PJTAU to submit satellite imagery based crop area estimation report on Feb. 6

Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTAU) will submit a report to the government on the satellite-based crop area estimation on February 6, Vice Chancellor of the university Prof. Aldas Janaiah said here on Saturday.

Speaking to newspersons here, he said the university launched an innovative project to accurately estimate survey-number-wise crop area in every village based on satellite imagery, by entering into an agreement with a Switzerland-based firm specialising in the area SARMAP – a satellite image analysis organisation. The results of the project were verified by agricultural field-level staff and the accuracy was around 90%.

Mr. Janiah stated that the actual crop area recorded was 8% to 12% less compared to the total cultivated area as per data available with the agriculture department. The crop area estimation was completed in about 10,000 revenue villages. The Agri-Robotics Laboratory along with a Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory quipped with advanced technology were established as part of the Advanced Digital Agriculture and Technology Centre in the university and they too had played a role in crop area estimation.

Except for about 870 revenue villages for which maps were not available, the satellite-based crop area estimation was completed for all the remaining revenue villages. According to the preliminary results, it was found that, on an average, the actual cropped area was 8% to 12% less compared to the total cultivable area as per records available with the agriculture department.

The comprehensive report on crop area estimation for all districts would be submitted to Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao. He stated that the exercise of satellite imagery based crop area estimation would ensure that every farmer who suffered losses receive crop insurance claim (compensation).

Further, it would enable transparency and timely implementation in the procurement and purchase of agricultural produce and help reach various government schemes to every eligible farmer in the State.