13 DEC ,Delhi: Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Minister of State (I/C) Science & Technology; Minister of State (I/C) Earth Sciences; Minister of State PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh today formally released the data products and services of RISAT-1A satellite for the user community.
On the occasion, an MoU was signed between the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Department of Space to develop the Krishi-Decision Support System (Krishi-DSS) using geospatial technologies and related databases for enhancing evidence based decision making capability of all the stakeholders in the agriculture sector.
Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Manoj Ahuja and Secretary, Department of Space, ISRO Chairman and Chairman, Space Commission, Shri S. Somnath, Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) and other senior officials were present on this occasion. The event was attended by representatives of various user Ministries/ Departments on online mode.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is developing Krishi-DSS, a decision support system, on the lines of Gati Shakti, using RISAT-1A and VEDAS of Department of Space. This will enhance the evidence-based decision-making capability of all the stakeholders in the agriculture sector by way of integration with MOSDAC and BHUVAN (Geo-platform) of ISRO and systems of ICAR.
Addressing on the occasion, Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that a new dimension is being added in the field of agriculture. Revolution is being initiated in the agriculture sector through space science. He said that the agreement between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Space will further enhance the strength of the agriculture sector. If this knowledge reaches the farmers, their production and productivity will increase. The quality of production will increase and export opportunities will also increase.
Shri Tomar said that the agriculture sector is very important in our country and in the whole world. Along with livelihood, this sector is working to speed up the country’s economy and provide employment to a large population. Earlier the sector suffered due to lack of knowledge and private investment. The amount of change, knowledge and investment needed in this area has not happened. This is the reason why the agriculture sector has not progressed as much as it should. In the year 2014, when the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi took over the work, he had a desire to take the country forward and work was done to connect it with new dimensions. Because of this, all the departments including the Department of Space changed their working methods, fixed targets and planned effective targets. Its effect is visible in the country today. Agriculture Department is also working on AgriStack. Work is being done to increase the income of the farmer and to save him from losses by forecasting.
Shri Tomar said that crop estimation, allotment to states, survey to declare an area dry, disaster assessment, – all these tasks will become easy after adopting technology. This technology is very beneficial for the agriculture sector as well as the country. After the completion of AgriStack, there will be a revolutionary change in the field of agriculture.