Vijayawada: In a major step toward complete mechanisation of agriculture, the Andhra Pradesh govt is set to launch a state-level Farm Machinery Inventory Survey (FMIS) across all villages. The objective is to collect granular data on agricultural machinery owned by farmers, cooperatives, and private providers to streamline support and develop targeted plans for equipment supply.The survey will be conducted at the grassroots level by agricultural assistants at Rythu Seva Kendras (RSKs) and is scheduled to be completed by Aug 31. Officials said it will cover farm equipment acquired both through subsidies and private investments, taking stock of ownership, usage patterns, condition, and technical specifications like make, model, and year of manufacture.Speaking to the media, director of agriculture S Dilli Rao explained, “This isn’t a routine machinery count. We aim to assess equipment availability based on crop type, season, and village-specific needs. The insights will help create targeted budgets and ensure effective deployment of tools where they are needed most.”The collected data will be integrated into the APAIMS 2.0 Farm Management Information System, a digital platform developed by Vassar Labs, enabling the govt to monitor availability, plan budgets and strengthen farm mechanisation programmes with better accuracy.The initiative is expected to serve multiple functions: identifying gaps in existing machinery, supporting Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs), guiding redistribution of underutilised equipment and strengthening policy decisions on equipment subsidies. It will also align with national schemes like SMAM and PM-KISAN.Officials said the govt is also looking at expanding services such as real-time CHC bookings, payment tracking and introducing AI-powered crop advisory systems based on the FMIS data. There are also plans to scale up drone-based spraying solutions. District agricultural officers have been directed to ensure timely and accurate survey completion with the help of RSK staff.Streamlining supportStatewide survey to map all farm machinery by Aug 31Inputs to power AI advisory systems and CHC booking platformsHelps identify idle machinery for redistributionDigital planning via APAIMS 2.0 developed by Vassar Labs
