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Magazine
Inputs for agriculture
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In a country, where agriculture is the major livelihood option, it is important that the sector grows fast. L.R.A. NARAYAN suggests that the use of satellite data may help.
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P.V. SIVAKUMAR
Remote sensing data may revolutionise traditional methods of agriculture.
THE use of Satellite Remote Sensing with high spatial resolution and hyper spectral resolution is not yet common. High spatial resolution data of one metre and even less has been used, though not in India. This was available more than two years ago, although its distribution in India is through the National Remote Sensing Agency and is more expensive than direct purchase from the United States, which is not permissible. The application of such data to agricultural activity is much more now. Our future lies in agricultural and rural development. Unfortunately a great majority of farmers are small landholders and the use of satellite data towards their benefit has to be tackled innovatively. Precision Agriculture, which people in India have started advocating only recently, has also not been clearly evolved. The details of the ground and its three dimensional character are not clearly known. Geographically accurate topographical maps with close contours to show the drainage pattern at micro level are not available. So people try to use 1: 50,000 scale topographical maps with 20 metre contour interval to define micro-watershed to exploit and conserve the limited rainwater.
The Water Technology Centre of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has understood this, but, according to them, financial resources available are inadequate. But once such infrastructure is developed, it is perpetual and gives a sustainable base, whatever the size of the landholding.
About 49 per cent of our food comes from semi-arid, area, where the rainfall is low, runoff and evaporation loss is high. Even in reasonably well-irrigated areas, water use efficiency is rather low and efforts should be made to improve this, not only by creating check dams, but also by other means.
Ground levelling is an important aspect to define micro-watershed. In fact, precision farming, if adopted to suit Indian conditions, may bring in another kind of food production revolution, helped by a proper Land Information System and high-resolution satellite data.
The "IKNOS" one-metre resolution data is said to be geographically accurate only to the extent of two to four metres and it needs to be corrected for effective utilisation. This is done by using differential Global Positioning System (G.P.S.), although this also has its some limitations. We now use lasers and digital levels to reduce field level cost and if these were combined with high-resolution satellite data, our productivity would certainly go up.
It is not that our leaders are unaware of this, but limited action on the ground is standing in the way. To involve people with resources, we need to persuade them to adopt contract farming, towards which government leaders should work.
There are also other methods of improved rice growing, as this is one of the staple foods of many in developing countries where methods like "Systems Rice Intensification programme" (SRI), initially perhaps evolved in Madagascar in Africa. In this too high-resolution satellite data may find great use.
Mapping and analysing variability in field conditions and linking such spatial relationships, to management action, places production agriculture at the cutting edge of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.)/ Land Information Systems (L.I.S.) applications supported by near real time satellite remote sensing data. Since high spatial resolution satellite data is now available, we need not feel that small landholdings are a disadvantage, but can be an advantage.
Therefore let us not under estimate the correct and proper scientific use or input into our agricultural activity, in the innovative use of such satellite data.
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