MoU signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Microsoft
Part of: GS Prelims and GS -II – Policies and interventions
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Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft to run a pilot programme for 100 villages in 6 states.
The MoU requires Microsoft to create a ‘Unified Farmer Service Interface’ through its cloud computing services.
It involves creating ‘AgriStack’ on which everything else will be built.
About AgriStack
It is a collection of technologies and digital databases that focuses on farmers and the agricultural sector.
AgriStack will create a unified platform for farmers to provide them end to end services across the agriculture food value chain.
It is in line with the Centre’s Digital India programme, aimed at providing a broader push to digitise data in India, from land titles to medical records.
Each farmer will have a unique digital identification (farmers’ ID) that contains personal details,
Each ID will be linked to the individual’s digital national ID Aadhaar.
Need of the MoU
At present, the majority of farmers across India are small and marginal farmers with limited access to advanced technologies or formal credit that can help improve output and fetch better prices.
Benefits
Problems such as inadequate access to credit and information, pest infestation, crop wastage, can be addressed by use of digital technology.
It will increase innovation and investment towards the agricultural sector
