Newsletter Volume IV | July-August 2021

In this Issue
From the President’s Desk President’s Message 1
Agriculture was the only sector to have clocked a positive
Interview
growth in 2021, highlighting both the resilience and value of Mr. Sai Arul
the segment when it comes to food and livelihood security. Head of Region-SAARC 2
On the other hand, India’s flourishing fisheries sector is the Maxar Technolgies
third largest in the world and a direct source of livelihood for
more than 20 million people in the country alone. While both Special Feature
sectors offer promising potential and significant contributions State-of-the-Art
towards India’s socio-economic development, several pertinent challenges anticipate Geospatial Solutions set 4
undertaking bold, innovative approaches for reform. to Transform Agriculture
and Fisheries in India
Global food systems are in for an inevitable makeover, shrouded by the challenges of
climate change, supply chain inconsistencies, and lack of accessibility to information
Interview
and finance. Targeted technology is where the answer lies. Continuous improvements
in digital tools that can help in the monitoring, management and resource allocation Dr Ravishankar CN 6
Director-CIFT, ICAR
through location intelligence are the need of the hour. The roadmap to a transformative
adaptation in agriculture and fisheries is bound to be tied to technological interventions,
Viewpoint
integrated by geospatial solutions.
Mr. Vijay Rajmohan
The Association of Geospatial Industries recognizes and appreciates this paradigm shift Director (Digital Agriculture
that agriculture and fisheries are experiencing and calls out the Geospatial community & Trade) and CDO, Ministry 9
for enhanced engagement and deepening of cooperation towards this cause. Millions of of Agriculture
farmers and fishermen in India would benefit from the acquisition and analysis of real-
time and predictive information, and the geospatial industry must breathe life into these Useful Insights
Managing Weather Risk
promising avenues. in Agricultural Production 10
As the voice of the Indian Geospatial Industry for the past 12 years, AGI commends Kyle Tapley, Maxar
its members for their significant contributions and developments in the agriculture
Case Study
and fisheries sector, promoting long-term resilience for various stakeholders. Maxar’s Effective Mapping &
WeatherDesk for managing risk in agricultural production, Genesys’ Pilot Project on Monitoring of Fisheries
Cage Cultivation and Ceinsys’ LRI Decision Support System, among others, are inspiring Activity
12
examples of the use of geospatial solutions across the agricultural value chain. Genesys International
AGI has been providing thought leadership and supporting the wider adoption
of geospatial information in the country, and we are happy to witness such steady Useful Insights
penetration of geospatial technologies in the twin segments of agriculture and fisheries. Top 5 Misconceptions
We proudly present this Edition of our Newsletter on the same lines, as a comprehensive about Satellite Imagery 14
document on the relevance and scope for Geospatial Technologies in Agriculture and for Agricultu
Fisheries. Planet

We hope this Edition comes across as insightful and enjoyable. Stay tuned for more Case Study
insights, stories, and analyses from AGI in the coming months. LRI Data Centre, Portal
and Decision Support 15
Enjoy Reading, System
Ceinsys
Agendra Kumar
President, AGI Latest Updates from AGI 16

Volume IV | July-August 2021 AGI Newsletter | 1

Interview
Access to the Right Data is Essential
to Support Informed Crop Management
Decisions
The draft new Geospatial Policy and Space Policy under
consideration by the Central Government would provide
the required liberalization to access cutting-edge satellite
technology, emphasizes Sai Arul, Head of Region – SAARC,
Maxar Technologies
We know of Maxar as a leading
Satellite data provider, but it is
much more than that. Can you
take us through some of your
key capabilities and solutions for
the India market?
Maxar partners with innovative
businesses and more than 50
governments to monitor global change,
deliver broadband communications
and advance space operations with
capabilities both in Earth Intelligence
and Space Infrastructure.
Within Earth Intelligence, our
capabilities include collecting the
world’s highest resolution satellite
imagery; performing advanced
analytics and machine learning to
derive business-critical insights; and
producing 3D elevation suites, GIS-
ready information layers, analytics and
tailored multisource solutions that can
be provisioned directly or through
cloud-based subscription services. In
addition, our WeatherDesk offerings
elegantly translate weather data into
insights, allowing customers to quickly
absorb weather information for better
business, mission and operations
decision making.
Maxar also specializes in manufacturing
Space Infrastructure, including
geostationary communications
satellites, spacecraft systems, next-
generation propulsion systems, robotics
and on-orbit servicing. Maxar has built
over 300 satellites, of which over 90 are
currently in service.
All the above offerings are available for
the Indian market.
2 | AGI Newsletter
Artificial Intelligence and Big Data
Analytics are not mere buzz words
for the space and geospatial sector
anymore. How is Maxar leveraging
these technologies for delivering
quality solutions for the users?
In artificial intelligence/machine learning
(AI/ML), computer programs improve
through data access and experiential
learning. Algorithms with richer training
data become more effective in nature.
Robust and effective geospatial AI/ML
requires huge amounts of high-resolution
satellite imagery, with more data resulting
in a smarter machine. That is where
Maxar’s 125-petabyte imagery archive is
advantageous. With imagery dating back to
1999 and 3.8 million sq km of collection
capacity available daily, Maxar has the
largest archive of commercial satellite
imagery in the world for exploiting AI and
Big Data analytics.
Another key factor for reliable AI/ML
computation is resolution, a measurement
of the amount of detail available in an
image. Algorithms have to be trained to
make a sound judgment call—when the
resolution is coarser, the algorithm has less
specific information to work with. This is
where high-definition (HD) technology
brings value. Satellite images processed
with Maxar’s proprietary HD technology
provide clearer and sharper details:
Edges of buildings are more precise,
road markings are more detailed and
smaller features emerge enabling accurate
identification of objects.
AI/ML also relies on the currency of
data. The world changes constantly, which
means maps used as the foundational
layer for any location-based data must
be reliably updated. Having a highly
accurate foundational map layer enables
applications to fully leverage the
information captured within geospatial
data as well as the effectiveness of AI to
produce consistent results.
India is mostly a country of small-
holder farmers, who own less
than 2.0 hectares of farmland.
How can space based solutions
in combination with other
technologies help these farmers?
Can you share a few examples?
Access to the right data is essential to
support informed crop management
decisions. The reliance on high-frequency
satellite imagery is emerging as a key
source of reliable information for
precision agriculture. Maxar’s satellite data
provides valuable input at each stage of
the farm management workflow: planning,
early season operations, crop management
and harvesting. When planning, imagery
collected over a multi-year period can be
mined with predictive analytics to help
farmers look for in-field patterns and
localized trends.
Maxar imagery and geodata coupled
with local IOT sensor data can provide
insights into soil properties, past crop
production and other factors that inform
seeding decisions during the early season
operations. For crop management, imagery
enables agronomists and growers to
detect crop health issues, map and direct
scouting, localize prescription treatments
and monitor crop development. And for
harvesting, satellite imagery can inform
effective assessment of kernel moisture
Volume IV | July-August 2021
 Interview

content - the key measure for specifying

the harvesting start for many crops.
For smaller farm holdings, governments,
cooperatives or private aggregators could
provide the requisite platforms to exploit
these technologies to achieve economies
of scale.

