Patna: Agriculture Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Tuesday launched the second phase of the state’s farmer registry programme from the auditorium of Krishi Bhavan in Patna.
The programme began with the creation of farmer IDs for cultivators from Phulwari Sharif block in Patna district. Five farmers — Lachhminiya Devi, Sunil Kumar Singh, Rampravesh Singh, Ajay Kumar and Uday Kumar — were handed their farmer IDs during the event.
The initiative is part of the state government’s wider effort to build a digital database of farmers under the Agri-Stack framework.
Government highlights digital agriculture push
Addressing the gathering, Sinha described the programme as an important step in Bihar’s agricultural digitisation efforts.
He said the initiative aligned with the Centre’s Digital India vision and was intended to improve transparency and facilitate direct transfer of benefits to farmers.
According to the minister, the digital registry would help reduce the role of intermediaries and strengthen coordination between the agriculture and revenue departments.
Over 47 lakh farmer IDs created so far
The minister said, Bihar has around 4.54 crore land records, or jamabandis, across the state.
He stated that e-KYC verification of approximately 88.40 lakh farmers had been completed on the agriculture department portal so far, while farmer IDs had been generated for around 47.85 lakh farmers.
Officials said the remaining 40.54 lakh eligible farmers would be covered in the next phase of the programme.
Sinha added that more than 55% of the registration target had already been achieved, including farmer IDs linked to beneficiaries of the PM-Kisan scheme.
Officials stress transparency and ease of access
Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit said the digital platform was intended to improve transparency and reduce the need for farmers to visit government offices to access welfare schemes.
He said farmer registration would also help simplify land record updates and provide real-time information related to agriculture services and support.
Agriculture Department Principal Secretary Narmdeshwar Lal urged farmers to register for farmer IDs in order to access departmental schemes and benefits.
He described the registry programme as a key government initiative aimed at modernising agricultural administration in the state.
Senior officials attend launch event
The event was attended by senior officials from the agriculture and revenue departments, including Revenue and Land Reforms Department Secretary Jai Singh, Agriculture Department Special Secretary Birendra Prasad Yadav, Agriculture Director Saurabh Suman Yadav and Horticulture Director Abhishek Kumar.
Farmers and departmental staff were also present during the launch programme.
