Geospatial Technologies for Data-Led Agro-Climatic Planning and Sustainable Management

Overview

Agriculture reform is the need of the hour to bring better productivity through the utilization of new technology. In the twenty-first century, to steer agricultural achievements towards the path of an 'evergreen revolution' there is a need to blend traditional knowledge with frontier technologies. Information and communication technology aided by space and geospatial technologies can help establish sound agricultural management systems for efficient and sustainable agricultural planning, bringing unused, underused, and wasteland areas under the ambit of productive agriculture.

The Agro-Climatic Planning and Information Bank (APIB) was created with a similar motive. APIB provides single-window access to all agricultural-related information and decision support to users of agricultural and allied sectors. Its comprehensive database structure contains information on both spatial and non-spatial elements, such as soil quality, fertilizers use, plant protection, seeds/seedlings, climatological data, credit/insurance schemes available, infrastructure for processing and marketing, demographic details, and more.

Multiple parameters have been studied and recorded on the APIB using Geospatial tools and technologies, including Soil Mapping, Dominant Crop Types, Land use, Land degradation, Geomorphology, Groundwater potential, Irrigated / unirrigated land areas, soil physicochemical properties, terrain characteristics (elevation, slope, aspect), agro-meteorological data, cultural features (roads, canal, rail network, villages, towns etc.), drainage characteristics, soil loss, soil suitability for crops, hydrological soil grouping, land irrigability, productivity, and capability.

Vision: To effectively use Geospatial technology for studying agricultural and natural resources for sustainable planning and land management.

Objectives

y To prepare agriculture and natural resources inventories by analysis of temporal satellite data. y To collect agro-climatic and agricultural data for agro-ecological characterization and agro-climatic regional planning. y To develop a GIS-based database for all agriculture-related information, including practices, resources and demographics. y Development of Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) for agro-climatic planning and information bank for agricultural reform process as well as the management of agricultural land and other agricultural allied activities. y Suggesting sustainable agricultural land use plan based on the integration of land capability, land productivity; soil suitability; terrain characteristics and socio-economic etc. information using GIS.

Stakeholders Involved

Farmers, financial institutions, agro-based industries and traders, extension officials, researchers/consultants/ journalists, state, and ground-level administration in the districts of Champawat, Dehradun and Tehri-Garwal of Uttarakhand, India.

Solution and Implementation

A detailed study of different field areas was carried out using ground truthing, maps, field observation, and high-resolution IRS multispectral and multi-temporal images in a GIS environment. 1:10,000 large-scale mapping was deployed for mapping spatial features in agriculture areas, and 1:50,000 scale maps for forest and steep hilly areas.

This was followed by the generation of a Natural Resources databank at the respective scales for 18 themes. The final land use/land cover maps of the area were generated by GIS-based integration of two seasons’ land use maps.

Soil resource mapping is carried out by visual analysis of satellite False Colour Composite (FCC) following a sample strip approach supported with high-intensity soil observation. Characterization of soils in the study area with respect to physio-chemical properties was done by laboratory chemical analysis of model profiles and soil samples collected during the field survey. Fertility status of surface & subsurface were determined for agricultural areas.

This was followed by generating digital soil and soil attributes maps by linking soil maps & soil characteristics data (field and laboratory) on GIS. The land degradation map of the study area was then prepared by visual analysis of multi-spectral data. The on-screen computer-aided visual interpretation technique was adopted for this approach. 28 categories of land degradation were considered, identified, and mapped, including different kinds of eroded lands; open/degraded forest; waterlogged; steep sloping barren area; landslide-affected area; and scrub lands, to name a few.

The main drivers of land degradation were then investigated to suggest suitable measures for arresting land degradation. Geomorphology & Groundwater potential maps were generated using the standard visual interpretation technique of multi-spectral data at a 5.8-metre spatial resolution to study geomorphological and hydro-geomorphological conditions. The groundwater potential assessment was prepared by integrating