed setting up an AgriStack Commissionerate headed by a Director-level officer. District-level committees under collectors and block-level committees under tahasildars, supported by a state-level Project Management Unit, will oversee the programme.

Chief Secretary Garg directed the Revenue, Agriculture and Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare departments to jointly prepare a standard operating procedure for identifying genuine farmers, sharecroppers and other cultivators. She stressed the need for a transparent, simplified and time-bound registration process while ensuring accuracy of data and timely completion of approvals.

The committee also reviewed preparations for the Digital Crop Survey (DCS) for Kharif 2026, which is scheduled to begin on August 16 and continue for up to two months. Officials informed that training of field staff at district and block levels will be completed between August 5 and August 17.

Lessons from the Rabi 2025 survey were also reviewed. During the previous season, 53.78 lakh hectares were surveyed and crops were identified over 19.91 lakh hectares.

For the upcoming Kharif survey, the government has tightened GPS accuracy norms, requiring data collection within 10 metres of plot boundaries. The Digital Crop Survey mobile application will also be upgraded with an AI-enabled crop identification and verification system to improve the accuracy of data collection.

To ensure smooth implementation, weekly block-level and fortnightly district-level review meetings have been mandated throughout the survey period.

Chief Secretary Garg said authentic data generated through the Digital Crop Survey would strengthen crop insurance implementation, improve production estimates and support evidence-based agricultural planning and policymaking.

She said the AgriStack initiative would play a transformative role in modernising agricultural governance by making public services more transparent, efficient and accessible to farmers through digital technology.