Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare M.R.K. Panneerselvam on Saturday announced a scheme for digital agriculture with an allocation of ₹8 crore.
All technologies, covering from seed to yield, can be obtained through the ‘Uzhavan’ mobile application, he said.
Individual farm-based crop plans, survey numbers and sub-divisions of all villages will be geo-tagged and super-imposed with details of land-owners’ basic information, soil health and the crops grown. The seven agro-climatic zones are divided into 1,330 micro agro-climatic zones to formulate profitable crop plans based on factors of production, according to the agriculture budget for 2022-23.
Artificial Intelligence will be applied to monitoring of crops for pest and disease and instantaneous management measures will be delivered to farmers through SMS advisories in co-ordination with Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mr. Panneerselvam said.
In co-ordination with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Tamil Nadu Drone Corporation, farmers will be trained at seven farmers’ training centres in the use of drones in spraying pesticide and surveying the stages of crops, he added.
Internet of Things will be adopted in State seed farms and State horticultural farms for automated irrigation and fertigation (the application of fertilizers with irrigation water). Farmers will be trained in the use of this new digital technology, the Minister said.
A portal, ‘Tamil Mann Valam’, will be launched in co-ordination with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. It will enable farmers to get the soil fertility status of their land, survey number-wise, and to print the soil health cards by themselves, he said.
The farmers will be provided with facilities for paying their contribution for agriculture inputs at agricultural extension centres through e-challan, credit cards, debit cards and Unified Payments Interface. The cashless transaction will be adopted on a pilot basis in one block of each district, Mr. Panneerselvam said.
