Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday, June 14, 2026, announced that the government has built two digital platforms — Kisan Sarathi AgriStack and Bharat Vistar — to help farmers resolve their problems over the phone, with Bharat Vistar accessible via helpline number 155261.

Posting on X, the minister stated: 'भारत विस्तार' का हेल्पलाइन नंबर 155261 है ('The helpline number for Bharat Vistar is 155261'), adding that through these platforms, farmers will be able to get solutions to their problems on the phone itself.

Context

The announcement underscores the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare's push to make farm advisory and grievance redressal services accessible without requiring farmers to visit government offices. The two platforms — Kisan Sarathi AgriStack and Bharat Vistar — are positioned as complementary tools in this outreach effort. The helpline number 155261 is intended to serve as a single point of contact for farmers seeking assistance.

Policy Backdrop

The AgriStack framework was first announced in 2020 under the Digital Agriculture Mission, with the goal of creating a unified national database linking farmer identities, land records, and agricultural services. Kisan Sarathi was subsequently developed as a platform for delivering farm advisories and grievance redressal through mobile and web channels. These initiatives build on a longer lineage of digital agriculture efforts, including the earlier Kisan Call Centre network and soil health card schemes, and mirror the digital public infrastructure approach taken in sectors such as health under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

Successive central governments have expanded digital infrastructure in agriculture to integrate land, crop, and market data — enabling direct benefit transfers, personalised advisories, and faster grievance resolution. The current ministry's move to add a dedicated helpline for Bharat Vistar reflects a continued emphasis on last-mile connectivity for small and marginal farmers who may lack reliable internet access but can reach services via a standard phone call.

Stakeholders and Impact

Small and marginal farmers — who constitute the majority of India's agricultural workforce — stand to benefit most directly from phone-based advisory and grievance services. By removing the need for digital literacy or smartphone ownership, a helpline model lowers the barrier to accessing government schemes and expert guidance. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a former four-term Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh with deep roots in agrarian constituencies, has consistently positioned farmer welfare as a central pillar of his ministerial tenure.

The integration of AgriStack data with platforms like Kisan Sarathi and Bharat Vistar could, in principle, allow helpline operators to pull up a caller's land records, crop history, and entitlements in real time — making advisory calls more targeted. However, the pace of state-level farmer onboarding onto these platforms will determine how quickly this potential is realised in practice.

What's Next

The critical test for both platforms will be the speed and scale of farmer registration at the state level, where data integration with existing land and crop records must be completed. Questions around data privacy safeguards for the farmer profiles stored within AgriStack are expected to surface during parliamentary proceedings. Broader adoption of the 155261 helpline will depend on awareness campaigns reaching farmers in remote and rain-shadow regions, particularly ahead of the kharif sowing season.