Govt launches 11th Agri Census; smartphones and tablets to be used for data collection

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched the Eleventh Agriculture Census (2021-22) in the country on July 28. Speaking on the occasion, Tomar said that the Census would bring huge benefits to a vast and agricultural country like India.

He said that the government was focusing on increasing farmers’ income under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. “Besides, there is a need to change their standard of living, organize small farmers in order to empower them, attract them towards remunerative crops and ensure the quality of the produce at par with global standards,” he added.

During the technical session, the salient features of the Agriculture Census Implementation Procedure and web portal and mobile app were demonstrated. The new initiatives highlighted in the presentation include the use of digital land records like land title records and survey reports, collection of data through app or software using smartphones or tablets, complete enumeration of all villages in states with non-land records during Phase-I as done in states having land records, and real-time monitoring of progress and processing.

The Agriculture Minister said that the agriculture sector was reaping the fruits of concrete steps taken by Prime Minister Modi. The country is rapidly moving towards digital agriculture. This is the time to make full use of technology in this computation.

Tomar said that the Agriculture Census should be thought of from a broader perspective. Agricultural computations can also contribute to the mapping of crops so that the country gets its benefits. Tomar asked the Central Departments, State Governments and concerned institutions to carry out the Census with full dedication.

On this occasion, Tomar released the Handbook on Operational Guidelines for Census for the use of States/UTs and launched the data collection portal/app. Union Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje and Kailash Choudhary, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor Sanjeev Kumar and Senior Officers of the States/UTs were present at the programme.

The Agriculture Census is conducted every five years, but it is being undertaken now after a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The fieldwork for this Census will start in August 2022.

The Agriculture Census is the main source of information on a variety of agricultural parameters at a relatively minute level, such as the number and area of ​​operational holdings, their size, class-wise distribution, land use, tenancy, cropping pattern, etc. This is the first time that data collection for the Agriculture Census will be conducted on smartphones and tablets so that data is available in time.

Most States have digitized their land records and surveys, which will further accelerate the collection of the Agriculture Census data. The use of digitized land records and the use of mobile apps for data collection will enable the creation of a database of operational holdings in the country.