India, Jan. 29 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare today organised a National Workshop on "AgriStack & AI in Agriculture: Now, Next & Beyond" at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi. The workshop, held in follow-up to the 5th Conference of Chief Secretaries, focused on translating agreed national action points into time-bound implementation for building a smart, data-driven and farmer-centric agricultural ecosystem.
The workshop brought together senior officials from the Central and State Governments, domain institutions and key stakeholders to deliberate on administrative, technological and governance aspects of AgriStack as India's core Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for agriculture.
The deliberations centred on the key action points emerging from the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries (26-28 December 2025), which include:
AgriStack as the Digital Backbone for Farmer-Centric Governance
Setting the context, Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Union Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, emphasised that AgriStack is envisaged as a foundational, federated and interoperable digital infrastructure, critical for improving targeting, transparency and efficiency in agricultural service delivery. He underlined the importance of strong Centre-State coordination to ensure timely achievement of saturation and integration goals.
Senior-level remarks were also delivered by Secretaries from key Ministries and Departments, including Sri Ashish Bhutani, Union Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, and Sri KV Shaji, Chairman, NABARD highlighting cross-sectoral convergence for efficient delivery of services to the farmers using AgriStack.
From Vision to Execution: States at the Core
An overview by Dr. Pramod Kumar Meherda, Additional Secretary (Digital Agriculture) outlined progress under AgriStack and the strategic roadmap ahead, with a clear emphasis on institutionalisation, data quality, and scalability. He highlighted that AI-enabled solutions can deliver maximum value only when built on complete, current and trusted farmer and land datasets.
Shri Rajiv Chawla, Chief Knowledge Officer and Advisor, MoA&FW, in his session on State opportunities and last-mile challenges, emphasised technology adoption, operational readiness and governance reforms required to embed AgriStack into routine administrative processes.
AgriStack in Action: Delivering Outcomes on the Ground
A dedicated session on AgriStack use-cases showcased State-level implementations, including:
The experience sharing by States helped identify best practices and replicable models for adoption across the country.
The workshop concluded with an open house discussion, moderated by Dr. Pramod Kumar Meherda and Shri Rajiv Chawla, enabling State representatives to share feedback, raise implementation issues and identify collaborative solutions.
Delivering the Vote of Thanks, Shri Ravi Ranjan Singh, Director (Digital Agriculture) reaffirmed the Government's commitment to supporting States in implementing the action points emerging from the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries' for realising the vision of inclusive, data-driven and technology-enabled agricultural development.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
