NEW DELHI, 12 August 2025: The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is harnessing space technology to enhance agricultural productivity, monitor drought, and ensure faster crop insurance settlements under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Under the FASAL project, satellite-based forecasting is conducted for key crops including rice, wheat, tur, mustard, jowar, cotton, jute, sugarcane, soybean, lentil, and gram. In parallel, a geoportal developed with ISRO’s Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, provides real-time drought monitoring through data on rainfall, soil moisture, crop health, and water storage.
Space-based tools are also aiding PMFBY’s operational processes—such as smart sampling for Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs), yield estimation, and dispute resolution. The Krishi Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS), a cloud-based geospatial platform, integrates satellite imagery, weather patterns, soil profiles, and water data to support farm-level decision-making.
Pilot studies between 2019 and 2023 explored the use of satellites, UAVs, simulation models, and AI/ML techniques for yield estimation at Gram Panchayat level. Following successful trials, the government rolled out YESTECH (Yield Estimation System using Technology) for paddy and wheat from Kharif 2023 and soybean from Kharif 2024, aimed at transparent and timely insurance payouts.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur told the Rajya Sabha that these initiatives mark a significant step towards data-driven, technology-enabled agriculture in India.
Image credit: icrisat.org
