The Indian government has launched a collaborative research project involving use of drone technology in farming sector for assessing quality of soil and compensation for losses due to flood, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a Lok Sabha query. The project aims to implement Hyperspectral Remote Sensing using drone systems and developing a locally researched prototype for soil health monitoring and integrating it with satellites for large scale agricultural applications in the future. Drones will soon be seen scouting over farm fields in India, gathering required geographical data using sensors, pictures, etc. and transmitting such information in real time. This technology will be used primarily in farming sector at regional/local levels for assessing land and crop health; extent, type and severity of damage, issuing forewarning, and settlement of compensation under crop insurance schemes. The project which is dubbed as “SENSAGRI: Sensor based Smart Agriculture” is formed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) involving six partner institutes, and will be funded by the government of India, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Information Technology Research Academy (ITRA), and ICSR as well. Use of drones in agriculture In February, Weather forecasting company Skymet in partnership with Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) had earlier conducted a pilot in Gujarat and Rajasthan, which involved use of drones for surveying farmer’s crops, helping them map crop diseases along with assistance for insurance companies in settling claims, as indicated by Economic Times. Earlier in 2014, Skymet, AIC and the…
