The first pan-India satellite survey jointly commissioned by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and the National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) pegged the cane area for 2011-12 crop year starting October at 51.82 lakh hectares (lh). For the first time the survey was carried out State-wise and district-wise for the area under sugarcane, through satellite mapping on such a large-scale.
Satellite images of the cane area procured from the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, were analysed using the Geographical Information Systems software by South India-based firm.
A satellite mapping of sugarcane acreage carried out for the first time across India showed an increase of 3% over the government estimate. The data showed acreage to be the same in Uttar Pradesh and higher by 3% in Maharashtra as compared to the figures projected by the ministry of agriculture for the two states.
The satellite-based survey was jointly carried out by Indian Sugar Mills Association and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories to reduce the deficiencies involved in the manual estimation of acreage. The Union government had provisioned satellite crop surveys under its Fasal (forecasting of agriculture outputs through satellite, agrometeorology and land-based observations) programme.
According to the satellite data, acreage for 2011-12 has been estimated at 51.82 lakh hectare. The figure is higher than the estimates made manually by the sugar industry at 50.79 lakh hectare, by the ministry of agriculture at 50.93 lakh hectare and the ministry of food and public distribution at 50.25 lakh hectare.
The area estimated for the 2011-12 season through satellite mapping is 2.38 lakh hectare higher than the actual area of 49.44 lakh hectare in the previous crop year marking an increase of 4.8%.
India joined the ranks of major sugar producers such as Brazil and Thailand in leveraging remote sensing technology to estimate the cane area.
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