The government is implementing various projects related to agricultural production forecasting and drought assessment involving the use of satellite imagery such as the Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land based observation (FASAL) project for agricultural production, field crop forecasting, the National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS) for agricultural drought assessment.
FASAL and NADAMS are operated by the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Center (MNCFC), an annex office of the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare. Currently, nine crops, namely rice, wheat, rabi, rape and mustard pulses, rabi, jowar, cotton, jute, tur and sugar cane are covered by the FASAL project.
Satellite images are also used in technological support to Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and also for various operational applications under PMFBY, such as Smart Sampling for Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) and Yield & Area dispute resolution.
MNCFC has worked with ISRO and Industry on the development and upscaling of various geospatial solutions and services. A Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed between MNCFC and Pixxel Space India pvt ltd. develop agricultural analysis models using Pixxel hyperspectral satellite imagery, for crop identification and mapping, crop health monitoring, and soil organic carbon estimation over selected regions on a pilot basis. This improves accuracy in crop estimation surveys, disaster management and relief, crop insurance, and farm-level alerts.
This information was given today by the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, in a written response to the Rajya Sabha.
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