Ministry ties up with Jio, ITC, NCDEX on agritech
The Hindu
Cisco, Ninjacart too to build solutions
The Agriculture Ministry signed agreements on Tuesday with Reliance’s Jio Platforms, ITC, Cisco, NCDEX e-Markets and Ninjacart to develop agritech solutions using its National Farmers Database which includes information of 5.5 crore farmers. Microsoft, Amazon and Patanjali are among the companies that signed agreements for similar pilot projects earlier this year.
This is part of an effort to modernise the agriculture sector by infusing new technologies so that farmers can increase their income, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while signing the Memoranda of Understanding with the companies’ representatives, according to an official statement. Pilots could be scaled up to a national level if successful, the Ministry had said earlier.
Reliance’s JioKrishi platform provides services to create a data-driven farmer ecosystem, enabling analysis of farmers’ specific soil conditions and irrigation needs and connect them to experts as well as educational videos. Under its agreement with the Agriculture Ministry, it will roll out a primary intervention module in the Jalna and Nashik districts of Maharashtra as a pilot project.