Specifically for the Agriculture

sector, Maxar had launched
a tool - Sensing4Farming, an
Internet of Things (IoT) product
for smart, digital, and precision
agriculture created in partnership
with Vodafone Spain. Please tell
us more about that tool. How is it
being used; is it being replicated
in India? If not, why?
Sensing4Farming in Spain provides
crucial insights about crop health to
farmers, agronomists and agrobusinesses
via computer, mobile phone or tablet. It
combines Maxar’s multispectral, high-
resolution satellite imagery data with
Vodafone’s data from ground-based IOT
sensors deployed in crop fields to provide
enriched data such as soil moisture,
temperature and humidity, among others.
Vodafone’s narrowband IoT network
then connects all the sensors to quickly
send data to the SITI4Farmer agriculture
software platform.
AI/ML algorithms analyze the ground-
and space-based data and extract
information that enables farmers to make
decisions with confidence, know when Prawn Cultivation along the Chilika Lake, Odisha captured using WV02 Sensor, Maxar
and where to water or fertilize crops, Technologies; (top) RGB, (bottom) NIR; Source: Maxar Technologies
when to proactively protect crops from
pests and blight, and when is the right access cutting-edge satellite technology the scale, speed and accuracy required for
time to harvest. These actions ultimately and products that can enable precision a range of areas from national security,
lead to higher crop yields and increased farming. disaster management, environment
efficiency for farms. monitoring and agriculture to
Would you agree that given the infrastructure planning and monitoring,
There have been attempts to utilize critical point we are at, in Earth’s telecommunications, automotive and
satellite imagery and IOT for precision history, we cannot continue with location services in a cost-effective,
farming in India, but these have been sustainable manner.
small proofs of concept. Some state business-as-usual. Given the
governments have set up dashboards need for us to re-think about Already, there are major initiatives being
to monitor and estimate multi-crop how we live and work, how can taken by government and industry.
agriculture in their states and provide India leverage space technology The Indian space industry has set
targeted advice to farmers using ISRO up an association, ISpA, to promote
IRS data. The full potential has not
to create a smarter and a more and represent its interests while the
yet been harnessed due to restrictions sustainable future? government is actively restructuring its
on very high-resolution imagery governance of the space domain with
procurement under the current Remote We live in an exciting time in Earth’s several policy initiatives in consultation
Sensing Data policy. history; mankind now has the means with industry around space-based
to expand its influence beyond Earth. communication, remote sensing and
The new farm laws of India provide While major strides have been taken by space transportation. All these policies
a significant opportunity to organized governments in the past like those led have an overarching enabling flavor of
farmers and crop aggregators to exploit by ISRO, NASA, Roskosmos, and many Atmanirbhar Bharat while providing a
technology as they liberalize contract others, the lead has now been taken over level playing field globally.
farming and aggregation by private by private industry initiatives with the
parties. The draft new Geospatial policy likes of SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. It is India could lead the world in the space
and Space policy under consideration time now for private players in the Indian domain by leveraging its capability,
by the central government would industry to exploit the potential of space experience, skills and cost advantage.
provide the required liberalization to domain. Space technologies can provide

