BHUBANESWAR: The satellite-based survey of agricultural land conducted by the state government to detect genuine paddy cultivation has thrown up at least 19 lakh non-farm plots with no crops.
In a move to ensure transparency and eliminate false registrations in paddy procurement during the ongoing kharif season, the government has completed field verification of 24.94 lakh plots across all 30 districts using satellite-based monitoring system so far.
According to official sources, the exercise had initially identified 26,14,137 land parcels as suspected non-cultivated paddy plots through satellite imagery analysis. These plots were subsequently taken up for systematic field verification. The survey process, which combines advanced satellite data with on-ground inspection, is aimed at accurately identifying cultivated and non-cultivated land registered under the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2025-26.
Based on the verification completed so far, 5,46,591 plots have been confirmed as paddy-cultivated land, while approximately 19 lakh plots were found to be non-agricultural land with no paddy crops.
Following these findings, the district registrar of cooperative societies (DRCS) in all districts have been instructed to issue show cause notices to farmers who have incorrectly registered non-cultivated land as paddy fields for the current kharif procurement season.
Officials explained that the satellite verification process follows a three-step mechanism - identification of suspected plots using satellite imagery, field verification by district-level officials and final approval by DRCS authorities. Only after successful completion of this process, online tokens are generated for eligible farmers. Tokens are withheld in cases where plots remain classified as suspected or are confirmed as non-paddy land.
The government said the technology-driven verification exercise is being implemented to strengthen the integrity of the paddy procurement system, ensure that benefits reach genuine farmers and prevent ineligible registrations and misuse of public funds.
Officials added that the remaining field surveys are nearing completion and the entire verification process is expected to conclude shortly, well ahead of peak procurement operations.