KADAPA: The government has developed a mobile application for the e-Karshak system to register crops grown by farmers which is mandatory to avail benefits of various welfare schemes launched by the government. Farmers must join e-Karshak and register the crops they cultivate. Some changes have been made to the previous policy and a new e-Karshak application form has been issued to farmers.
As per an estimate, 1,06,323 hectares will be cultivated in kharif this year across the district. Of this, paddy is estimated at 36,715 hectares, groundnut at 24,824 hectares, cotton at 16,574 hectares, red gram at 8,450 hectares, turmeric at 4,066 hectares and onion at 3,105 hectares. Apart from these, sorghum, maize, ragulu, black gram, green gram, sunflower and castor seeds are also cultivated.
The department of agriculture launched the mobile app to make various schemes available to farmers. All previous apps will be covered under this new mobile app. It is called the unified digital platform (UDP). As soon as the crop is harvested, the concerned farmer has to go to the nearest village secretariat office and register by providing the crop type, acreage, survey number, Aadhaar and land passbook details. All the details related to this land which is under the respective Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBK) will be displayed based on the newly arrived app. Details of the land where the geo-fencing is located can be found on the internet so that the relevant horticulture or agriculture department employees can go and do the e-Karshak. The digital certificate goes to the concerned farmer's mobile as soon as e-Karshak is registered.
Every scheme and programme implemented by the government depends on this e-Karshak system. If crop insurance is sanctioned, it will be examined whether the concerned farmer has registered at e-Karshak or not. If this is not done, the farmer will not be considered for crop insurance payment. Free crop insurance from the government, investment subsidy, zero-interest loans and purchase of crop products at support price will be available on this platform.
Registration on E-Karshak should be done for kharif crop from June 1 to September 30 and for rabi crop from October 1 to February 28. The full details of farmers should be registered in the new app.
Juttiga Muralikrishna, joint director, department of agriculture, told this newspaper that there had been a number of allegations against the e-Karshak registration in the past. He said the new unified digital platform application was brought in to see that it did not happen again. He said through this app, it would be possible to know whether the cultivated crop became e-Karshak or not.