Volume IV | July-August 2021 AGI Newsletter | 3

State-of-the-art Geospatial Solutions set to
Transform Agriculture and Fisheries in India
By Sakshi Singh
India has the second-largest arable area
in the world and boasts of a long and
indented coastline. For a country with
more than half of its population engaged
in agriculture and allied activities (Census
2011), the significance of Agriculture and
Fisheries is best described as pivotal to
the national economy.
Numbers speak louder than words
– the Gross Value Added (GVA) by
agriculture, forestry and fishing stood at
INR 19.48 lakh crore (276.37 billion
USD) in FY20. Besides being the
primary source of livelihood for a large
chunk of the Indian population, Indian
Agriculture and Fisheries are counted
among global leaders when it comes to
exports. The Department of Promotion
of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)
has highlighted a cumulative FDI equity
inflow of about $10.24 billion between
April 2000 and December 2020.
Despite these mammoth shares in global
production, consumption and export, the
truth is that these segments can do much
more, and much better. Boosting yields,
exploring marine reserves, and developing
environmentally and economically
sustainable practices through long-term
solutions leveraging Geospatial and allied
technologies are the clarion calls for these
segments.
A Liberalised Geospatial Sector
Offers Solutions
Technological interventions have already
found their way into Indian Agriculture
4 | AGI Newsletter
and Fisheries in the past decade. For
instance, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser
Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) partnered
with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to
roll out countrywide digital transformation
for the farming community in 2017
through the launch of a dedicated digital
platform where farmers could purchase
Agri-products and get them delivered at
their doorstep, just like other eCommerce
services.
On similar lines, the state government
of Telangana launched the Artificial
Intelligence for Agricultural Innovation
(AI4AI) programme in August last year,
in collaboration with the Centre for the
Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR),
World Economic Forum, India.
Speaking at Esri India’s Annual User
Meet, Sri J Satyanarayana, IAS & Chief
Advisor, C4IR-WEF, noted, “Today
there is no sector, field or theme that
geospatial technologies have not touched...
The capability to describe, measure and
process data related to entities specific
to their space and time adds significantly
to our power to manage them more
efficiently.”
Multidimensional Efforts for
Food Security through Geospatial
Solutions
Speaking on the relevance of Geospatial
infrastructure across the agricultural value
chain, AGI President and Esri India
MD Agendra Kumar notes, “GeoHubs
are integrating data about land, soil,
geology, weather, crops, water, irrigation,
fertilisers, pesticides, supply chain, markets
and market conditions, enabling better
intelligence and productivity.”
On these lines, a few use cases of
Geospatial solutions steered towards
reinforcement of Indian Agriculture &
Fisheries segments have been highlighted
below.
Management of Land Records
We have come a long way from the use of
chain and cross-staff to electronic tools
and finally to DGPS (Differential Global
Positioning System) survey. The Survey of
India’s decision to establish a nationwide
CORS (Continuously Operating Reference
System) network is a step in this direction.
Through data accuracy and real-time
data acquisition, this geo-positioning
infrastructure offers a uniform and
productive framework for surveying and
land records.
Monitoring of Crop Lifecycle and
Health
Imaging sensors on satellites and UAVs
can be deployed to assess various
environmental conditions across crop
fields, including temperature, humidity,
surface conditions, and more. For instance,
daily farm-level soil moisture data
products provide both macro-and micro-
level analysis to assess optimum stages in
crop lifecycles, efficient control of farm
inputs and accurate crop classification.
Volume IV | July-August 2021
Smart Farming
With all relevant data on fields and crops
derived using Geospatial technologies
and used to develop precise task maps
or application maps, smart machines
are deploying the data directly on the
field. “Hyperlocal information together
with GIS, remote sensing and location
intelligence is driving the decision-
making process for smarter agriculture
by ensuring productivity, high yield
and reducing operational costs”, shares
Prasanth K, Group Manager Presales,
Esri India, at the Esri India User
Conference 2021.
Precision Agriculture
The practice leverages the large spatial
diversities on even the same field in terms
of soil types, moisture content, nutrient
availability, and so on, and offers farmers
the opportunity to precisely determine
which inputs go where on their field and
in what quantity. For instance, Trimble’s
Agriculture Farmer Core software
augments existing solutions to help
farmers manage Precision Agriculture
data more easily and help capture
maximum value from every piece of land.
Pest Monitoring and Management
Swarms of locusts plaguing entire crop
fields have been a persistent concern
for Agri-societies for long and can even
determine food security and famine
in some parts of the world. Maxar
Technologies’ Geospatial Big Data
Platform (GBDX), with the support of
CGIAR, has successfully predicted the
spread of crop pests and disease, thus
helping early interventions.
Disaster Management and Control
Remote sensing data recorded in a wide
spectrum of optical, radar, thermal
and LiDAR have been contributing to
our understanding and assessment of
disasters. GIS and Remote Sensing are
used to map flood hazard areas for land-
use planning in susceptible areas, besides
forest fire risk zone analysis. Geospatial
data in the form of maps and indexes can
help process preparedness, mitigation,
response as well as prevention,
minimizing the impact of disasters on
agriculture and fisheries.
Defining Habitats, Migratory
Patterns and Fishing Zone
Availability
“For the success of fisheries management
and resource sustainability, it is important
to have an indication of habitat types
and their spatial disposition”, says
Rajesh Alla, Chairman and Managing
Director of IIC Technologies. “This
would include acquiring data on various
ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrass
Volume IV | July-August 2021
Small-scale Fisheries abound in India; Image Source: Unsplash
beds, estuarine areas, upwellings,
mangroves, sandbanks, and so on.”
Bathymetric surveys and sonar devices
have tremendously helped process habitat
maps of marine ecosystems using 2D and
3D maps and models, on these lines, even
for freshwater sources.
Water Resource Conservation
Satellite imagery and remote sensing
help identify and demarcate existing
water resources, their depths,
seasonal/progressive changes and
ecological sensitivity, thus shaping our
understanding and planning of their
conservation. Databases on quantitative
and qualitative estimates of marine
biomass distributions and densities can
also shape our understanding of natural
freshwater and marine resources for a
well-informed conservation process.
Fisheries Management
Geospatial infrastructure plays an
integral role in the monitoring of fishers’
activities and supply chain management,
along with stock management and
enhancement. Various apps today provide
fishermen with weather updates, fishing
zone information and relevant guidelines.
Marine and port authorities have access
to fishing activity information on the
Indian coasts, besides information on
key climatic factors of sea level, surface
temperature, salinity, wind patterns,
rainfall, natural disasters, tidal action, and
more.
Nimit Pradhan, Manager – Business
Development at Hexagon, highlights,
“India’s fisheries sector is poised for
an expansion, with promising potential
to increase fish production. Robust
workflows and smart solutions helps
preserve data integrity and overall
system performance among hundreds of
simultaneous users in fishery offices and
cooperatives.”
Government Push for Geospatial
Espousal
Besides deregulating geospatial data
owned by government agencies for
all Indian entities, talks around the
cluster approach for the development
of aquaculture, spatial planning and
zonation, early warning systems and
AI-led knowledge management in
the National Fisheries Policy 2020
highlight the Government of India’s push
towards wide-scale adoption of geospatial
technologies for the segment.
Additionally, the Government plans on
integrating the PM-KISAN scheme’s
database with those from crop insurance
scheme PM-Fasal Bima Yojana, Soil
Health Cards, and more to curate the
world’s biggest and most diverse
database of farmers across the world.
This initiative is set to utilise geospatial
infrastructure as its strongest pillar.
Even state governments are displaying
an eagerness to implement existing
and new technologies to enhance
their farm outcomes. Be it Arunachal
Pradesh’s revamping of its supply chain
management or Meghalaya’s crop pest
surveillance interventions, Odisha’s
farmers’ database, Punjab’s crop growth
and soil health monitoring or Madhya
Pradesh’ pilot on precision farming, the
seamless adoption of technologies such
as Remote Sensing and GIS cannot be
ignored.
The changing focus towards scalable
Geospatial solutions is a welcome move.
Participation with and encouragement
of the individuals, startups, academic
institutions, research bodies, think tanks
and private organizations has led to the
culmination of innovative solutions and
on-ground deployments of Geospatial
technologies that are set to go a long
way in transforming the sectors of
Agriculture and Fisheries in India.
AGI Newsletter | 5
Interview
Location Information will play a Crucial
Role in Policy-Related Matters as well
as for Traceability
With their inherent ability to cover large geographical spaces
and the ability to view and understand large extents of the
open ocean, Geospatial Technologies are unavoidable in the
role of decision-making, notes Dr. Ravishankar CN, Director –
Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Indian Council of
Agricultural Research.
The Central Institute of Fisheries
Technology (CIFT) is the only
national centre in the country
undertaking research in all
disciplines relating to fishing
and fish processing. Can you
throw some light on the mandate
of CIFT, especially in the wake
of the COVID-19 pandemic
which has affected livelihoods,
operations and supply chains of
the Blue Economy?
ICAR–Central Institute of Fisheries
Technology (ICAR-CIFT) was
established as the Central Fisheries
Technological Research Station (CFTRS)
on 29th April 1957 and later named
as CIFT in April 1961. The Institute
is the only national centre for research
on fisheries harvest and post-harvest
technology.
With the plateauing of catches in the
marine sector and with issues around
stock depletion, CIFT is working
extensively to reduce the impact of
fishing systems on resources. High fuel
use, generation of large quantities of
bycatch, high fishing power, among
others, are some of the greatest
challenges in the fishing sector. With
a view to combat these, various
technologies to make fishing more
responsible have been developed by the
institute.
All major fishing vessel designs now
found in India have been developed
from base designs worked out by ICAR-
CIFT. The Institute is collaborating with
different agencies and institutions to
6 | AGI Newsletter
reduce negative environmental impacts
due to fishing, and with governments to
frame sustainable regulations.
On the post-harvest front, ICAR-
CIFT continues to be the country’s top
institution for developing standardised
technologies for the sustainable utilisation
of aquatic resources through value
addition and processing. The Institute
has been a pioneer in the implementation
of cutting-edge food processing
technologies in the sector, including
high pressure processing, pulsed light
preservation, and active packaging.
Fish and fish products that are largely
dependent on international trade were
badly disrupted early in the pandemic’s
growth by market limitations and
closures, whereas fresh fish and shellfish
supply chains were significantly impacted
by food service sector closures (e.g.,
hotels, restaurants and catering facilities).
Additionally, the processing sector
saw closures as a result of decreased/
lost consumer demand. This has had a
substantial effect, particularly on women,
who account for the bulk of workers in
the post-harvest industry.
CIFT has been working tirelessly to
address some of these difficulties,
through its mandated works, which
include supply of know-how and advice
to the governments to deal with the
difficulties and its low-cost all-weather
technologies like solar dryer have been
a boon to the fishers, to produce quality
products with low price. Similarly, the
institute has been collaborating with
international agencies like WorldFish,
to utilize small fish for meeting the
nutritional needs of the tribal population.
Programs like these, ensure that fish
is being utilized and reaches the most
needed population.
Additionally, new marketing strategies,
new products requiring minimal
processing and having a long shelf
life, and so forth would be required in
addition to changes in the already existing
post-harvest technologies. CIFT is
looking into these aspects critically and is
channelising its research to address many
the issues.
CIFT is behind the development
of state-of-the-art multipurpose
fishing vessels such as the
FV Sagar Harita for efficient
harvesting purposes. Is there any
focus on integrating such vessels
or harvesting processes with
geospatial technologies like GIS,
remote sensing, drone-based and
bathymetric surveys?
CIFT is a research institution, and the
idea is to develop new technologies,
that would benefit the fishing industry.
FV Sagar Harita, which is a 19.75m
long fuel-efficient multipurpose fishing
vessel designed by ICAR-CIFT and built
by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), is a
new generation energy efficient green
fishing vessel equipped with the latest
technology.
CIFT has been associated with Space
Applications Centre (SAC) and Indian
National Centre of Ocean Information
Services (INCOIS) for the identification
of potential fishing areas using remotely
sensed data. This work has started
Volume IV | July-August 2021

