Maharashtra is one of the most industrialized and urbanized states in India, but its GDP is mainly dependent on the agriculture industry. As rainfall deficiency is increasing the share of the agrarian economy in the net state domestic product is decelerating because it depends on rainfall for irrigation. According to IMD, Maharashtra has received 86.1% of rainfall from June 1 to September 4, 2018,¹ and 74% below normal rainfall from 1 October to 31 December 2018,² which has resulted into less water storage in dams and moisture content in the soil and has affected Kharif and Rabi crops. Effective use of available water resources, soil moisture, and groundwater storage can help to tackle this situation without compromising agricultural yield.

Estimated soil moisture and vegetation indices from the satellite images in this scenario can help in monitoring crop health. The soil moisture data at a higher resolution can even identify the spatial variation of moisture at the farm-to-farm scale. Hence monitoring soil moisture and vegetation indices in near real-time are beneficial for farmers to identify whether crops need irrigation or not and thus can make sustainable utilization of groundwater storage. Microwave-based sensors are capable of penetrating clouds and capture the data throughout the year and can aid in the estimation of soil moisture and vegetation indices. Farmers need to change and adopt modernized cropping patterns to use optimum water for the betterment of crop health and yield.

Passive microwave sensors provide soil moisture globally at a coarser spatial resolution whereas active microwave sensors have a higher spatial but low temporal resolution (1–2 weeks). Using soil moisture data directly from any of these sensors will have compromised spatial or temporal resolution. Satyukt Analytics Pvt Ltd has developed an innovative methodology which merges active and passive microwave data to obtain soil moisture data of high spatiotemporal resolution. Some of the applications where this high-resolution soil moisture data would be useful are:

• • Optimal irrigation in farms
  • Automatic billing of farm based on the actual irrigation
  • Monitor agricultural drought in near real-time
  • Improved flood risk estimation
  • Likely crop Yield
  • Irrigation Management
  • Improved weather forecast
  • Analyze the impact of an irrigation project

1. https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/maharashtra-receives-86-per-cent-of-average-rainfall-in-4-months-states-with-lowest-annual-average-rainfall-in-india-1332409-2018-09-05
2. https://www.firstpost.com/india/maharashtra-farmers-face-severe-water-crisis-as-winter-rains-play-truant-damage-prospects-of-rabi-crops-5841811.html