Information on crop statistics is required for planning and decision making purposes, such as, distribution and storage of food grains, Govt. policies, pricing, procurement and food security and so on. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare effectively uses contemporary techniques of satellite remote sensing in such decision making. Remote sensing data does provide many advantages over conventional methods, particularly in terms of timely decision making mechanisms, spatial depiction and coverage including cost effectiveness. Space data is used in addressing in many critical aspects, such as, crop area estimation, crop yield & production estimation, crop condition, deriving basic soil information, cropping system studies, experimental crop insurance, etc.

Crop production forecasts using satellite remote sensing data has been conceptualized by ISRO in early eighties. This led to the success of CAPE (Crop Acreage and Production Estimation) project, that was done with active participation of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW), towards forecasting of production of crops in selected regions. In order to enhance the scope of this project, the FASAL (Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land based Observations) programme was conceptualized, by developing methodology for multiple in-season forecasts of crops at national scale. A centre named Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) was established by MoA&FW in New Delhi in April 2012, which operationally uses space-based observations, at national level, for pre-harvest multiple crop production forecasts of nine field crops. Crops covered are wheat, rice, jute, mustard, cotton, sugarcane, rabi & kharif rice and rabi sorghum. Remote Sensing based acreage and yield forecasts based on weather parameters or spectral indices are used to provide production forecasts. The center is also actively involved in national level assessment of Horticultural crops and their coverage across the agro-climatic regions in the country.

Note: Bright Red indicates Crops in the above False Colour Composite (FCC) Images

In addition, the center also uses the space-based techniques in making multiple assessments of Drought conditions in the country, which in turn helps the Government in making decisions on relief measures for the affected areas in the country. A well-established Agriculture Drought assessment mechanism is used operationally by the MNCFC .

Indian Remote Sensing Data for Crop Monitoring