Agriculture ministry signs MoU to develop national level digital extension platform
1 min read . Updated: 06 Feb 2023, 06:34 PM IST
Premium- The platform will host a digital library of curated multi-format multi-lingual content, help extension workers access and deliver curated content to farmers on time and upskill the vast network of extension workers for agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, livestock and rural livelihood missions through certified online courses, the ministry said
NEW DELHI : Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Digital Green under public private partnership framework to build a national level digital extension platform.
“The platform will host a digital library of curated multi-format multi-lingual content, help extension workers access and deliver curated content to farmers on time and upskill the vast network of extension workers for agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, livestock and rural livelihood missions through certified online courses," the ministry said.
Addressing the occasion, Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, MoA&FW said that the proposed national digital platform will help make our extension system more efficient and effective by connecting farmers to the strong foundation of digital agriculture ecosystem that is being built by the government.
Ahuja added that the digital capacity of this extension system is crucial to help farmers reap the benefits of digital agriculture and will serve as one of the component of digital public infrastructure for Agriculture announced recently in the union budget.
“There are over 200,000 extension workers in India in agriculture, livelihood and allied sectors. This initiative will converge the outreach efforts of departments of agriculture, horticulture, livestock, dairy, fisheries and rural livelihoods under a single digital platform through a decentralized content creation and targeted dissemination," the ministry added.
The platform will be launched within six months and will have the portal and capabilities to serve the entire farming community in India and catalyze Ag-tech and other market actors with newer and higher value proposition.
“Technology has no value unless it makes a positive difference to the last mile farmer. I’m thankful for the government’s investment in the technology to make Indian farm system future ready," said Rikin Gandhi, CEO, Digital Green.
Gandhi added that the envisaged platform will contribute to and complement the national systems to emerge as a digital public good for the farm sector in India.
