Mumbai: Around 70 lakh farmers in Maharashtra facing technical glitches with the Centre's Digital Crop Survey mobile application can now register their crops offline via the e-ferfar system, an official said on Saturday, PTI reported.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

Following directions from Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the state revenue department on Friday issued a Government Resolution (GR) permitting talathi-level crop inspections in places where online registration is pending for the ongoing Kharif season.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

The GR listed the problems that have disrupted the app this season: in some cases the application shows a distance of more than 20 metres between the actual field and the field boundary displayed on the app even though the farmer is physically present in the field; maps have been interchanged in the app; maps for entire villages are missing; and the names and land account numbers of some farmers are unavailable in the application.

The government said that in cases where online registration remains impossible despite attempts to resolve these technical issues, crop registration through the e-ferfar system would be permitted as an alternative for the ongoing Kharif season.

70 lakhfarmers expected to benefit
4glitch types listed in the GR
15 Aug 2021e-crop inspection system launched

In a parallel step, farmers who could not obtain a Farmer ID under the AgriStack initiative because land records or cultivation details were not available will now be able to get their records verified by the Talathi, Mandal Officer and Tehsildar, ANI reported from Nagpur. The Revenue Department's circular introduces the e-Ferfar alternative where online Kharif registration is not possible due to technical or geographical difficulties.

Source: ANI via NewKerala

Officials said the measures are meant to ensure that eligible farmers are not deprived of government benefits due to gaps in land records or cultivation information, and can access government schemes, subsidies, crop loans, crop insurance and digital agriculture services. The state introduced the e-crop inspection system on August 15, 2021, and technical changes were made in the application from December 1, 2024 to facilitate crop registration through the AgriStack platform.

ANI also reported Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as saying that Rs 5,000 each has been deposited into the accounts of 1.5 crore farmers and that electricity bills up to June worth Rs 58,000 crore will be waived, as the government backed farmers through a difficult year of inadequate rainfall and crop losses.

Source: ANI via NewKerala