Assam completes 42% of Pilot Digital Crop Survey in state

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam has completed 42% of the Pilot Digital Crop Survey (DCS) till October 24, with the survey presently underway in 11 selected revenue circles of 7 districts in the state.

The Pilot DCS was started from this year's Kharif crop season in 11 other states, besides Assam.

Assam was selected as one of the 12 states for the Pilot DCS, undertaken towards the creation of crop sown/grown registry in India.

At present, the Pilot Digital Crop Survey is underway in 11 selected revenue circles (RCs) in 7 districts: Morigaon (all 5 RCs), Charaideo (Sapekhati), Biswanath (Gohpur), Nagaon (Nagaon Sadar RC), Darrang (Patharighat RC), Bongaigaon (Boitamari RC), and Karimganj (R. K. Nagar RC).

The Government of India allocated a fund of Rs 1.43 crore for the Pilot DCS under NeGP in 90:10 pattern, with the Centre contributing 90% and the State contributing 10% of the fund for the survey. The survey was started in mid-September 2023.

The Digital Crop Survey (DCS) is a pilot programme that was launched by the Union Agricultural Ministry. The survey is part of the government's Agristack or India Digital Ecosystem for Agriculture (IDEA). The program's goal is to improve agriculture in India by using data and digital services.

The Centre has launched digital crop survey in 12 states on a pilot basis from Kharif (summer-sown) season of this year for better sowing data collection.

The states were selected based on their preparedness. The ministry asked the states to collect information on the following basic parameters: Village name; Year; Season; Farmer ID; Farm ID; Crop name; Crop variety; Crop sown area; Geotags of crop photos; and Geotags of farm boundary.

It should be mentioned here that the Pilot DCS is being conducted by village youth, who are paid Rs 20 per survey number.

Notably, some important crops in Assam include: Rice, Pulses, Jute, Tea, Sugarcane, Potato, Cotton, Oil seeds, Fruits crops, Coconut, etc.

The primary objective of the Digital Crop Survey is to comprehensively assess plot-level crops cultivated during each season on verified lands, with authentication through physical inspection using geo-tagged photographs. The Digital Crop Survey system will facilitate the collection of crop information for each farmland plot within its specific boundaries.

By integrating Farmer and Farmland data, sourced from the Record of Rights (RoR), and geo-referenced map data (geo-coordinate multi-polygons), the system will accurately map owners' plots (Farmland Plots) with the corresponding geo-polygons. To ensure precision and control, appropriate Geofences will be created to determine the locations where crop information will be captured. The system will also mandate capturing photographs alongside crop data to maintain information accuracy.

There are various stakeholders for smooth conduct of the Pilot DCS including; state Revenue Department, Agriculture Department, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, P&RD and Assam State Space Application Centre.

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