Monitoring Crop health using microwave remote sensing

First published on November 15, 2018 Crop health is dependent on Agro-hydrological factors such as soil moisture, soil type, Rainfall, evapotranspiration etc. With the emergence of satellite sensors, these parameters that influence the health of the crops can be monitored and analyzed in near real time. Detecting how these parameters vary over time helps...

Farmers in dilemma, as dry spell over Bihar shows no sign of withdrawal

According to reports by IMD, Bihar has been witnessing deficiency of rainfall from the past seven years with an increasing number of dry days. . The abnormal pattern of rainfall may affect the agrarian economy of the state adversely as agriculture generates nearly 24.84% of the State Domestic Product. As water remains one of...

Battling climate change with Satellite data

Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. The climate is changing drastically now than at any point in history, mainly because of the anthropogenic activities . Living and coping the impacts of the most debated issue of climate change is no longer a choice but is essential for survival. Climate change is growing as a...

Groundwater regulation based on the soil-moisture requirement, a much-needed paradigm change?

With a decrease in the trend of rainfall, groundwater becomes the primary source of water. Most of the regions are overly dependent on it resulting in a consumption rate higher than its natural replenishable rate causing water tables to decline. The decline in groundwater level in wells in India is estimated to be 61...

Microwave remote sensing and Irrigation management

With the increase in population, demand for food is also increasing.The critical challenges in attaining food security include the conversion of agricultural land to built-up land and diminishing agricultural yield due to several factors such as shortage of water, pests and other diseases, forms some of the critical challenges in attaining food security. These...

Monitoring Crop burning in Punjab and Haryana using Remote Sensing

Crop burning is the process of deliberately burning crop residues post harvesting. It is widely practiced by farmers in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in spite of government restrictions, mainly because of the lack of resources for scientific management of waste. The mass burning occurring in these states during the harvesting...

Actual evapotranspiration to aid water resources management

Evapotranspiration is cumulative of water lost from the capillary fringe of the groundwater table and the water lost by the plants whose roots meet the capillary fringe. On a barren land or land at the time of sowing, water is predominantly lost due to evaporation, as the crop grows the fraction of evaporation decreases...

Overcoming the shortcomings of crop cutting experiment in crop insurance

Agricultural production is subjected to many uncertainties. Hazards and unforeseen extreme climatic events increase the risk of agriculture production. Many risks directly affect farmers’ production decisions and welfare. Being an agrarian country, 48.9% of the Indian population directly or indirectly depends on agriculture (Economic Survey 2014-15). A total of 12,602 farming sector persons (8,007...

Soil moisture can analyze the impact of an irrigation project

The efficiency of an irrigation project or tanks can be analyzed by using the relative soil moisture in the ayacut area before and after the completion of the project. Traditionally identification of rehabilitated tanks was done by the manual method in which an individual has to visit each of the physical sites where tanks...

Estimating the likely impact on the price of agricultural produce

Price of any agricultural produce represents the equilibrium point where demand (i.e., buyers) and supply (i.e., sellers) meet in the marketplace. Newmarket information such as crop failure, widespread pest/disease outbreak, a major update to a previous crop production estimate, etc can alter the expectations of market participants and will lead to a new equilibrium...