Agriculture

Crop Insurance

The Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) is a national flagship programme for providing crop insurance in the country. NRSC is carrying out geomatics based studies towards improving the area-yield estimates, a key input to the development of methodologies for crop insurance mechanism. Methodologies were developed and tested at state level for Odisha. Generation of homogeneous insurance units (with village as unit) with reduced basis risk, investigation on crop yield estimation methods in Insurance Units, suggestion of improved methods for yield estimation are the primary contributions.

Crop Insurance Decision Support System (CIDSS) is being developed through a web-enabled integrated package for States. This will improve efficiency and transparency in crop insurance mechanism by enabling objective decision making, sampling design for yield estimation, generating yield estimates in the insurance units. Mobile applications are developed for crowd sourcing for field data collection, Crop Cutting Experiments (CCE) and crop damage assessment through Bhuvan Portal.

Crop Intensification

India grows 36 Mha of rice crop in kharif season in India. This is important contribution to food production in India as rice is the main food crop. It is observed that about 30% of this area is left fallow after the harvest of rice crop. Mapping and monitoring of post-kharif rice fallow lands using satellite data will help identification of suitable areas for intensification of rabi crop area. Kharif rice areas in conjunction with subsequent rabi crop areas have been compared to arrive at the fallow lands left uncultivated in rabi season. These areas have been analyzed along with corresponding soil and climate parameters to assess their suitability for cultivating short duration pulses during subsequent rabi season.

Sub district level spatial level information is generated and studied for the assessment of crop intensification in major rice-growing states of India namely Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal. The aim of this project is to provide an estimate of spatial extent and distribution of post kharif rice – rabi fallows, and also their suitability for growing short duration pulses.

Mobile applications are deployed for seasonal field data collection for geo-tagging the crop scenario. Information is available on Bhuvan-Crop intensification portal which is useful for decision makers, extension agencies and researchers.

Horticulture Crop Inventory and Mapping

Horticulture Assessment and Management using Geo-informatics (CHAMAN) is a national mission project for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperation, GOI and State Horticulture Departments. This project requires a reliable database for the inventory of horticulture crops in terms of plantation area, locations and generation of geospatial database. Satellite data has been extensively used for inventory major horticulture crops (mango, banana, citrus) in 40 selected districts of country. Generated database is useful as a reference dataabase in planning and devlopmental activities related to horitculture plantation management, extension and horticulture related infrastrcture devlopment. Pilot studies have been conducted for studying the site suitability for extending the areas of horticulture crops. Various layers viz. soil, groundwater, rainfall, land use/cover, etc. have been utilized to arrive at areas suitable for expansion of mango plantations.

Geospatial Technology for Inventory of Coffee Plantations (GeoCUP)

Geospatial Technology for Inventory of Coffee Plantations (GeoCUP) project is executed for Coffee Board, Ministry of Commerce & Industry for generation of reliable database on coffee plantation acreage. These are critical inputs for proper planning and management. A pilot study was successfully conducted and a national initiative on "Geospatial Inventory of Coffee Plantations at national level (Geo-CUP) with an objective of Inventory of coffee plantations at national level, Site-suitability analysis for expansion of coffee plantations, Generation of a Management Information System (MIS) for spatial visualization & querying, Hosting of deliverables on BHUVAN geo-platform. This information is a critical input for development and expansion of coffee plantations in the country. GeoCUP is recently launched for systematic inventory of coffee plantations in traditional areas in Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala, non traditional areas in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, and North Eastern States.

Mapping of High Value Crops

High value crops are agricultural produce that give rich dividends in economic terms. These crops are good alternative to reduce the possible risks that arise from mono cropping. Menthol mint (MenthaArvensis) is an important essential oil-bearing plant which is widely used in food, flavor, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. It is cultivated in large areas in the Indo-Gangetic plains in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Bihar, with maximum area in Uttar Pradesh. Inventory, mapping of menthol mint crop using geospatial techniques, Production estimation of menthol mint, Land suitability analysis for growing high value crops, Economic analysis of menthol mint crop cultivation is carried out for Ministry of Commerce, GOI.

Fibre Crop Information System

Cotton and jute are most important fibre crops of our country. A Fibre Crop Information System is developed using geo-spatial technologies. This will aid in generation of spatial fibre crop database and collection of field level observations, centralized monitoring and assessment of cotton and jute crop condition.

Monitoring and assessment of fibre crop prospects is facilitated with space-based observations and customised mobile application for collection field data through centralized web service on Bhuvan. This has facilitated the collection of significant amount of field based observations (about 12,000 over cotton crop in 9 states; about 2000 observations over jute crop in 4 states during 2016-17). NRSC efforts have benefited the Ministry of Textiles, GOI as the crop status reports are being generated through near real time monitoring of growth and development of fibre crops and aiding in efficient policy making. Sustainable use/optimal management of resources, mobile apps for field data collection, geo-tagging of the offices/establishments/centers related to these crops, data visualization and automatic report generation, analysis are being done on Bhuvan portal.

Tea Area Development & Management

Tea Board of India require the inventory of tea garden including small growers, monitoring of uprooted and replanted areas. Collaborative study has been conducted by NRSC to support the Tea Board, Tea Research Associations, Tea Gardens and Tea Industries with the adoption of geospatial technologies for better coordination, garden management and informed decision making.

Satellite data was used for estimating spatial variability of crown densities of shade trees, spatial database of tea gardens with section details, land-use, shade tree density for facilitating the administrative linkages among Tea Board of India, large gardens, bought leaf factories, small growers and Industry. Tea Garden Management Information System (MIS) is developed for this project to update the information on monitoring of uprooting and re-planting activities towards rejuvenation over a large area with minimum effort and manpower. Study has been done for Tea gardens of Jalpaiguri and Dibrugarh in Assam State.