E Licensing Agri-Inputs – Agriculture & Farmers Empowerment Department, Odisha

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Empowering Farmers & Agriculture Sector: e-Licensing of Agricultural Inputs

The Agriculture & Farmers Empowerment Department works under the Government of Odisha to oversee the agriculture sector and empower farmers of the state.

Problems:

The process of  e-licensing of agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, insecticides etc. was offline. The applicants had to physically visit the same office many times for a single application making the process hectic and inconvenient for them. During the process, the applicants had to wait for a long period of time for getting their particular verified and license copy. Usually the officials pay a visit to the applicant’s whereabouts to verify the application seeking for a license. To train a large number of existing dealers and new applicants on the E-Licensing application system was a complex issue for the officials. It was also difficult to get the sale and stock positions of seeds, fertilizer and pesticides at different locations in the state in a single view platform. For executing the very objectives of the project, the problems related to IT infrastructure requirements for application were there. 

Solutions:

The payment gateway was made through an easy process through iFMS online system. The system of verification of candidates through conducting inspections was a long  process and it has been made that the completion of the inspection process must be completed within 20 days of the date of application. The simplified process of downloading licenses through scanning Quick Response (QR) codes has been successfully started so that the applicant would be able to get the license without paying a physical visit to the concerned office of the authorities. Before downloading the copy of the license, the applicants can track the status of their application and also they will receive SMS regarding the status of the application. 

Outcomes:

Now the authorities have a new single platform/web portal for the operation of “e-licensing” for agriculture inputs which has G2G and G2B integration for flawless rollout and future extensibility. Also the authorities are now able to provide timely G2B services to the seed, fertilizer and pesticide dealers. This has laid the time saving and cost effective approach in the system. All the information related to the registered dealers will be available in the dashboard for public view. For the monitoring of feedback and grievance mechanisms that will be now available on the homepage of the portal. 

Challenges:

It was difficult for the authorities to train a large number of existing dealers and new applicants on the e-licensing application system at a time. The data related to sales, stock position of sales, fertilizers and pesticides were difficult to assess at a time. Another challenge was to meet the queries of 314 block officials, 93 district officials and other applicants seeking their queries being solved. 

Innovations:

Innovations like QR Code and OTP based systems have been initiated in the state.  For getting license for dealing seeds, fertilizer and pesticides, the applicants who meet the minimum criteria have to download their respective license after scanning the QR code application. The web portal also has technologies like Aadhar enabled OTP, SMS alerts, payment gateway, e-signature upload, anomaly detection (Data Analytics), PWA based mobile application. 

Opportunities:

The project is a good example of the e-governance system established by the Government of Odisha. It provides timely web-based solutions in issuing e-licensing to applicant farmers and the individuals. It also minimizes the waiting time required to inspect and verify the credentials of the candidates physically. Such initiatives empower the farmers and it will enhance in maintaining greater transparency and accountability in the system. The project is promising in terms of ease of doing business and can be replicated in other districts of the state as well. Other states should also adopt such mechanisms which serve the mission of ease of doing business and minimum government, maximum governance in the country. 

For more information, please contact:
Dr M Muthu Kumar, Director of Agriculture and Food Production,Odisha at diragri.or@nic.in

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