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Geospatial Applications in Natural Resource Management
Overview
The ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (ICAR-NBSS&LUP), Nagpur, a premier institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was set up in the year 1976 with its headquarters in Nagpur and Regional Centres in Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Jorhat and Udaipur. The institute’s objective is to prepare soil resource maps at the state and district level and provide research inputs on soil resource mapping and its applications, spanning verticals like land evaluation, land use planning, land resource management and database management optimizing land use on different kinds of soils in the country.
ICAR-NBSS&LUP bases its research on Geospatial technologies. The Bureau has been engaged in carrying out soil resource inventory, and agroecological and soil-degradation mapping at the country, state, and district levels for qualitative assessment and monitoring of soil health towards viable land-use planning by using Geospatial technologies. ICAR-NBSS&LUP is also engaged in imparting training on the use of Geospatial technologies to ICAR staff, State Agricultural Universities, and soil survey agencies in Soil Survey, Land Evaluation, and Soil Survey Interpretation for Land Use Planning.
Objectives
The core objective of the programme is to leverage the potential of Geospatial applications in natural resource management in India. This includes the use of temporal satellite data, digital elevation models (DEM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) through the dedicated BHOOMI Geoportal of ICAR-NBSS&LUP for:
y Soil resource inventory y Agro-ecological studies y Land degradation assessment y Geospatial database management y Crop suitability modelling, and y Dissemination of geospatial information on soil and allied resources.
Stakeholders Involved
Government agencies, planners, policymakers, state agricultural departments, students, and farmers.
Use of Geospatial Technologies
y Remote sensing and GIS applications in landforms mapping and soil-landscape modelling y Soil survey and mapping of the soils at different scales in India y through contemporary soil digital mapping techniques y Use of modern geostatistical tools in soil survey, land evaluation and land use planning y Application of geospatial technologies in characterization of AERs/AESRs/AEZs/AEUs y Application of geospatial technologies in the assessment and monitoring of land degradation y Agro-ecological sub-regions-based Land Use planning at different levels y Strengthening hyperspectral soil reflectance library and modelling hyperspectral data y Dissemination of soil and allied resource information through BHOOMI Geoportal. Key Outputs
ICAR-NBSS&LUP achieved the following landmarks since its inception in 1976 by using geospatial applications:
y Soil resources map of India on 1:1m for national level agricultural planning and 1:250,000 scale for state level agricultural planning generated y 300 benchmark soils in India identified for monitoring the soil health across India y Soil resource maps produced for 80 districts on 1:50,000 scale for district level agricultural planning and for 200 blocks on 1:10,000 scale for block level agricultural planning y 20 Agro-ecological regions (AERs) of India (1992) and 60 Agro-ecological sub-regions (AESRs) of India (1999) delineated for agricultural planning y Harmonized degraded and wastelands of India delineated through collaboration y Crop suitability maps developed at various levels for agricultural planning y Dedicated BHOOMI Geoportal developed and launched for dissemination of soil and allied information y Agro-ecological zones delineated in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala states y Soil fertility parameters predicted through VNIR soil reflectance data for West Bengal state y Detailed soil mapping in basaltic terrain for land resources management using Cartosat-1 data y The India Soil Information System Geoportal was developed and deployed for various stakeholders y District Soil Information System developed on a 1:50,000 scale for 50 districts of India y Digital terrain database and landform mapping developed for selected blocks in Central India y Soil reflectance methods and low cast sensors developed for variable rate inputs in agriculture y Land degradation in major ecosystems of India assessed using geospatial technologies y Analysis of soil variability in rubber-growing areas of Kerala and Tamil Nadu