“Location information will play a crucial role in policy related matters as well as for traceability”
– Dr Ravishankar CN; Image: Unsplash
from the late 90’s and CIFT had been
involved with these agencies for the
validation of the products. This program
has since developed and now INCOIS
is regularly supplying Potential Fishing
Zone Information to the fishers along
the Indian coast, which has significantly
improved the catches and the profitability
of fishers.
Our scientists are associating with
INCOIS for deploying ocean forecasting
equipment, one such equipment is
deployed off Veraval, which is helping
INCOIS to give timely information to
the fishers on the sea state and other
oceanographic conditions.
Smart packaging systems are
gradually taking over commercial
fisheries and aquaculture with
the intention of monitoring &
communication throughout
the supply chain. How crucial
is location intelligence in this
respect, considering the Indian
fisheries industry is involved in
inter-state and international trade?
Indian fish trade is practiced across
the length and breadth of the country
including exporting. The fish landed in
Veraval of Gujarat in West coast will
reach Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and
Jharkhand. Similarly, fish and shrimp
Volume IV | July-August 2021
Interview
from Andhra Pradesh will be travelling Smart packaging which includes active
up to North-eastern states, West and intelligent packaging system not
Bengal and Southern Gujarat. Similarly, just provides inert barrier, but it helps
fish harvested off-Maharashtra, Off- in maintaining the desirable conditions
Karnataka coast will be reaching Gujarat during the storage and distribution and
for its processing. Very recently, with the provides information like its freshness,
help and support of ICAR-CIFT, trout quality, presence of pathogens and
cultured in Jammu & Kashmir is being temperature storage history.
supplied to Kerala and Karnataka by a
group of young entrepreneurs.
Apart from this, fish and shellfishes
from India are exported to nearly
“(Geospatial
130 countries. So literally, there is no
boundary for fish, it can travel across Technologies) is a
the states within India as well as across
the globe. From this, it is very clear that
the fish caught in any remote location
big area that has
in India may be travelling thousands of
miles till it reaches the consumer plate.
immense potential
So, in this context, location information
will play a crucial role in policy related for ecological
matters apart from getting the confidence
of consumers as well as for the understanding
traceability.
Conventional packaging systems which
and management
are in the market since decades are
helping in preserving the food products measures based
including fishery products throughout
the supply chain by providing an inert on the input from
barrier between the food products inside
and the external environment. But today’s
consumer expects more than these
remote sensing and
functions from the packaging, which can
be fulfilled by adopting smart packaging
GIS.”
systems.
AGI Newsletter | 7
Interview
ICAR-CIFT has developed indigenous
active packaging systems like O2
scavenger, CO2 emitter, dual action
active packaging which combines O2
scavenging and CO2 emitter functions,
antimicrobial and antioxidant packaging,
cost effective freshness indicator for fish
and shellfishes, TTI for frozen storage
applications.
Combining AI and IoT with these smart
packaging will help in getting accurate
information about the location from
where the fish is caught or harvested or
cultured and its temperature history and
total distance travelled including carbon
foot printing.
A large section of the fish
harvesting community in India
comprises small-scale fishermen
in coastal villages of the country.
What steps can be taken for
providing them with better safety,
communication and navigation
opportunities, especially during
emergencies?
ICAR-CIFT is a major contributor to the
modified Marine Fisheries Regulations
Acts of different states. The most
recent one being the KMFR, which has
bought in sweeping changes. One of
the highlights of the recommendations
related to fishing, is the mandatory use of
navigational and communication facilities
onboard small-scale fishing vessels.
CIFT was also a major contributor is
finalizing the colour codes for vessels
8 | AGI Newsletter
in traditional sector of Kerala. As per
the new MFRA, the vessels need to
have a vessel monitoring systems fitted
on for tracking. The institute would be
collaborating with Govt. of Kerala for
trials using Vessel tracking systems.
CIFT always advocated for mandatory
use of lifesaving and firefighting
appliances on all class of fishing vessels.
In addition to this, strict monitoring and
licenses for fishing also should be made
mandatory, so that tracking of fishermen
would be possible and would indirectly
help in quantification of the fishing
effort, which is an essential input for
stock assessment studies.
Do you think geospatial
technologies in particular and
advanced tools or techniques
in general have the potential to
resolve the conflicting interests
of the fisheries industry and
ecological concerns?
The state of marine fisheries in the
country and all over the world, requires
some very urgent action to be taken, to
make it more responsible, or else as many
of the research papers, say, the entire
system would collapse in coming 20-30
years. Geospatial technologies have a very
important role to play in addressing some
of the issues that fisheries are facing in
the recent times.
With their inherent ability to cover large
geographical spaces and the ability to
view and understand large extends of the
open ocean, make it unavoidable in the
role of decision making. There are large
groups of researchers who have been
working in the area of remote sensing
for ecological understanding and I am
happy to say that CIFT had organized
such a program on societal applications
of fisheries, sometime in 2010, in
collaboration with international agencies.
This is a big area that has immense
potential for ecological understanding
and management measures based on the
input from remote sensing and GIS.
One of the most important problem,
faced by marine fisheries, mostly in
the Asian waters, is the un-controlled
increase in the number of fishing vessel,
and together with the increase in the
installed engine power, these vessels have
immense fishing power that can easily
collapse fish stocks if not controlled at
the early stages. Technologies like Vessel
Monitoring Systems, are essential for the
vessels, both in the small-scale and the
mechanized sectors to understand the
fishing locations, for spatial and temporal
restrictions and also for traceability
issues, which are becoming increasingly
important.
Since most of the vessels operated
along our coast belong to the small-scale
category, technologies and instrument
which are cheaper, so that it could be
easily adopted by the fishermen are
needed. There is high end version of
the instrument, available in the market,
but adoption of these is often seen as a
problem, even though governments have
been trying hard to popularize them.
Volume IV | July-August 2021

