Government launches centre for crop forecast and drought assessment

                The government recently launched an integrated centre which will provide estimates of all the agricultural output and also asses the drought situation in the country with the help of latest technologies.

               Agricultural Minister Sharad Pawar launched the National Crop Forecast Centre (NCFC), which will prepare in-season forecast 11 major crops which are selected by a panel board. The selected crops are rice, wheat, sugarcane and maize.

              The centre in collaboration with ISRO, will also work towards preparing sub-district level drought assessment in the country. This will help a lot to prevent the crop loss, which will boost India’s GDP, and make India economically much stronger.

              The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation prepares advance estimates of crop output through various latest technologies like remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS).

              The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) through its programme the National Agriculture Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS) provides data on drought assessment in various states across the country during the monsoon season.

              The centre will eventually help in integrating data from these sources and would also provide production forecasts of more crops.