The Government on Tuesday informed Parliament that a little over 2 lakh hectare of the cropped area has been damaged so far this year due to hydro-meteorological calamities. The government also informed that it is aiming to create a federated National Farmers Database using digitised land records that will help to offer proactive and personalised services to farmers.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday informed that 66.55 lakh hectare cropped area was damaged in 2020-21. However, till July 27 this year, 2.024 lakh hectare area has been damaged due to hydro-meteorological calamities/ hazards, he said.
The maximum damage was reported from Gujarat, followed by Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, and Goa in the said period. The minister said states undertake relief measures in the wake of natural disasters from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) already placed at their disposal.
“As a first step in this direction, the government has already initiated building federated farmers’ database that would serve as the core of the envisaged Agristack,” Tomar said in another written reply to the Lok Sabha.
No private sector companies are involved as far as the building of the Agristack is concerned. However, leading Technology/Agri-tech/startup companies were identified and invited to collaborate with the central government to develop proof of concepts (PoCs) based on small portions of data from the federated Farmers’ database for certain identified areas (district/village), he added.
In a reply to another question, Tomar said that the Centre had approved nearly Rs 700 crore towards relief of farmers in flood-hit Maharashtra, even as Opposition members continued disrupting the lower chamber for the fifth straight day.