The Centre on Thursday convened a national conference under the chairmanship of Mr Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, to discuss and deliberate on the latest initiatives to improve agriculture statistics across the country. The event brought together senior officials from all states.

The conference aimed to enhance the accuracy, reliability, and transparency of agricultural statistics, which are crucial for policy formulation, trade decisions and agricultural planning.

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The primary focus of the conference was on the enhancement of agricultural production estimates and the integration of technology to strengthen data accuracy.

The Digital Crop Survey announced in the present year Budget Speech paves the way for accurate Crop Area Estimation. It will provide plot-level data with geotagged areas of crops and acts as a single source of truth.

Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES) has been initiated to calculate yield based on scientifically designed Crop Cutting Experiments for all major crops across the country. These initiatives are expected to provide near real-time and reliable data directly from the field, which enables more precise estimations of crop production.

The conference underscored the need for integrating cutting-edge technologies like remote sensing, geospatial analysis and artificial intelligence to enhance the accuracy and reliability of crop production data.

Various initiatives taken by the Department of Agriculture &Farmers’ Welfare regarding infusion of technology in generating Crop Production Statistics through revamped FASAL (Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology, and Land-based observations) was discussed in detail.

This updated version leverages remote sensing technology to generate accurate crop maps & area estimation for 10 major crops. Regarding Yield forecasts, collaboration has been made with various specialised Agencies such as Space Application Center, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute & Institute of Economic Growth. These Institutions shall work on various models to generate yield estimates of selected crops at PAN India level. Similar Models are also being used under Yes-Tech initiatives of Crop Insurance by various States.

Another critical aspect of the conference was the triangulation and validation of agricultural data using the UPAg Portal. This platform will allow for cross-verification of data from multiple sources, ensuring the robustness of agricultural statistics. It has an advanced data management system that integrates various sources to generate precise crop estimates. It supports evidence based decision-making and serves as a central hub for agricultural data accessible to policymakers and stakeholders.