THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Crops grown on all landholdings - be it a coconut tree or vegetable orchard in your backyard or a vast paddy cultivation - are set to enter government records. The first-ever digital crop survey began in Alappuzha district a few days ago.
It is part of a nationwide programme to collect details of crops grown on all landholdings during different cropping seasons. About 299 villages in three districts – Palakkad, Wayanad and Alappuzha – will be surveyed in the pilot phase.
Details of the owner, crops, cultivated and non-cultivated area and photographs of the crops will be collected. The surveyors will upload the data to a central registry through a mobile app. The programme aims to create one verified source of truth about the farmer and his/her crop-sown data.
The survey is based on the database prepared by the State Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department integrating the base survey map of an area with the Record of Rights (RoR) with the revenue department. Training for surveyors in the first phase has been completed. The present plan is to assign 1,500 holdings for each surveyor. The agriculture department is implementing the programme in Kerala with the support of survey and revenue departments.
Advanced techniques employed for survey
The nationwide programme employs advanced technologies such as AI, Machine Learning, visual and advanced analytics, and geotagging. In future, the real-time data obtained through the survey will facilitate the development of farmer-centric policies, crop planning, estimation, and the functioning of agri-tech industry and startups. The Union government developed the web and mobile applications for the programme.