Together, We Should Build Scalable
Solutions through which Farmers’ Lives
are made Better.
As with every other industry or sector, Agriculture too is
poised to go fully digital, emphasizes Vijay Rajmohan,
Director (Digital Agriculture & Trade) and Chief Data Officer
at Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.
The Digital Agriculture Mission
has been welcomed with great
enthusiasm across all sectors,
including the Geospatial Industry.
Could you throw some light on
this initiative by the Government
of India?
As with every other industry or sector,
agriculture too is poised to go fully
digital. We are seeing the usage of
AIoT (Agriculture Internet of Things),
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine
Learning (ML), Blockchain, Big Data,
Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
and Remote Sensing, Drones, Robots and
automated Farm Machinery in India.
To facilitate all the above and to further
propel digital technologies in the
agriculture sector, the Government of
India is in the process of bringing out
a Digital Agriculture Mission with
increased funding.
The Mission would give impetus to
these initiatives and would create
appropriate mechanisms at the national
and state levels for taking these initiatives
forward. Currently, the Mission is under
examination with various departments
of GoI and is expected to be announced
shortly.
The India Digital Ecosystem for
Agriculture (IDEA) is focused on
creating a nationwide sustainable
architecture for the farming
community. What are your
expectations from the initiative?
Similar to the UPI, which enabled the use
of digital payments across the country,
the Agriculture Ministry is involved in
creating a nationwide architecture for
Volume IV | July-August 2021
the Digital Ecosystem in the Agriculture
sector. A task force has been working
during the pandemic under the joint
leadership of Sanjay Aggarwal, the
Agriculture Secretary and J. Satyanarayana,
former Secretary of Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology.
IDEA is expected to ‘lay down a
framework for public digital infrastructure
in the agriculture sector, outline the
principles and standards and act as
a catalyst of the digital agriculture
ecosystem in the country with the goal
of building a National Digital Agriculture
Ecosystem, elevating Indian Agriculture
to higher levels of efficiency and
productivity, and improving the welfare
and incomes of the farmers’ (IDEA
concept paper).
Another new initiative which has been
undertaken during the pandemic is
building of the first ever federated
farmers database at the national level. The
federated farmers database would act as a
core building block of the Agristack that
would contain layers of data from States
as well as private players and the IDEA
framework would enable this ecosystem in
the country, thereby bringing a paradigm
shift in the agriculture sector.
The Ministry of Agriculture has
started engaging with private
sector players, such as ESRI
India for creating a AgroGeo
Hub to evolve a National
Farmer’s Database integrated
with Geospatial Information, and
another one with Microsoft for a
pilot programme for 100 villages
in 6 states. How do you think
private players in tech and research
fields can improve the efficiency
Interview
of India’s agricultural sector as a
whole?
These partnerships are through a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
which will go on for a year and on a pro
bono basis. The government shares a
portion of data (100 villages or 3 districts)
with these partners.
At the end of the MoU period, GoI
would evaluate the services and solutions
developed by the partners using the data
and if these services/solutions are found
to be beneficial to the farmers, it would
take up the best services and scale them up
at the national level.
The services and solutions proposed by
these partners and others who are expected
to strike a partnership with the government
is exciting. Some have proposed leveraging
the data for FinTech in agriculture sector –
a farmer need not run around and submit
multiple documents to financial institutions
for loans, a bank also need not collect,
scrutinise and physically send someone
to verify the farm. We could see the
deployment of algorithms that analyse the
past profile of the farmers with his track
record of crop insurance, procurement of
his/her crops by the government, remote
sensing data pertaining to the current crop,
their health and the expected harvest, and
land ownership details.
This enables the government to tap into
the enormous talent that is available with
Indian startups and use their talents for
benefiting our farmers. These would also
improve the farms; in case these services
are successful and would give a fillip to
sustainable farm practices across the
country. Together, we should build scalable
solutions through which farmers’ lives are
made better using the latest and emerging
technologies.
AGI Newsletter | 9
Case Study | Maxar WeatherDesk for Agriculture
Managing Weather Risk in Agricultural
Production
By Kyle Tapley, Meteorologist, Maxar
Weather variability is one of the major
drivers of change when it comes to crop
yields and crop production from one
season to another. Extreme weather often
leads to disruptions in the agricultural
supply chain, resulting in unexpected
changes in income for farmers and major
shifts in commodity prices. It ultimately
impacts how much consumers spend on
food and other consumer products.
Maxar’s WeatherDesk helps stakeholders
across the agricultural supply chain
manage the inherent risk that weather
represents.
Weather and Agriculture in India
In India, agricultural production is
significantly influenced by the strength
of the Indian monsoon. India is a
major producer of rice, wheat, cotton,
soybeans, sugar and a wide array of
other crops. Production of these crops is
heavily dependent on rainfall during the
monsoon season. A weaker-than-normal
monsoon results in drought conditions
that can lower yields and production of
these important crops.
While reduced crop production obviously
has a negative impact on individual
farmers, it can also send ripples across
the agricultural supply chain, resulting
in changes in commodity prices globally.
As a result, it is important for any
stakeholder in the agricultural supply
chain to monitor changing weather
10 | AGI Newsletter
patterns to ensure they can hedge their
risks and protect themselves against “It is important for
supply shocks and sudden changes in
commodity markets. any stakeholder in
Maxar’s WeatherDesk the agricultural
Maxar’s WeatherDesk portfolio of supply chain to
products is used by hundreds of
customers around the world to manage monitor changing
weather risk, particularly for commodities.
Maxar provides commodity-specific weather patterns
information reports that include forecasts
and analysis of weather conditions
to ensure they
globally, besides interactive web
applications that allow users to conduct
can hedge their
their own analysis through creation of
maps and charts of historical and forecast
risks and protect
weather information. themselves against
At the same time, they can use Maxar’s
comprehensive data services, that
supply shocks and
push weather data to customers that
they can use for a variety of use cases,
sudden changes
including yield and pricing models. Maxar in commodity
WeatherDesk’s wide-ranging customers
include food companies, commodity markets.”
trading houses, banks, hedge funds,
agricultural cooperatives and precision
farming companies. agricultural production in India. Global
Weather Interactive, a Maxar web
Global Weather Interactive application available in WeatherDesk,
allows users to monitor historical and
To demonstrate the power of Maxar’s future weather conditions, as well as
weather products, it would be useful to compare conditions against long-term
examine a case study involving the Indian averages. This is particularly useful
monsoon and its impact on soybean during monsoon season as it allows for
production. As already noted, the strength comparisons to benchmark years.
of this season is critical in determining
Volume IV | July-August 2021
 Case Study | Maxar

