Centre, States discuss new mechanism for gathering crop data

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Last Updated24/08/2024

Union Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi said there is a need for continuous collaboration between the Union and State governments to achieve the shared goal of enhancing the quality of agricultural statistics

In a significant move to improve the accuracy and reliability of agricultural statistics in India, the Centre has convened a national conference in New Delhi, bringing together representatives from various States.
The conference, held on August 22, 2024, focused on the upcoming nationwide implementation of the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES), an initiative aimed at revolutionizing the collection and analysis of crop production data.

Accurate agricultural statistics are crucial for effective policy formulation, trade decisions, and agricultural planning. The current system of crop estimation has faced challenges related to accuracy and timeliness, which have, in turn, impacted decision-making processes at both the national and state levels.

The primary goal of the DGCES is to enhance the accuracy, reliability, and transparency of crop production statistics. By utilizing advanced technologies, the initiative aims to provide plot-level data with geotagged areas of crops, thereby offering a "single source of truth" for agricultural data.
This approach is expected to significantly improve the precision of crop-area estimation and yield calculations, which are currently based on crop-cutting experiments.

One of the key themes discussed at the conference was the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI) into the agricultural statistics framework.
The revamped FASAL (Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology, and Land-based observations) program was highlighted as a central component of this initiative.
The updated version of FASAL leverages remote sensing technology to generate accurate crop maps and area estimations for 10 major crops, providing near real-time data directly from the field.