The Centre has launched a web portal named Krishi DSS (agricultural decision support system) aimed at helping farmers with critical data for crop management and productivity enhancement. It will help policy makers with accurate information from the ground without human intervention.

Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary, who unveiled the Krishi-DSS on Friday in New Delhi, said the geospatial platform will offer real-time information on crop conditions, weather patterns, reservoir storage, groundwater levels and soil health conditions. “This platform will be a new milestone for farmers amid growing concerns over climate challenges,” Choudhary said.

Krishi-DSS has been developed using technology similar to the flagship Gati Shakti initiative, to deliver early warnings about potential disasters such as pest attacks and extreme weather events.

Slew of data

The system will aid in crop mapping, monitoring and promoting crop rotation and diversification, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement. It will provide data on crop patterns across regions and track crop conditions throughout various growth stages, the ministry said.

“With crop mapping and monitoring, we will be able to understand cropping patterns by analysing parcel-level crop maps over different years. This information helps in understanding crop rotation practices and promotes sustainable agriculture by encouraging the cultivation of diverse crops,” an official said.

Ministry officials said the portal will help in better monitoring of drought as information will be near real-time on various indicators like soil moisture, water storage, crop condition, dry spells and IMD’s forecast. As data from the soil health card scheme is available, its integration with Krishi-DSS portal when analysed with other information will be helpful to advise farmers on crop suitability and land capability for implementing soil water conservation measures, the official said.

Expanding remote sensing use

Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi emphasised the benefits of space technology in agriculture and urged for expanded use of remote sensing across more crop varieties. He stressed that early warning systems may help save farmers’ lives and cited instances in Uttar Pradesh where agricultural workers as well as farmers die on the field due to lightening incidents.

However, sources said while information gathering is a laudable effort, there will be miles to travel when it comes to analysing such data and acting upon those. The sources cited instances of pest attacks on the cotton crop last year in Punjab and Haryana which resulted in several cases of farmers shifting to other crops this year.

Speaking on the occasion, ISRO Space Applications Centre’s Director Nilesh M Desai said space technologies have been applied in the farm sector since 1969, but there a need to extend their use beyond paddy and wheat.

The Krishi-DSS platform has been developed using RISAT-1A and VEDAS of the Department of Space. The launch of the platform was planned before National Space Day, celebrated on August 23 to commemorate the soft landing of the Vikram Lander and deployment of the Pragyaan Rover on the Moon under Chandrayaan-3 Mission.

The Agriculture Ministry organised a national conference on role of space technology in propelling India’s farm sector growth.