Upcoming kharif crop area estimates to be fully based on satellite data

India will use satellite data instead of the traditional girdawari system for estimating kharif crop acreage, improving accuracy and coverage across all districts

The first advance estimates for kharif acreage this year, likely to be released in September, will be based on satellite data, eliminating the traditional manual ‘girdawari’ system for calculating crop area, sources told Business Standard.

 

“In our pilot studies, the results have shown accuracy in the range of 93–95 per cent, which is considerably higher than the manual method. Starting September, we will release fully digital acreage data for kharif crops,” the sources said.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare is working to improve crop area estimation by fully digitising the process across all districts using satellite-based data. Under the ‘girdawari’ system, still prevalent in rural areas, a village accountant maintains land records and updates them with information on crop types, areas, and other details.

 

“We have received cooperation from states, and they are on board with improving agricultural statistics. It is a step in that direction. Frequent and large revisions in estimates create instability, and we want to avoid that,” sources said.

 

Additionally, the use of satellite data will help estimate acreage for new and emerging crops, particularly fruits such as berries, avocados, dragon fruit, and kiwi. 

 

“The current manual method fails to provide any estimates for these new, diversified crops that farmers have started growing. This marks a significant leap forward in agricultural data collection, as current methods only cover the 25–26 major kharif crops such as rice, maize, and jowar,” the sources added.

 

Last year, the agriculture ministry began testing satellite-based data for estimating crop area. It also conducted a Digital Crop Survey (DCS) under the Digital Agriculture Mission, in collaboration with state governments, to prepare the estimates. It stated that DCS-based crop area estimation was carried out in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha, covering 100 per cent of districts during kharif 2024.

 

“This survey, which is intended to replace the manual ‘girdawari’ system, is an important step towards generating robust crop area estimates. It has led to a substantial increase in the area under rice, particularly in Uttar Pradesh,” the ministry had said. 

Digital leap

  *  The satellite-based estimates for kharif acreage will be out in September 

  *  Under the current girdawari system, the village accountant maintains land records and updates them with information on crop types

  *  The pilot studies of satellite method have shown 93-95% accuracy 

  *  The use of satellite data will also help in estimating the data for new and emerging crops