Around a third of India’s operational land holdings are not linked to Farmer IDs and most states have yet to sync the farmer registry with the Record of Rights or even draft a standard operating procedure for cultivator categories in the farmer registry. These are some of the key findings discussed at the National Conference on AgriStack under the Digital Agriculture Mission and Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, held in New Delhi on Saturday.
In a presentation to the attendees — including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare; agriculture ministers; and senior officials from various states — the progress on the Digital Agriculture Mission and Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses was mapped by senior officials from the Union Agriculture Ministry.
Launched in 2024, the Digital Agriculture Mission envisaged Farmer IDs for the 14.64 crore operational land holdings estimated by the 2015-16 Agriculture Census. Of these, around 10.42 crore land holdings — 71.4 per cent — have a Farmer ID as of Saturday. Further, around 40 per cent of the country’s net sown area does not yet have an attached Farmer ID. Farmer IDs are available for all cultivators with linkage to state and central government schemes, constituting the farmer registry touted as a key component of AgriStack, or digital public infrastructure for agriculture.
On the need to identify different kinds of crop cultivators, such as sharecroppers and tenants, the presentation noted that 22 states are yet to draft a standard operating procedure that may give shape to their mechanism to count cultivators inclusively. Moreover, at least 14 states are yet to synchronise their Record of Rights with the farmer registry as well.
Another presentation on the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses noted that the production of pulses saw a 6 per cent annual increase in 2025-26. However, 10 states have seen either stagnation or a downward trend in the area under pulses cultivation, with seven producing fewer pulses than a year ago.
The mission was launched in 2025 with a six-year tenure, including the promotion of high-yielding seeds and assured procurement for tur, masoor and urad.
Notably, for the rabi crop of pulses in the 2025-26 season, only two-thirds of the seed distribution target could be met, with only 3.1 lakh quintals of seeds distributed against a target of 4.6 lakh quintals. For the kharif crop in the 2026-27 season, the reported number came down to 15.6 per cent, or 97,829 quintals. Seven states reported usage of high-yielding varieties of seeds at less than 35 per cent, with 82 per cent of the released seeds utilised nationally.
Officials from state agriculture ministries and ministers present at the conference presented causes for the deviations. “Farmer IDs have been created for 10.41 crore farmers. However, around 14 crore Farmer IDs need to be created. So, all states are working rapidly on this,” said Chouhan.