India targets 110M digital farmer IDs as AgriStack’s importance grows

From 2025, farmers in India will be required to have a farmer ID to receive government benefits.

The digital identity program is a significant part of the government’s efforts to digitize its agricultural sector, and a major highlight of the 2024-25 union budget. The farmer ID, linked to the Aadhaar biometric system, is a centralized digital identity that can help streamline benefits, insurance, subsidies and other welfare schemes.

The ID is linked to the Farmers Registry, one of the three registries under the AgriStack initiative which aims to develop digital public infrastructure (DPI) in agriculture. Aside from the Aadhaar number, it contains information such as mobile number, land ownership records and e-KYC information. The identity is designed to provide the government with information about the amount of land owned by the farmer, the crops sown and the number of livestock.

The government has prioritized the initiative. In August, the Finance Ministry allocated roughly US$600 million in incentives for states to develop Farmers’ Registries under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2024-25. Funds are available to states under the scheme until March, 2025.

As of December 31st, 2024, Indian farmers can access benefits from both the central government and state government schemes only through the farmer ID, also known as Kisan Pehchaan Patra or Kisan Card. Previous benefit applications required repeated e-KYC processes.

The government has set up ambitious targets to supply the digital identity to 110 million farmers, according to the Business Standard. Around 60 million are expected to be enrolled throughout the fiscal year 2024-2025 with the rest joining by the end of 2027.

At the beginning of December, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare urged state governments to expedite the issuance of farmer IDs.

A digital farmer ID was first proposed in 2021 as part of a wider strategy to modernize the agricultural sector.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  AgriStack  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  farmer ID  |  government services  |  identity management  |  India