For example, users can generate

a chart that shows accumulated
rainfall during the monsoon season
for a given location for each year
dating back to 2000. Using this
chart, a user can easily identify the
years where monsoonal rainfall
was below normal. In the case
of Mumbai, the years 2002, 2009
and 2015 all exhibit below-normal
rainfall. Not surprisingly, each
of these years with belownormal
monsoonal rainfall also resulted
in below-trend yields and drops
in soybean production in India.
Knowing this information, the user
can track rainfall during the current
monsoon season to evaluate the
risk of reduced soybean yields.
Beyond just tracking current
conditions, a 15-day forecast is
also provided, which can help
WeatherDesk customers anticipate
whether crop conditions will
decline or improve in the coming
weeks. In addition to typical
weather parameters such as
temperature and precipitation, Figure: Subsoil Moisture Departure from Normal for September 1, 2015, from Global Weather
Global Weather Interactive also Interactive. Source: Maxar
allows users to generate maps
of agricultural-specific variables
such as subsoil moisture and
Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index (NDVI). These variables
help to illustrate the impact weather
conditions are having on the total
moisture in the soil and crop
health.
Using Weather Data to Model
Crop Yields and Prices
Maxar also provides unique datasets
that can be ingested by models to
help customers understand how
crop yields and commodity prices
may react to changing weather
patterns. Maxar’s crop-weighted
dataset has proven particularly
useful for agricultural modeling.
Rather than provide massive
amounts of weather data with
no context, this dataset provides
data that is weighted by crop
production.
Source: Maxar WeatherDesk Overview
Areas with the highest crop
production within a given region in the areas that matter most for crop Summary
are weighted more heavily than production.
minor growing regions, resulting Weather is a critical factor in determining
in an index value that can be easily Historical data provides context and crop yields and crop prices and
ingested into a yield or pricing allows users to understand the correlation Maxar’s WeatherDesk helps those in
model. For instance, soybeans between weather in different crop regions the agricultural supply chain monitor
in India are grown in Madhya and crop yields and/or prices. Forecast changing weather conditions and
Pradesh and Maharashtra. The data enables users to project forward manage their weather risk. While this
crop-weighted dataset takes this 15 days and determine if crop yields or use case focused on Indian soybeans,
into account and provides country- prices may change due to the upcoming WeatherDesk covers all major crops and
level and state-level data that better weather pattern. growing areas globally and also serves
represents weather conditions customers in the energy industry.

Volume IV | July-August 2021 AGI Newsletter | 11

Case Study | Genesys
Effective Mapping and
Monitoring of Fisheries Activities
using Geospatial Technology
The Government of India has come up
with a comprehensive plan to revamp and
accelerate the growth of the Fisheries
sector in India. Aquaculture can prove
to be a very productive use of resources
in this respect, with the amount of food
produced per hectare being considerably
higher than that in arable farming or
livestock rearing.
An Impressive Trajectory of
Growth
India is the fourth largest seafood exporter
and the second largest producer in
aquaculture. A technology-driven sector,
aquaculture production export value in
India is almost $7 billion, of which a
major share comes from shrimp export.
The Union government is now eyeing the
doubling of these exports, opening up
myriad avenues for the sector’s expansion
and progress.
Aqua-feed resources production is one
of the fastest expanding agricultural
industries in the world, with growth rates
in excess of 30 percent per year, even
greater than the growth rate of global
population. Resource availability and use
have allowed over 3x faster sector growth
compared to terrestrial farm animal meat
production.
The growth rate of fish production of
the country in the last five years has been
7.53% while it has touched nearly 10% in
exports. 28 million fishers and fish farmers
in the country are directly dependent
on the sector at the primary level. The
Government now aims at a total fish
production of 220 lakh tonnes for the
next five years.
Why Boost the Segment?
Fish has always been valued as a vital
source of proteins and essential nutrients,
especially for the poorer sections of
the global community. Supporting the
livelihoods of hundreds of millions,
fish is also one of the most traded food
commodities across the world.
12 | AGI Newsletter
It is no surprise then that the
Government is shifting its focus towards
the development of entrepreneurial
initiatives and the promotion of start-up
ecosystems in Aquaculture. Considering
India’s abundant and highly prospective
brackish water resources, Aquaculture
seems to harbour immense economic
potential. The country’s vast network of
rivers, canals, tanks, ponds, reservoirs and
backwaters harbour a rich diversity of
fishes, contributing to 11% of the total
fish species of the world. Not just marine
aquaculture, even inland water ecosystems
pose optimistic prospects for such
development.
Geospatial Technology-led
Development for Fisheries and
Aquaculture
The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada
Yojana (PMMSY) has a mandate
to enhance the potential of inland
aquaculture sustainably. Besides, it
also aims to double fishermen income
through increased productivity and better
marketing of post-harvest under the
Blue Revolution (Neel Kranti Mission).
This requires addressing critical gaps
in fish production with respect to
quality, technology, infrastructure and
management, modernization, thus
establishing a robust fisheries management
framework and fishers’ welfare.
GIS-based fish resource mapping and site
selection for Aquaculture comes across
as a potential solution. GIS helps in the
development of Aquaculture under two
Figure 1: Enterprise Application of ARMANS; Source: Genesys International
basic categories – suitability of site-zoning
and strategic planning for development.
Policymakers can integrate the derived data
to support traditional ways of geographical
analysis, such as map overlay analysis,
statistical analysis and multi criteria
approach, besides innovative methods of
analysis and modeling.
GIS also helps visualize and monitor
fish resources through mapping of
primary and associated spatial parameters
using a GIS dashboard. The technology
can help strategize fish marketing and
transportation to ensure an efficient
supply chain, boosting fish consumption
in return. The GIS-based web dashboard
could be accessed through simple mobile
applications, helping both policymakers
and other stakeholders in monitoring data
and processes through automated graphs,
sheets and reports.
The state of Maharashtra in India, for
instance, is gifted with myriad inland
water resources – rivers, lakes, reservoirs,
tanks, canals, farm ponds, backwater and
estuaries. According to a state report,
about 3.83 lakh ha inland water areas are
available for fish culture, which accounts
for 5.24 % of the total inland water area
of the country. Another Central Water
Commission (CWC) report highlights that
Maharashtra has 1845 reservoirs covering
an area of 2.99 lakh ha. Compared to such
massive aquatic wealth, Maharashtra’s
inland fish production is considerably
low. It can, however, be enhanced using
modern technologies like Remote Sensing
and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Volume IV | July-August 2021

