Context
The Kisan Sarathi platform has emerged as a key initiative in the digital transformation of India’s agricultural extension services, providing farmers with information on over 610 Central and State government schemes.
About Kisan Sarathi Platform
- Kisan Sarathi is India’s largest integrated digital agro-advisory platform, launched in July 2021 to strengthen agricultural extension services.
- It is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, and is implemented by the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) and the Digital India Corporation (DIC).
- The platform provides timely, authentic, and multilingual agricultural advisories, along with weather updates, expert guidance, and information on government schemes.
- It is powered by the Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS), which enables two-way communication between farmers and experts and facilitates the transfer of scientific knowledge from laboratories to farms.
- It connects farmers with Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), ICAR institutes, and agricultural universities, enabling direct access to expert advisory services.
- It delivers personalized, region-specific advisories based on farmers’ profiles, covering crop management, weather, and market information.
- Farmers can interact with agricultural experts in 13 regional languages and receive responses to their queries in their local language.
- The platform provides advisories for major cereals, pulses, oilseeds, horticultural and plantation crops, fodder crops, livestock, poultry, fisheries, and allied sectors.
- It enables farmers to identify, access, and track Central and State/UT government schemes relevant to their needs.
- It provides single-window access to mandi prices, district-wise market rates, crop market trends, and a farmer knowledge repository.
