Rejuvenation of Agriculture in India: Cost Benefits in using EO Products
- Paper number
IAC-07-E3.1.04
- Author
Dr. V. Jayaraman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Mr. J.S. Parihar, Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, India
- Coauthor
Dr. S.K. Srivastava, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
India is looking for rejuvenating its sagging agricultural production and productivity by integrating high technology space inputs for both irrigated and rain-fed areas. The Earth Observations (EO) products today serve as major inputs to policy, planning and targeted interventions, contributing to building social capitals, natural resources assets and environmental gains on the long-term basis. The benefits are mostly indirect and often difficult to quantify in terms of money. The cost benefit analysis of EO products is therefore an involved exercise and not many examples exist globally.
The present paper, taking into account major national as well as some local level agri-projects in India, highlights the criticality of EO products in terms of their short-term as well as long term economic and social values. Three aspects viz., catalytic, timeliness and enabling have been analyzed to visualize the role of EO products in a holistic fashion. In the catalytic role, EO inputs have been found to play a role in the successful implementation of major natural resources development projects. The cost of EO inputs may be of less than 2 to 5 percent to the total cost of the development projects, but the nature of such inputs are critical and catalytic. For example, a major project on reclamation of around 0.6 Mha sodic soils in Indo-Gangetic Plans costs US$89 million where EO products costs less than 2 percent; but demonstrates their catalytic roles in terms of identification, monitoring and evaluation and as inputs to mid-course corrections. The second aspect is timeliness in terms of opportunity cost. In India, Forecasting Agricultural Output Using Space-borne, Agro-meteorological and Land Observations (FASAL) project is carried out for in-season multiple crop production forecasting in support of strategic decision on trade, price and procurements. In the past, timely forecasts from FASAL have been found to be accurate and helpful for the country to plan many of its activities, including taking early decisions on wheat import to meet the shortfalls. The enabling role EO products have been demonstrated in several projects especially those related to building physical and social infrastructure and also natural resources assets building. The cost effective role EO has played in the watershed development planning and implementation in India, including improving the livelihoods as well as natural resources assets building, is one success story worth emulating in many developing countries.
The most important aspect, however, is how the information is put to use for decision-making and actual ground level implementation. The paper attempts to provide a glimpse of these aspects in a coherent fashion.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E3.1.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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