Genesys International Corporation Ltd, an Indian Geospatial enterprise has undertaken the initiative to develop an
Aquaculture Resources Management Network System (ARMANS) powered by Geospatial technology and augmented
with Artificial Intelligence( AI) following PMMSY guidelines to meet the same goals.
Purpose of the Project
To provide countrywide access to
wide-ranging high-quality information
for successful management of fishery
resources using Geospatial technologies
through a structured network of systems.
Problem Statement
The future development of Aquaculture
depends on the adoption of new and
innovative production technologies. Some
of the most common problems that can
be readily resolved are as follows:
• Inadequate country-level database
on the status of production,
consumption and marketing of fish in
inland sector
• Incomplete seamless inventory of the
water bodies across the country for
fisheries activities.
• Small-scale, spatially diffused inland
fishery activities not getting organized
and not reflected in national statistics
and accounting
• Fractional utilization of water area
such as rivers, canals, hills and tanks
• Multiple ownership of existing water
bodies in multiple cases leads to
under-utilization.
• Indulgence of middlemen in the
process of leasing and taking the
water bodies on lease
• Grants management procedure not
fully transparent with respect to funds
utilization towards visible progress in
the field.
• Weather-related activities not
integrated with the fisheries segment
to provide alerts at the Village,
Taluka, District, Sate level
• Location-based details not in-built
into the system. A GIS-based
complete inventory of countrywide
inland fisheries is missing.
• A Decision-Making System is missing
in Department of Fisheries.
In short, there is no comprehensive
database in India on Inland Fisheries
integrated with a Geospatial database.
The need for a countrywide Indian
Fisheries Resources Monitoring and
Management System connecting network
of systems is now more urgent than ever
before.
Volume IV | July-August 2021
Case Study | Genesys
Scope and Approach
The development of a comprehensive decision-making system calls for detailed data
collection of various parameters, systematic analysis and appropriate frameworks to
generate “what if ” scenarios. This needs generation of countrywide inventory of Water
Bodies wherein Fisheries are being/ to be done through mapping with open standards
Figure 2: Representational Ilustration highlighting the process of Aquaculture resource mapping
Enlisted below are the components of Satellite data of the area for the past
the Project’s Scope: three years were collected and relevant
real-world features extracted for pre- and
a. Mapping of Water Bodies using high-
resolution satellite data and feature post-monsoon dates. Aerial imagery of
areas surrounding the Panshet Dam was
extraction using Artificial Intelligence
and Machine Learning, followed by captured using Drones, while a boat-
mounted Echo-Sounder (ODOM MK-
ground truth and field surveys.
III) was deployed to measure the water
b. Generation and integration of depth of the entire Panshet Dam.
Transport networks connecting
various Rural and Urban Centres in Water samples were also collected at
the Geospatial environment multiple locations from the Panshet
reservoir, analysed for N, P, CO2,
c. Linking of attributes with the features
of the respective Water Bodies in the pH, dissolved O2 and NH3, and geo-
database. coordinates recorded. The application
analysed water spread area (WSA)
d. Development of Mobile Applications using temporal Normalized Difference
for collecting data on water quality, Water Index (NDWI). Based on the
quantity, temperature, market inputs, extent, depth, quality of the water and
and so on. other parameters, specific sites of fish
e. Development of a web-based habitation within the reservoir most
enterprise Geospatial system with suited for cage cultivation were identified.
supply chain logistics. Similarly, application for identifying site
Solution - Case study suitability of brackish water, cold water
and ornamental aquaculture in any region
The development of cage cultivation, of the inland water of India is possible.
brackish water, cold water and The application can handle supply chain
ornamental fisheries under Freshwater management from production source to
and Inland Water ecosystems are destination markets with ease.
common practices in India. A Pilot
Project has been carried out in the
Panshet Dam, Pune, Maharashtra, for
ascertaining site suitability for cage
cultivation.
AGI Newsletter | 13
Planet x AGI Ag AUM Campaign
Top 5 Misconceptions
About Satellite Imagery
for Agriculture
Having partnered with leading agricultural
companies over the years, Planet has
gained a window to the day-to-day
challenges, concerns, and opportunities
before cultivators across the globe. From
the early days of Landsat to the present-
day commercial providers, agriculture
has been one of the largest adopters of
satellite imagery.
Planet’s vision is to deliver precise and
reliable field-level crop information to help
such agriculture companies and cultivators
optimise their inputs, monitor crop health
and improve yield. Yet, misconceptions
and reservations regarding the use of
satellite imagery continue to exist, and
these must be addressed urgently.
Here are the Top Five Misconceptions
about using Satellite Imagery for
Agriculture, that need to be busted once
and for all.
Myth 1: Customers do not trust
Results from Satellite Data
The truth is quite the opposite. Besides
sending out people into the field to gather
information, satellite data and insights can
actually help increase trust by identifying
acute problems on site. Planet’s customers
use satellite-derived information to build
vegetative indices that help visualise crop
health. This is followed by deploying the
data to cultivators and agronomists.
There are several instances where a phone
or tablet helps spot water stress or disease,
efficiently driving attention to precise
locations in the field. Yet others are used
to build out reporting mechanisms that
can even send automatically by email a list
of areas for inspection based on the field
analysis.
Myth 2: Customers cannot do
anything with the imagery, they
want answers.
A satellite image is more than what
meets the eye. By combining data from
different portions of the electromagnetic
14 | AGI Newsletter
Farms along the Ghaghara River, Uttar Pradesh, India. © 2021
spectrum, satellite data can be used to
assess crop vitality with indices such as the
Normalized Difference Vegetative Index
(NDVI), which shows whether plants are
under stress and what lifecycle stage a
crop is in.
Planet’s customers, such as Granular, use
its API to generate analytic visualisations
that can be integrated into their digital
platforms. They help farmers optimise
inputs like fertilizers and retain complete
control over threats to their crops.
Myth 3: Growers only need a few
images over the growing season.
For some agricultural use cases, a few
images during the growing season can
provide base-level information on crop
health, but not nearly enough to really take
the best action.
Some crops present relatively narrow
time windows for actions specific to key
growth stages. Having a reliable source of
up-to-date imagery, such as Planet’s daily
monitoring, ultimately provides a higher
likelihood of getting usable data, especially
when the risk of weather events like
clouds can impact data continuity.
Myth 4: Drones are the best
solutions for insights. Satellites are
too coarse in spatial resolution to
tell anything.
The significance and potential of drones
cannot be questioned. They deliver higher
resolution imagery over fields and are
capable of delivering detailed insights to
cultivators. However, drones are expensive
in terms of both purchase and execution
and can cover only so much ground.
Plus, you must know where you want to
fly beforehand and schedule that flight
accordingly.
With satellite imagery, despite trading
spatial resolution for coverage, there is an
added benefit of delivering reliable cost-
effective insights at scale. There’s really no
alternative to it in this respect.
Planet Labs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
While some satellite imagery may be
too fuzzy to discern useful insights,
PlanetScope’s medium (3.7 m) spatial
resolution is ideal for discerning even fine
details of smaller-scale farming operations.
Also, PlanetScope’s satellites are always on
– so there are no issues around scheduling
or tasking them ahead of time. They deliver
high-quality coverage of every acre on
earth.
Myth 5: Public data is good enough,
and commercial satellite data is not
budget-friendly.
Public Earth Observation data from
missions like Landsat and Sentinel do
provide a ton of valuable information to
scientists, researchers and analysts. The
data is free, but deriving insights from
it is not. There are several significant,
time-consuming and expensive challenges
involved in getting the necessary pipelines
in place. This can be a huge burden on
customers and end-users.
Planet’s modern, cloud-first APIs help
process, stream and deliver analysis-ready
data at scale, alongside the rapid growth
of any business. One can leverage the
processing power of a robust platform that
helps focus expertise on outcomes and
applications, and not on building image
processing and cloud infrastructure.
Still weighing options?
Watch Planet’s on-demand webinar:
Delivering Satellite Data to Scale Digital
Agriculture, or visit www.planet.com/ag to
learn more about innovative applications of
satellite imagery in agriculture. Feel free to
reach out to team Planet at sales@planet.
com for any questions.
On Demand Session UTM Link
https://learn.planet.com/aum-webinar-on-
demand-gated-lp.html?utm_source=agi&utm_
medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=agi-
newsletter-article&utm_content=agi-newsletter-
article
Volume IV | July-August 2021

