IFFCO has hailed the launching of “Project KISAN” aimed at calculating crop yield and disseminating advance info about impending hailstorms. The project would service its product from this very Kharif season (2015) using space technology. The MD tweeted to express his happiness and said that it would go a long way in helping farmers of the country.
Awasthi’s tweet read “Congratulations @isro @AgriGoI 4 launching project #KISAN. Use of Space tech 4 estimating crop yield. Will b useful 4 our #farmers @PMOIndia.”
A PIB release earlier said that the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan has launched KISAN Project.The project envisages use of Space Technology and geo-informatics (GIS, GPS and Smartphone) technology along with high resolution data from UAV and Drone based imaging for improvement in yield estimation and better planning of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs), needed for crop insurance programme.
The Pilot Study is proposed to be launched in one District each of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra during Kharif season of 2015 and two districts each of these States during Rabi season of 2015-16.
While launching the project Balyan informed that once the Pilot Study is successful, it will be extended to the other parts of the country. The KISAN project will be implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), an attached Office of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW in collaboration with ISRO, IMD and others.
Dr. Balyan also launched an Android App. Designed by ISRO (National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad). This App will help real time data collection about hailstorm occurrences along with photographs and geographical coordinates.