Microsoft Corp will deliver Indian farmers post-harvest management solutions with a purpose to recover productivity and efficiency across the entire farm sector value chain. The government has entered into a pact with the technology major Microsoft.

Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, “Adding that such technology-driven initiatives are a step towards doubling the income of farmers. He said the government will partner with other technology players too to create a vibrant digital ecosystem for farmers. 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.”

As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU), Microsoft concluded its local partner CropData will influence the master database of farmers to address challenges of individual or group of farmers. “The government has a verified database of more than 50 million farmers along with their land records,” said, a senior agriculture ministry official.