The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed dedicated satellites for supporting the country’s agriculture sector, the chairman of the space agency S. Somanath said here on Thursday.
Discussions have been held with the Department of Agriculture, the Government of India, on the proposed 'Bharat Krishi Satellite' programme, Mr. Somanath said on the sidelines of the Engineers Conclave 2022 which is on at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Valiyamala here.
Mr. Somanath said a minimum of two satellites will be needed to guarantee adequate coverage of the entire agricultural area of the country. They will aid a gamut of farm-related activities related to crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil data, and generation of critical data related to drought.
‘”Crop yield doesn’t happen over a week, it happens over a period of a few months. So you need continuous observation. Our satellites today are just not enough. So you need to put additional satellites which have a high revisit capability. We proposed we will do that,’‘ Mr. Somanath said. The satellites will be owned by the Department of Agriculture, GoI, and not by ISRO, he added. ISRO will provide the technical support.
‘Earth Observation Council’ Suggested
The ISRO chairman has suggested that an 'Earth Observation Council' be created for addressing the current deficiencies in earth observation capabilities and data utilisation.
Such a council can tackle shortcomings in this area in a centralised manner, he said.
Current deficiencies include a discontinuity in earth observation missions, low utilisation of available remote sensing data, technology gaps and absence of a streamlined mechanism for data processing and dissemination as required by the industry, Mr. Somanath said.