Ceinsys Tech Ltd.’s
Solution for Smart Agriculture:
Designing, Developing and Establishing LRI Data Centre, LRI
Portal and LRI Decision System in Karnataka State
A Agriculture has been widely regarded as
the chief economic activity of the country.
Despite employing almost 50% of the
Indian workforce and contributing around
17%-18% to the nation’s GDP, the sector
lags in several key aspects, one of the
foremost being technology.
To revamp the Agri sector, the
Government of India (GoI) and various
State Governments have launched
dedicated Externally Aided Programmes
or EAPs. Sujala-III is one such EAP
funded by the World Bank, which aims
at strengthening and empowering the
GoI-sponsored Integrated Watershed
Management Programme (IWMP).
Sujala-III aims to deploy centralised ICT
platforms to enable scientific management
and smart agricultural practices.
Purpose
To develop and deploy a state-of-the-
art centralised ICT platform and enable
data integration from multiple sources
besides providing seamless access to
information over user-friendly web and
mobile platforms by farmers, scientific
communities and policymakers alike.
Objectives
• Characterising natural resources at a
cadastral level for potential mapping
and conservation.
• Understanding hydrological dynamics
vis-à-vis hydrogeology & climatic
variability and developing tools to
measure them.
• Establishing a state-of-the-art Digital
Library and Watershed Management
Portal for robust and dynamic
Decision Support Systems.
• Enabling and strengthening local
watershed institutions in a participatory
bottom-up approach for sustained
development.
• Establishing a dynamic state-of-the-art
GIS-based Land Resource Inventory
Portal with LRI DSS, ICT Tools,
Network & Environmental Controls.
• Enabling nodal centres/ consortia to
collaborate and share data from remote
locations.
Volume IV | July-August 2021
Sujala-III, Watershed Development Department; Source: Ceinsys
• Enabling farmers and end-users to
interact with experts, scientists, private
players and decision-makers over
solutions to their queries
• Creating and implementing security
systems, providing training to all
stakeholders.
• Bringing farmer centricity and service
orientation to programmes through
location-specific and up-to-date crop
management-related information
besides personalised advisory services.
• Effective management of Agri-sector
schemes through process redesign.
• Enabling line departments of the
Government of Karnataka and other
stakeholders, planners, scientists and
farming communities to make use of
land resource information for effective
resource management and sustainable
development
Challenges
One of the major challenges faced in
the project was the assimilation of the
enormous data (spatial and non-spatial) at
a single location. Even after assimilation,
the task of delivering this data to decision
makers in a form that they can visualise
and understand along with other allied
information is a mammoth challenge in
itself. Tasks that have been traditionally
carried out by traditional means and now
envisioned in the garbs of technology
must be conveyed through an accessible
medium.
Solution - Case Study
Ceinsys Tech Ltd has come up with an
end-to-end solution aimed at becoming
the backbone for most Decision Support
Systems that can be used by government
agencies, such as the state of Karnataka.
The tech revolutionary has worked on the
comprehensive design, development, and
deployment of a Land Resource Inventory
(LRI) besides a Geodata Clearinghouse &
Data Centre, LRI Enterprise Geo-Portal
and Decision Support System that can be
accessed on a mobile application.
This Decision Support System is made
Case Study | Ceinsys
up of nine modules, covering various
sub-sectors for smarter agricultural
practices where Geospatial technologies
can play an integral part. This includes -
crop selection, nutrient management and
soil health, crop water requirement, soil
conservation structures, water balance
estimation, water budgeting calculation,
land capability classification, surface run-
off calculation, and farm pond location,
sizing and designing.
The challenge of data assimilation
and consolidation have been met with
the help of LRI Data-Generating
Partners, including the National
Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use
Planning (NBSSLUP), Bengaluru, the
Karnataka State Agricultural University
(UAS), Bengaluru, the Karnataka State
Agricultural University (UAS), Dharwad,
the Karnataka State Agricultural
University (UAS), Raichur, the Karnataka
State University of Horticultural Sciences
(UHS), Bagalakote, and the Karnataka
State UAHS, Shimoga.
The State Data Centre at the
Government of Karnataka in Bengaluru
was established to store the data at a
centralised location.
Key Solution Benefits
Besides enabling better farm management
across the crop lifecycle, Ceinsys’ solution
has also established a robust decision-
making framework both for farmers and
the Watershed Development Department.
The focus on well-informed decision
support has led to timely problem-solving
and improved productivity, besides the
provision of actionable intelligence and
situational awareness for all.
Instead of a blanket approach, Ceinsys
has focussed on developing a site-specific
LRI database on a real-time basis besides
a common operational platform that
offers realistic convergence of various
programmes and budgetary allocations.
Farmer and youth-oriented interventions
are given a push, as is greater efficiency
of time, capital and manpower.
AGI Newsletter | 15
 Latest Updates from AGI
The New AGI Governing Council for 2021-2022
Mr. Agendra Kumar Mr. Pramod Kaushik Mr. Sai Arul Mr. Rajan Aiyer
Managing Director President and Managing Director Head of Sales (SAARC & India) Managing Director
Esri India Hexagon India Maxar Intelligence Trimble Navigation

Mr. Sajid Malik Mr. Aman Jain Mr. Sanjiv Jha Mr. Nikhil Kumar
CMD Head- Government Affairs & Principal Smart Infra - SA President - Geospatial
Genesys International Public Policy, Google India Amazon Web Servicesa MapmyIndia

Mr. Rajesh Alla Dr. A Jeyaram Mr. G V Sreeramam Mr. Abhay Kimmatkar
CEO CEO CEO Managing Director
IIC Technologies SECON NeoGeoinfo Technologies Ceinsys Tech Ltd

Mr. Abhijit Sengupta Dr. Atul Kapoor Mr. Prashant Joshi

Director General Manager Vice President - Consulting
HERE India ML Infomap Geospatial Media and Communications

Survey of India and Association of

Geospatial Industries sign MoU for
Geospatial Skill Development
AGI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
India’s national survey and mapping organization, Survey
of India, for Geospatial skill development in the country.
Under this MoU, Survey of India and AGI, with its
member companies, will provide training and certificates
for various skills using latest tools to bridge the gap
between current learning outcomes and requirements of
user organizations.

Report Release: Potential of Geospatial Technologies for the Water Sector in India
AGI’s report on “Potential of Geospatial Technologies for
the Water Sector in India” was released by Mr. Rajiv Ranjan
Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga,
through an online webinar.
The report was developed under the leadership of the AGI
Water Utilities Steering Committee, with inputs from over
60 water and geospatial technology experts from across the
country. Some key highlights of the report are as follows:
1. Digital and Geospatial Technology overview, including
Satellite based Remote Sensing, Surveying and Mapping,
GPS based equipment and sensors, GIS and Spatial
Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics,
Internet of Things, 5G, Robotics and Digital Twin used to
combat the water crisis
2. Outline of key water sector programmes and projects 5. Case studies highlighting the use of geospatial technologies in
in the country different contexts
3. Current and prospective usage of geospatial 6. Openly available geospatial and digital tools for measuring,
technologies in these programmes monitoring, and taking positive action to combat water related
issues
4. Recommendations to strengthen the adoption of
technology for better outcomes

Download your free copy of the report from AGI India website – www.agiindia.com

16 | AGI Newsletter Volume IV | July-August 2021