The government has initiated a series of consultations with stakeholders to enhance use of technologies in generating crop yield estimation just after sowing season. This comes after concerns were raised over the quality of production estimates released by the agriculture ministry.
Through use of artificial intelligence (AI) based technologies and satellite imaging, the ministry will be focusing on generating real-time crop output estimates which would help the government assess the supply situation, especially for cereals, pulses and oilseeds, in advance.
Through application of technologies, the agriculture ministry is aiming to achieve timely assessment of crop yield data and resultant quicker claim settlement under the revamped Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Sources told FE discussions will be held with stakeholders, including private sector, for extensive use of technologies in crop estimate which would help the government prepare for contingencies.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week said the challenge at present is to estimate the quantum of imports required to cover domestic shortfall in various crops, especially pulses and oilseeds, after sowing is completed.
The agriculture ministry releases production estimates of food grain production every quarter, much after the sowing season. These estimates are based on inputs received from states. Concerns have been raised about the quality of production data released by the ministry, especially for rice, wheat, pulses and oilseeds.
The agriculture ministry is yet to release the first advance estimate for food grain production for the 2023-24 crop year (July-June) even after sowing of the kharif crops has been completed across the country.
“If we get likely output of these crops for the season in advance, we can plan for imports well in advance keeping in mind that domestic prices are not hit,” Sitharaman had said, after releasing the manual for the weather information network and data system (WINDS), under the revamped PMFBY.
The WINDS portal is a centralised platform that hosts, manages, and processes hyper-local weather data collected by automatic weather stations and rain gauges at taluk, block and gram panchayat levels.
The agriculture ministry is also piloting yield estimation system based on technology (YES-Tech), a technology-driven yield estimation system, offering methodologies, best practices, and integration insights for accurate yield assessments at the Gram Panchayat level.