Rs 76-cr plan for accurate crop forecast awaits nod

Remote-sensing applications will be used widely in agriculture to modernise the way crop yields are forecast. And not just forecasting, the ...

Remote-sensing applications will be used widely in agriculture to modernise the way crop yields are forecast. And not just forecasting, the same figures would be used to generate information on intensity of drought and soil conditions, land use and wasteland mapping, soil resource surveys, and pilot studies on cropping systems.

A Rs 96-crore project called FASAL (Forecasting Agricultural output using Space borne Agro-meteorological and Land observations) will be sent to the Expenditure Finance Commission for approval on July 16.

FASAL will integrate remote sensing, weather and field observation for more accurate results. This system has been in use sporadically for the past 10 years, but the proposal is now to institutionalise it.

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‘‘It will help remove human error and facilitate multiple in-season crop assessment in real time,’’ said Union Agriculture Secretary J.N.L. Srivastava. He said a pilot project has been initiated in Orissa to develop methodologies proposed under FASAL, which will now be dove-tailed with the main programme.

Fairly exhaustive, it will take into account crop acreage and crop-yield models developed in the process of implementation. It will not just have options of national forecasts, but will make possible forecasts even at the district level.

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