Many Regional Councils end up entering data for their groups. The guidelines treat this as a service the RC gives by agreement, not an automatic duty. This episode covers what to agree, what to check before uploading, and the order the portal expects.
The short version
- Uploading for a group is by agreement, for groups without a computer, internet or English.
- The RC's stated duty is capacity building: teaching groups to upload their own data.
- Upload in order: group, members, land, crops, then the appraisal summary.
- The RC has 30 days to act on a decision; after that it is auto-approved and a non-compliance is recorded against the RC.
Decide Who Uploads, in Writing
Agree in writing which groups upload their own data and which the RC uploads for them.
Before a season's data lands on someone's desk, settle which groups upload their own records and which the RC handles. The guidelines make this an agreed service rather than an automatic duty, and an RC that absorbs every group's data entry by default loses the time it owes to inspections and training.
Capacity building is the stated goal, not permanent data entry. A group taught to upload its own peer appraisal summaries this season is a group the RC does not carry next season — and the guidelines explicitly contemplate groups using an internet café to manage their own online data.
Did you know?The guidelines mention groups using an internet cafe to manage their own online data.
Get the Farmer List Right Before You Upload
Check names against Aadhaar, land against the land record, and villages against the portal list before uploading.
Bulk uploads fail on the same few fields. Check these against the source documents before submitting, not after a rejection:
| Field | What to verify against |
|---|---|
| Farmer name and identity details | The Aadhaar record exactly — spelling differences are the most common authentication failure |
| Land details | Survey numbers and area from the land record; total plot area must reconcile with the crop areas entered |
| Village and location | The portal's own village list, which follows LGD codes — a village missing from the dropdown is a mapping problem, not a typo |
| Crops and area | Crop areas for a season must sum to no more than the verified plot area |
| Conversion status | Each member's current status and its start date, since the certificate is issued against it |
Two of these have their own fixes documented: missing villages and LGD code errors and demographic authentication failures.
Submit in the Order the Portal Expects
Group, then members, then land, then crops, then the appraisal summary: the portal expects this order.
- Register or confirm the Local Group, then its members — a farmer cannot be attached to a group that does not yet exist on the portal.
- Enter land and plot details for each member, with conversion status and its start date.
- Enter the season's crop details, keeping the total within the registered plot area.
- Upload the peer appraisal summary sheet for the season — no later than 7 days before the harvest date.
- Record actual yields within 60 days of harvest, which the RC then approves within 15 days.
Uploading is not the finish line. Once a group's certification decision is on the portal, the RC has 30 days to act on it. If it doesn't, the decision is auto-approved on the website and a non-compliance is recorded against the RC — so a backlog of unreviewed submissions becomes the RC's problem, not the group's.
Fix Deficiencies Rather Than Absorbing Them
Return incomplete data to the group; it has 15 days to resubmit.
The RC's screening role is to identify what is incomplete and say so. A returned decision gives the group 15 days to resubmit, which is usually faster than the RC reconstructing the data itself — and it leaves the group able to do it unaided next season.
Where a group is being wound down, split or merged instead, the mechanics are in PGS portal group management, and moving individual members is covered in transferring farmers between groups.
The Recurring Workload
600 member records at three minutes each is 30 hours of typing a season.
An RC handling data entry for 20 groups of 30 farmers is entering 600 member records, their plots, and their crops every season, then chasing summary sheets against a pre-harvest deadline that differs per crop. At three minutes a record that is 30 hours of typing before any inspection work begins — which is the case for treating uploads as a service to be agreed and reduced, not an unexamined duty.
Check yourself
Tap an answer to see whether you are right, and why.
A group's certification decision has waited 35 days for RC action. What has happened?
- Nothing yet
- It is auto-approved and a non-compliance is recorded against the RC
- The group is suspended
The RC must act within 30 days of the summary sheet.
When must the peer appraisal summary sheet be uploaded?
- Any time after harvest
- At least 7 days before harvest
- Within 60 days of harvest
Actual yields are due within 60 days of harvest; the summary sheet comes before harvest.
Remember these things
- Agree in writing who uploads.
- Check data against source documents first.
- Follow the portal's order.
- Act on decisions within 30 days.
Treat uploading as a service to agree and reduce, and the RC keeps time for inspections and training. KrushiFlow validates these fields and submits farmer records to the portal in bulk.