PNS|Hyderabad
A new chapter in the history of Indian agriculture unfolded on Friday with the successful launch of India’s first Agricultural Data Exchange (ADeX) in Hyderabad.
Developed as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) facility for the agriculture sector, ADeX is a collaborative effort between the Government of Telangana, the World Economic Forum and the Indian Institute of Science.
The Minister for IT, Industries and MA & UD, KT Rama Rao launched ADeX and the Agriculture Data Management Framework (ADMF) at an event held here on Friday.
“Both ADeX and ADMF provide the right platform to ensure fair and efficient usage of agricultural data by the industry and start-ups and provide a big boost to the data economy specifically in the agri sector. These initiatives will help Telangana lead the country from the front in using innovation and technology to drive food systems transformation and improve the livelihood of farmers,” KTR said on the occasion.
It is an open-source, open standard and interoperable public good, democratising access to data and enabling the public and the private sector to build applications and deliver services to society.
Purushottam Kaushik, the Head of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India, World Economic Forum said, “Data and digital ecosystems are critical for responsible innovation in the agriculture sector. The agriculture data exchange and the agriculture data management framework highlight the power of multi-stakeholder communities and collective action in addressing complex challenges in the agriculture sector.”
The software platform facilitates the secure, standards-based exchange of data between agricultural data users (eg. agri application developers) and agricultural data providers (eg. government agencies, private companies, NGOs, universities, etc.).
Commenting on the launch, Prof. G. Rangarajan, the Director of IISc said, “ADeX will prove to be a game changer in the agriculture ecosystem providing an impetus to research and innovation in the sector and creating value by mobilising data for healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices.”
In Phase-I of the project, the ADeX platform is currently deployed in the district of Khammam and over a period will be expanded to the entire State.
At the launch, several Agtechs demonstrated their digital solutions using data accessed through ADeX, such as Market Advisory.
Utilising daily Telangana agriculture market prices, farmers will have access to market prices of all commodities across different markets in the state daily. With increased transparency, it will enable farmers to take informed decisions regarding crop selection, timing of harvest and choose markets that offer better prices, ultimately maximizing profitability.
In the Pest Prediction Advisory, Adex will provide pest data across 33 districts in Telangana, dynamic weather and prevailing pest conditions to provide targeted pest alerts to farmers, allowing them to take timely action, reducing crop losses and costs. It also supports sustainable farming by promoting pest management strategies.
It enables faster disbursement of credit and other financial support to farmers by supporting banks and financial institutions to harness data-driven insights to create a farmer credit assessment report. With the growth in the ecosystem and education and awareness efforts more and more agtechs are invited from both the public and private sectors to utilize the platform to build, innovate and deploy solutions for the betterment of farmers.
The Agriculture Data Management Framework (ADMF) was released by the Government of Telangana. The framework has been developed after extensive public and industry consultations on crucial aspects of data protection, management and innovation. Informed by domestic laws and regulations and converging global best practices, ADMF is an agile, forward-looking framework with the objective of facilitating consent-based responsible data sharing.
ADMF is applicable to all government departments dealing with agricultural activities as well as all agriculture information users and providers. Guided by best practices and well-established principles of notice, consent-based collection and processing of data and purpose-based limitation in utilizing the data, the framework provides a robust grievance redress mechanism.
The framework envisages an Inter-Departmental Committee, which will issue standard operating procedures and guidance on key aspects like access controls, data quality, data service providers etc.
The core principles of ADMF are built into the ADeX platform which ensures safety and protection for personal data collection and use. These twin initiatives will create a comprehensive data economy for the future of agriculture and will enable large-scale innovation for the farmer community.
