Starting this season, the State government is set to monitor crop production and inputs needed to pay crop insurance to farmers using satellite imagery to make the exercise more accurate and scientific. As part of a nationwide pilot, the project is being implemented in Ballari and Mandya districts for paddy crop.
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In Udupi, which is also among the 98 districts selected across the country where satellite imageries are being used for the first time for such an exercise, implementation has been deferred to next season as harvesting of crops has begun. The new system reduces manual interference, thus making projections for crop production more accurate. It also ensures better delivery of insurance amount to farmers.
The Centre has identified 98 districts for different crops in different States. In Karnataka, the three districts were identified for paddy, and based on experiences in the pilot, the project will be extended to all crops in all regions and for all seasons.
Sources in the government said that as part of crop production estimates, 1.4 lakh “crop-cutting” exercise was being undertaken in the State for various crops, and the use of satellite imagery is expected to bring down the “crop-cutting” exercise to less than 40,000. Crop-cutting exercise is a multi-department task done at the ground level to ascertain crop production, and the data is used to settle insurance claims in the eventuality of crop loss, based on the previous years’ average.
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The use of satellite imageries, sources said, would drastically cut down on human interference as satellite provides specific locations where crop cutting has to be taken up. Based on certain parameters, including whether the crop is hybrid or local, grown in irrigated area or not and whether it is mono-crop or mixed-crop, officials will arrive at production estimates. “Once the crop cutting is done based on the spot identified by the satellite, the wet yield of paddy will be taken up. The final quantum of the crop is based on dry age ratio, considering the previous year averages,” sources said, and added that about 500 locations would be taken up for crop cutting in each district.
Sources said there had been discrepancies in ground-level data collection as constant field visits are a must. In some cases, by the time officials could visit the survey numbers in the identified villages, farmers would have harvested the crop, resulting in the loss of valuable inputs. This would result in juxtaposing data from the taluk level, which would be cumbersome and time consuming, sources said.
State seeks clarification on rain-fed paddy cultivation
Karnataka, which tried a similar system using satellite imagery last year, has written to the Union government seeking clarification on paddy being grown in rain-fed areas. “Under the pilot, it is assumed that paddy is grown only in irrigated area and the system is not designed to have details of rain-fed paddy cultivation area. We have sought clarification on this,” sources said.
According to an official, rain-fed paddy cultivation is taken up in areas receiving heavy rainfall in Kodagu, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, and Shivamogga districts, data for which has to be taken differently. Karnataka’s experiment using satellite imagery was done in five taluks and the Centre is aware of the experiment, sources said. In Karnataka, the data collection commences from the time of sowing continues till harvest, while in the new system, data collection happens at the time of harvest only.