Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi has called on states to rapidly adopt and implement new technology-driven initiatives aimed at improving farm production estimates and boosting data accuracy. Speaking at a national conference on Thursday, Chaturvedi emphasized the importance of continuous collaboration between central and state governments to elevate the quality of agricultural statistics.
Key initiatives highlighted include the Digital Crop Survey, the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES), and an updated FASAL (Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space, Agro-Meteorology, and Land-Based Observations) program. These initiatives are designed to provide near-real-time, reliable data from the field, enhancing the precision of crop production estimations.
The Digital Crop Survey aims to deliver plot-level data with geotagged crop areas, serving as a single source of truth for accurate crop area estimation. Meanwhile, DGCES focuses on calculating yield through scientifically designed crop cutting experiments for all major crops across the country. The revamped FASAL program leverages remote sensing technology to generate precise crop maps and area estimations for 10 major crops.
The conference also introduced the UPAg Portal, which facilitates cross-verification of data from multiple sources, ensuring robust agricultural statistics. The Agriculture Ministry noted that these technological advancements are expected to revolutionize data collection, reduce discrepancies, and contribute to more effective policy-making in the agricultural sector.
In partnership with institutions like the Space Application Centre and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, the department is developing yield forecast models. Additionally, efforts are underway with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to enhance the supervision of crop-cutting experiments by the National Sample Survey Office.
The conference concluded with a consensus on the critical importance of these reforms and a commitment from all states to reinforce the agricultural statistical framework. Officials stressed that embracing digital surveys and advanced technologies will lead to more efficient data collection and better-informed agricultural policies.