The Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA) gave approval to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare(MoAFW) to use drones(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles -UAVs) to capture images of rice and wheat fields in 100 districts to assess crop yields at gram panchayat level under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Government of IndiaтАЩs Crop Insurance Scheme.
This is the 1st time in India that remote sensing technology based largest pilot study is conducted for crop yield estimation
Purpose
- To settle the claims under PMFBY in a timely manner.
- To estimate crop area and losses that occur due to localized calamities
- To resolve yield disputes between different stakeholders under the scheme.
Significance of Drone Images
The drone images are important input parameters for crop yield estimation at gram panchayat level developed by the agencies.
Large scale pilot study
Besides using drones to capture images, high spatial resolution satellite data, biophysical models, smart sampling, artificial intelligence among others are also being used in the study.
Yield Estimation for Kharif 2019 and Rabi 2019-20
The Department of Agriculture, MoAFW had┬а engaged 13 agencies to conduct pilot studies to develop technological approaches to estimate direct yield at Gram Panchayat level for Kharif 2019 and Rabi 2019-20.
The agencies conducted studies in 64 districts of 15 States for nine crops for Kharif 2019 by using satellite, UAV etc.,
Pilot Studies Conducted under PMFBY Across the Country┬а
Nationwide, many remote sensing data-driven pilot studies have been conducted under PMFBY to decide the optimum number of ‘Crop Cutting Experiments (CCE)’ to estimate the exact crop yield loss at insurance unit, for smart sampling technique and rationalization of CCE and direct yield estimation.
PMFBY Completed┬а5 Years
On January 13, 2021 PMFBY completed 5 years of its operation. It was launched by the Government on 13th January, 2016.
About Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare(MoAFW):
Union Minister тАУ Narendra Singh Tomar(Constituency-┬а Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State тАУ Parshottam Rupala(Constituency-Gujarat), Kailash Choudhary(Constituency- Barmer(Rajasthan))
