The government on Wednesday (14 April) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with technology behemoth Microsoft to provide post-harvest solutions to the farmers with an aim to improve efficiency and productivity across the entire farm sector value chain.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“Initially, Microsoft will work in 100 villages of 10 districts across states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The company will help farmers with post harvest management solutions through building a collaborative platform and capturing agriculture datasets such as crop yields, weather data, market demand and prices,” Tomar was quoted by Economic Times as saying.

As per the MoU, Microsoft through its local partnerCropData will leverage master database of farmers to address challenges of individual or group of farmers.

The company will develop farmer interface for smart and well-organized agriculture, including post-harvest management and distribution.

According to a statement by the Agriculture Ministry, the pilot project by Microsoft will carry out various tasks for the betterment of farmers in the selected 100 villages, which will enhance their income.

This project will reduce the input costs for farmers and make farming easy. It is proposed to undertake similar pilot projects with other public and private players to create a vibrant digital agro-ecosystem in the country, the ministry said.