Farmers reluctant to obtain beneficiary IDs for central schemes

Belagavi: Months after the Centre made the centrally registered Farmer Identification (FID) number mandatory for all agricultural scheme beneficiaries, more than 24 lakh farmers in Karnataka are yet to complete KYC and give digital consent. Many farmers who already have the State's Proto ID are confused about the additional KYC requirement, causing further delays. In Belagavi district, out of 6.6 lakh registered farmers, only 22,810 completed the KYC process. The agriculture department is pushing to meet the targets—2,95,398 PM-Kisan beneficiaries and 1,51,871 other farmers—but progress remains slow despite multiple awareness drives.Farmer Registration & Unified Beneficiary Information System (FRUITS) in Karnataka, India, was used to create a unique Farmer ID (FID) for accessing govt schemes. Farmers can register via the FRUITS portal by providing their Aadhaar, land records, and bank details, or through self-registration on the mobile app.The identification number is mandatory for all central agricultural schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi.An agriculture department official said that the govt is moving towards transforming the agriculture sector into a comprehensive data-based system in the digital era, preventing ineligible beneficiaries and ensuring transparent distribution of grants. The main objective of this system is to make comprehensive information about farmers available on a single platform. Farmers should complete the registration before Feb 28 without delay. Otherwise, farmers may miss out on the PM Kisan instalment, which will soon be credited to their accounts. Continuous awareness is being created among all farmers through group call message boards and farmer contact centres.HD Kolekar, joint director, agriculture department, Belagavi, said that only after providing eKYC and digital consent, an FID number will be generated. Farmers can submit their land details to the nearest Farmer Contact Centre, department of agriculture and horticulture, along with their Aadhaar card and Aadhaar-linked mobile phone.Mohammad Roshan, deputy commissioner, said that no farmer should be deprived of the schemes and that a meeting will be held with all the officials, and instructions will be given again.