The agriculture department of Bihar on Tuesday launched a special campaign for the ‘Farmer Registry’, aimed at providing a digital identity to farmers across the state. The campaign, scheduled to run from May 12 to June 30, was inaugurated by Agriculture Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha.
Major Step Towards Agricultural Digitisation
Describing the initiative as a significant move towards agricultural digitisation, Minister Sinha stated that the campaign would usher in a new phase of transparency and prosperity for farmers. He highlighted that over 55 percent of the registration target has already been achieved, including farmer IDs linked to beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan scheme.
Current Progress and Future Plans
According to officials, Bihar has nearly 4.54 crore land records, or jamabandis. So far, e-KYC verification of 88 lakh farmers has been completed on the agriculture department portal, while farmer IDs have been generated for around 47 lakh farmers. The remaining 40 lakh eligible farmers will be covered in the next phase of the programme.
Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit noted that the digital platform would improve transparency and reduce the need for farmers to visit government offices for welfare schemes and services. He added that the registration process would also help simplify land record updates and provide real-time information related to agricultural support and services.
Call for Farmer Participation
Agriculture Department Principal Secretary Narmdeshwar Lal urged farmers to complete their registration to avail themselves of departmental schemes and benefits. Minister Sinha emphasised that the initiative aligns with the Centre’s ‘Digital India’ vision and would help reduce the role of intermediaries while strengthening coordination between the agriculture and revenue departments.
Senior officials from the agriculture and revenue departments were present during the launch programme.
