AP Govt to use remote sensing satellite

Amaravati, June 7: The Andhra Pradesh government announced here on Tuesday, It will use remote sensing satellite-based technology to assess damage to standing crops in times of natural calamities and unseasonal rains. The tedious and long-drawn conventional methods of manual assessment will be dispensed with.

The remote sensing technology, being used by the Meteorological Department to predict weather patterns, would now be put to use for agriculture too, Vice Chancellor of the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (Angrau) V. Damodar Naidu told media on Tuesday.

"The Angrau is working with the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, and soon we are going to sign a MoU with them. A.P. and Telangana, which have registered the maximum crop losses, would be the first States to use this technology," said Dr. Naidu, who assumed charge as the VC, on Monday.

The conventional assessment of farmlands, their extent, and harvest, begins with a village-level agricultural officer.
It also minimizes the risk of manual errors in the inclusion of crop loss data.