The Union agriculture ministry in collaboration with state governments has provided digital IDs to over 61 million farmers across 14 states, according to a senior official. The facility will help develop a database of farmers which is linked to their land records.
The ministry is aiming to provide 110 million farmers with these unique IDs, referred to as Kisan Pehchaan Patra, containing the details of the farmers’ land holding, crops grown in the field and other details, by the end of FY27.
“Sanctioning credit and crop insurance using unique IDs of the farmers would be faster, while cash transfer under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan) is being linked to these IDs,” a ministry official told FE.
Out of 14 states who have initiated the programme, most of the farmers’ IDs are generated in the states of —Uttar Pradesh (13 million), Maharashtra (9.9 million), Madhya Pradesh (8.3 million), Andhra Pradesh (4.5 million), Gujarat (4.4 million), Rajasthan (7.5 million). And Tamil Nadu (3 milion). Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Kerala, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh have made progress in providing IDs.
Under AgriStack, part of the government’s digital public infrastructure initiative to streamline services and delivery of scheme benefits to farmers, these digital identities, similar to Aadhaar, will be generated over the next couple of years. In FY26 and FY27, 30 million and 20 million farmers are expected to get their IDs, respectively.
According to estimates, there are 140 million farmers in the country and around 30-40% of the gross cropped area is cultivated by farmers who do not hold the land.
While stating that the ownership of the data is with the respective states, the farmers registry application has the provision to onboard the tenant and lessee farmers. “The respective states and UTs can decide to include such farmers in the farmers’ registry as per the state policy,” according to note submitted by the agriculture ministry in parliament.
At present, under the PM Kisan, an API-based software checks the land records of the farmers who claim benefits. The ministry has made it mandatory for the new applicants for the direct cash transfer programme PM Kisan to obtain digital IDs linked to land records.
While existing PM beneficiaries would not be impacted, the move is aimed at ensuring that an authentic database for farmers is generated, officials said. The ministry had urged states to ensure digitisation of land records and updating of the name of the beneficiaries so that farmers’ digital IDs could be generated.
It also stated that if a new applicant to be included as PM-Kisan does not have the land in their names, the state’s revenue department will have to put in place a mechanism to carry out an update.
Under the Rs 2817 crore digital agriculture mission launched last year, the ministry aims to create DPI– such as AgriStack, Krishi decision support system and a comprehensive soil fertility and profile map to enable a robust agriculture ecosystem.
The AgriStack consists of three foundational registries or databases associated with the agriculture sector – Geo-referenced village maps, crop sown registry, and the farmers registry. The government has started to conduct digital crop survey across states since Kharif 2025.