Lok Sabha Question No. 2866 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-17
Subject: Application of Space Technologies in Agriculture
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: Shri Shashank Mani, Shri Tatkare Sunil Dattatrey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2866

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER, 2025

## APPLICATION OF SPACE TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE

## 2866.  SHRI SHASHANK MANI:

## SHRI TATKARE SUNIL DATTATREY:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  major  initiatives  and  programmes  undertaken  by the  Department  of  Space  for  supporting  and  improving  the agriculture sector particularly in the areas of crop assessment, forecasting, resource monitoring and decision-support;
- (b) whether the Government has developed or deployed any spacebased technologies, satellite-data services or geo-spatial applications to enhance agricultural productivity, crop monitoring,  yield  estimation  or  natural-resource  management and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the Government  is  providing technical support to agricultural risk-management systems and early-warning mechanisms, and if so, the details thereof along with the manner in which such support is being extended; and
- (d) the expected impact of these interventions on farmers' income, agricultural planning processes, transparency in field-level operations and overall rural development?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

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- (a) The  Department  of  Space  (DoS)  has  taken  initiative  on  Umbrella Agricultural Application Programme titled SUFALAM (Space technology  Utilization  for  Food  security  AgricuLtural  Assessment and Monitoring) for advanced R & D activities to support different flagship programmes of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW)  for  assessment  and  forecasting  of  crops,  area-yield estimation at insurance unit level, green fodder  assessment techniques, development of dashboard for decision making regarding  drought  declaration,  crop  estimation,  etc.  Some  of  the key initiatives include:
-  Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology and  Land-based  observations  (FASAL)  -  An  integrated  multisource  system  for  in-season  and  end-season  crop  production forecasting. This initiative was institutionalized through Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), DoA&FW, New Delhi.
-  Coordinated  Horticulture  Assessment  and  Management  using Geoinformatics (CHAMAN) -A national-level initiative supporting  Mission  for  Integrated  Development  of  Horticulture (MIDH) for mapping fruit crops and monitoring productivity. This initiative was also institutionalized through Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), DoA&FW, New Delhi.
-  National Agricultural Drought Assessment & Monitoring System (NADAMS) -Operational since 1990, NADAMS provides fortnightly agricultural drought information at sub-district level using  vegetation  and  soil  moisture  indices,  with  alignment  to international drought standards. Institutionalized through MNCFC, DoA&FW.
-  PMFBY -Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YESTECH)  -  ISRO/DoS  contributed  through  development  of smart sampling technique for Crop Cutting Experiments. ISRO/DoS also contributed in development of Technology-driven framework for satellite and AI-based yield estimation. ISRO/DoS centres are mentoring states and guiding Technology Implementation Partners in roll-out of YES-TECH technology.
- (b) ISRO/DoS  has  developed  and  contributed  in  development  of techniques & tools for crop monitoring, yield estimation, enhance agriculture productivity and natural-resources management. Details of recent techniques & tools developed are as follows:
-  Crop  monitoring  -  An  AI-based  crop  mapping  tool  named 'SASYA'  has  been  developed  for  C-band  SAR  from  EOS-04 (RISAT-1A) and integrated into BHOONIDHI geo-portal of NRSC/ISRO.  This  tool  has  been  made  open  to  operational agencies, including MNCFC, MoA&FW.
-  Post-Rice  Fallows  Assessment  -  ISRO/DoS  operationally  maps the  post-kharif  fallow  lands,  using  remote  sensing  inputs,  to support  National  Food  Security  Mission  in  assessing  suitable areas for Rabi crop intensification.
-  Rice crop area and Kharif sown area - ISRO/DoS operationally caries out, since 2023, national level mapping of Rice crop area
- and Kharif sown area by the end of August month using EOS-04 active microwave (SAR) data.
-  Green  Fodder  Assessment  -  ISRO/DoS  has  developed  green fodder assessment techniques, using remote sensing data, for Gujarat  Cooperative  Milk  Marketing  Federation  (GCMMF)  and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
-  Agricultural  productivity  and  Yield  Estimation  -  ISRO/DoS  has developed a Smart sampling technique for improving the Crop Cutting  Experiment  (CCE)  locations  to  improve  the  crop  yield estimation under Yield Estimation System based on Technology (YES-TECH) initiative of PMFBY. Further, ISRO/DoS has contributed  in  development  of  crop  yield  simulation  models including  semi-physical  model,  machine  learning  based  model to  reduce  the  dependence  on  manual  CCEs  in  the  process  of crop insurance payouts under PMFBY.
-  Drought Assessment and Monitoring: ISRO/DoS in collaboration with the  MoA&FW and State agencies has developed National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS).
-  Satellite  Data-service:  As  per  Indian  Space  Policy-2023  the remote  sensing  data  from  Indian  satellite  missions  is  made open and free for all government users. Further, remote sensing data  coarser  that  5m  spatial  resolution  is  provided  free  and open to all users.

ISRO/DoS is providing the free services of C-band SAR data of EOS-04  missions  to  MNCFC,  DoA&FW  for  operational  crop mapping. Further, high-resolution satellite imagery for 13 states

- are  provided,  as  part  of  the  Agristack  Project,  to  strengthen digital infrastructure in agriculture.
-  Natural Resource  Management  -  As  part  of the National Agricultural Land Use Mapping programme, annual and quinquennial land cover and land use datasets at various scales (1:250K, 1:50K, 1:10K), for land use planning, food security, and environmental assessments are being generated by ISRO/DoS to support  the  natural  resource  management  activities  in  the country.
-  Value-added agro-meteorological products: ISRO/DoS operationally generates and disseminates through VEDAS geoportal (vedas.sac.gov.in), seven value-added agrometeorological products to six Agro-Meteorological Field Units (AMFUs) covering more than 85 districts and 500 blocks under Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva (GKMS).
- (c) ISRO/DoS is contributing in YES-TECH programme of PMFBY where space  inputs  are  used  for  risk-management  in  agriculture.  Under YES-TECH claim settlements are being done using area-yield based estimates over insurance units using various models where satellite-based estimates are contributing 30% weights. Additionally, special reports are also prepared,  using  remote sensing  inputs,  post-  natural  calamities  or  weather  perils,  to estimate crop damage and reduction of yield. ISRO/DoS is supporting Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare in implementation  YES-TECH  programme  as  'Mentor  Institute  for Technology roll-out' (MITR) for 12 States.

ISRO/DoS has developed a geospatial pest forewarning technique for  mustard aphid. The technique has been transferred  to NGE to facilitate  geospatial  services  for  digital  agricultural  monitoring  of various states including Gujarat.

- (d) The focus of ISRO/DoS is towards research and development in the field  of  application  of  space technologies in Agriculture, aimed at advancement  of  agriculture  mapping  and  monitoring  in  Indian scenario.

Space  technology  intervention  in  YES-TECH  of  PMFBY  led  to decrease in premium rate from 17% to 12%. Moreover, the claims of more number of farmers were settled using space technology blend than with only CCEs, especially under natural calamities. The YESTECH  system  also brought transparency in claim settlement through evidence-based decision making.

A  socio-economic  survey  in  Parbhani,  Maharashtra  showed  the usage of satellite products in the advisory improved the productivity  soybean  and  cotton  farms  by  2-5%  with  reduction  of input cost by 5-10%.

Similar, increase in transparency, productivity and economic returns are expected from agriculture sector with  enhanced utilisation of space inputs.

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