Geospatial Technology in Agriculture
26-08-2023
11:59 AM
1 min read
What’s in today’s article?
- Why in News?
- What is Geospatial Technology and How does it Benefit Farmers?
- How is India Focusing on the Use of Geospatial Technology in Agriculture?
- News Summary with respect to the Digital Crop Survey
Why in News?
The centre intends to launch a digital crop survey across 10 states beginning with the kharif-2023 season to collect information on various types of crops sown by farmers through an automated process using "Geo-Referenced maps" and remote sensing images.
What is Geospatial Technology and How does it Benefit Farmers?
Image Caption: Application of Geospatial Tech in Agriculture
- Geospatial Technology is an emerging field of study that includes -
- Geographic Information System (GIS),
- Remote Sensing (RS), and
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- It enables us to acquire data that is referenced to the earth and use it for analysis, modelling, simulations and visualisation.
- In agriculture, the technology can help the farmers in getting a clear and comprehensive view of their current farming operations by tracking on-field activities, monitoring weather conditions, etc.
- They can help farmers to adjust to following variables:
- Monitor the health of individual crops
- Estimate yields from a particular field
- Maximise agricultural production
- They are helpful in soil analysis, in the preparation of various vegetation indices, DEM (Digital elevation model), LULC (Land use land cover), etc.
How is India Focusing on the Use of Geospatial Technology in Agriculture?
- The Government of India has taken several initiatives towards promoting digital agriculture. For example,
- The Remote Sensing Data Policy 2011, released by the Department of Space, mandates restricted public distribution of imagery sharper than 5.8-metre resolution.
- The Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) set up a specialised organisation Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) in 2012, with focus on enhancing satellite remote sensing and GIS technologies in crop estimation.
- In 2021, the government opened access to its geospatial data and mapping services for all Indian entities.
- The draft National Geospatial Policy 2021 of the Department of Science and Technology further discusses the methods to create, access, and use geospatial data.
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing a new remote sensing policy, aiming to provide resolution data of up to 50 cm to all Indian organisations, including private companies.
- The satellite data (from Earth Observation Satellites like CARTOSAT) from National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), which comes under the ISRO, has already been made available to the states.
News Summary with respect to the Digital Crop Survey
- The digital crop survey will be rolled out (by the MoA&FW) initially as a pilot project in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP, Kerala and Gujarat.
- Once it becomes fully operational, it will add on to the age-old crop area statistics collection system, which is known as “patwari agency”.
- In the patwari agency, a complete enumeration of all fields (survey numbers) called girdawari is made of a village during each crop season to compile land use, irrigation and crop area statistics.
- The proposed survey will use the latest technological advancements such as visual and advanced analytics, GIS-GPS Technologies and AI/ML to provide “near real-time” information about the crops sown by the farmers.
- The Geo-Referenced maps (states to take up Geo-referencing) and remote sensing images would enable users to reach the right farm and collect the right data and images.
- A crop registry, with a list of all the crops sown in India is being developed. The registry will act as a single source for collecting the data in a standardised manner.
- The survey will also have a mobile interface that will allow offline data capturing in the field (farmland plot) where the crop is sown.
- The survey will help in creating visibility on -
- Accurate and transparent estimates of crops sown in states;
- Crop identification for improved production, crop grown area;
- Yield estimation from crop-sown data;
- Easy implementation of departmental schemes focused on crops;
- Easy verification, estimation and settlement of crop insurance claims;
- Assess cropping patterns for environmental impacts; and
- Improve market from the village to national levels.
Q1) What are the components of geospatial technology?
Geospatial Technology is an emerging field of study that includes - Geographic Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and Global Positioning System (GPS).
Q2) How geospatial technology aids agriculture?
They are helpful in monitoring the health of individual crops, estimating yields from a particular field, maximising agricultural production, in soil analysis, in the preparation of various vegetation indices, DEM (Digital elevation model), LULC (Land use land cover), etc.
Source: Govt to launch digital crop survey in 10 states this kharif season | Krishi Jagran | Cropway