Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Krishi Satellite Program
Mains level: Space applications for agriculture
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed dedicated satellites for supporting the country’s agriculture sector.
Bharat Krishi Satellite Programme
- Minimum of two satellites are stipulated 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.
- The satellites will be owned by the Department of Agriculture and not by ISRO. The ISRO will provide the technical support.
- 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.
Why need such program?
Current deficiencies include:
- 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
Applications of space for agriculture
Satellites in use
| Satellite Type | Satellite | Objectives |
| Multispectral imaging satellite | Resourcesat-2 & Resourcesat-2A | Multispectral imaging for crop production forecast, land, water and natural resource inventory and management, and disaster management support |
| Cartography satellite | Cartosat-1 | High resolution cartographic mapping, digital elevation mapping – drainage and irrigation networks, topographic mapping and contouring |
| Radar imaging | RISAT-1 | All weather imaging capability targeted for kharif crop (June to November) during south-west and north-east monsoon seasons. Flood and natural disaster management |
| Meteorological forecasting | Kalpana-1 | Comprehensive weather status reporting and forecasting |
| Meteorological observation | INSAT-3D & INSAT-3DR | Improved meteorological observations including vertical – temperature and humidity–atmosphere weather forecasting and disaster warning |
Issues in harmonizing space technology
- India’s satellite data is sequestered within the government.
- The private sector has limited access to it, even though it plays an increasing role in the country’s agriculture value chain.
Various govt programs
- Following are some of the programs that are functioning in full spirit-
- In 2017, these insular projects were integrated into a single entity, the National Programme on use of Space Technology for Agriculture (NPSTA).
| NPSTA Constituent Programmes | Goals of the constituent Programme | |
| National Programme on use of Space Technology for Agriculture (NPSTA) | Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land-based observations (FASAL) | Crop Forecasting |
| National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring Systems (NADAMS) | Drought Assessment | |
| Coordinated programme on Horticulture Assessment and Management using Geoinformatics (CHAMAN) | Horticulture assessment and development | |
| C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology and Geoinformatics (KISAN) now incorporated into Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna | Crop Insurance |
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