Nabard partners with UNDP India to boost data-driven innovations in agriculture

New Delhi: UNDP India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to co-create data-driven innovations in agriculture and food systems to support smallholder farmers.

Under the MoU, the organisations will work to improve lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers by sharing open-source data for product development, transfer of technology and supporting the framing of agrarian policies, Nabard and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The partnership aims at enhancing and disseminating collaborative digital public goods like DiCRA (Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture).

DiCRA provides open access to key geospatial datasets pertinent to climate resilient agriculture.

DiCRA, which is curated by UNDP and partner organisations to inform public about investments in agriculture, already provides intelligence on climate resilience for 50 million hectares of farmland across the country.

Nabard will host and maintain the DiCRA platform and use its key geospatial datasets for policy making, research and development activities, with UNDP's technical support, it said.

 Speaking on the occasion, Nabard Chairman Shaji K V said the collaboration opens a sea of opportunities for the two organisations to leverage data and present it as a digital public infrastructure for the vast rural Indian community of farmers.

Such open data innovations can highlight best practices, optimise agriculture investments and shelter populations from various risks, according to the joint statement.

"The collaboration will strengthen our support to build sustainable agricultural practices and secure livelihoods, reducing the vulnerability of small farm holders, especially women," UNDP India Deputy Resident Representative Isabelle Tschan said.