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Monday 23 February 2015

Government to digitally map farms with satellite for crop insurance; proposal being discussed with IRDA

The government is preparing to deploy orbiting satellites to digitally map each farmland in the country, data from which will be used to provide tailor-made crop insurance cover to farmers. A senior government official told ET that a proposal in this regard is being discussed with the insurance regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India ( Irda).

Explaining the move, the official said the idea is to digitally map all of India's farming plots using GPS readings and offer farmers yield-based insurance products, which will cover their individual risks. At present, crop insurance mainly covers the loans taken by a farmer and not his farming activities.

"Satellite based estimation model is very important because of small farm sizes in the country," the official said. "Based on the imagery from the satellite, a vegetative index will be determined and after co-relating the data with yield for a particular crop, the yield of the individual farmer will be estimated to work out a tailor-made insurance cover."

A concept note on 'development of plot-level insurance' through satellite technology is being prepared, which will be discussed with all stake holders, the official added. The data will also be useful in providing vital agricultural knowledge inputs to the farmers. "Irda will work with insurers to develop a standard product that will be easy to market with terms of settlement to attract farmers," said another official aware of the deliberations, adding that working groups at state government level will be set up to chalk out a roadmap. The scheme will be first launched in select states before being taken up nationally in phases. "Discussions are on with Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The implementation of this model can be initiated from the next rabi period," the official said. The government is also looking to run a pilot model, where in insurers will promote plot-level insurance with a target of around 500 acre per village.

The move is in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for focusing attention on the health of soil in agricultural areas to boost productivity and bring about increased prosperity.

At present, the National Crop Insurance Programme provides for taking up pilot studies to explore the possibility of using modern technologies like remote sensing technology to supplement yield assessment through crop cutting experiments. 


Source: The Economic Times

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