New Delhi, Jan. 11 -- The government is weighing a major expansion of the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), with the upcoming Union budget likely to provide an outlay of Rs.7,500 crore for the FY27-FY30 period, a 166% jump over the mission's initial Rs.2,817 crore allocation for FY22-FY26, according to two government officials aware of the deliberations.

The move signals a push to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies across Indian agriculture to improve real-time decision-making on weather, soil, irrigation and pest management, as policymakers seek to raise farm productivity and reduce losses in a sector that supports nearly half of the country's workforce.

As per a CropLife India-YES Bank knowledge report, harv...