MC EXCLUSIVE Agriculture ministry embraces complete satellite-based crop area estimation

In September, the ministry is likely to publish its final estimates of production of major agricultural crops for 2024-25.

The agriculture ministry is poised to revolutionise crop area estimation by fully digitising the process across all districts in the country. This initiative leverages satellite-based data, which is about 95% accurate compared to traditional field surveys.

According to two senior government officials, the ministry plans to release the first-ever comprehensive satellite-based crop estimates in September 2025. "The estimates will include production data for both established and newer crops (such as strawberry, avocado etc) …marking a significant leap forward in agricultural data collection and analysis for the country," an official told Moneycontrol.

In September, the ministry is likely to publish its final estimates of production of major agricultural crops for 2024-25.

The ministry, in 2024, began testing the satellite-based data for estimating crop area. Last year, the ministry conducted a Digital Crop Survey (DCS) under the Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), in collaboration with state governments, to prepare the estimates. This survey is envisaged to totally replace the manual "girdawari system" to calculate crop area estimates, said the official.

The girdawari system is a method used in India to collect and record land and crop data, particularly in rural areas. It involves a village accountant, called a Patwari, who maintains land records and updates them with information on crop types, areas, and other details.

In an official release, dated November 5, 2024, the ministry said that DCS based crop area estimation has been done for the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha wherein 100% districts are covered under DCS in Kharif 2024. "This has led to substantial rise in area under rice particularly in Uttar Pradesh," noted the ministry.

In final crop estimates for 2024, the ministry published data of the following food grains: rice, wheat, nutri/coarse cereals, maize, pulses, millets, tur, gram, groundnut, soybean, rapeseed & mustard, sugarcane, cotton, and jute.

The total foodgrain production in the country during 2023-24 was estimated at record 3,322.98 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), which is higher by 26.11 LMT than the production of food grains of 3296.87 LMT achieved during 2022-23.