LRI Data Centre, Portal and Decision System for Smart Agriculture in Karnataka
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, and aimed 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 of the Project
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 of the Project
- 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.
- 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
Solution
Ceinsys Tech Ltd proposed an end-to-end solution aimed at comprehensive design, development and deployment of:
- Land Resource Inventory (LRI)
- Geodata Clearinghouse comprising LRI Data Centre
- LRI Enterprise Geo-Portal
- LRI Decision Support System (DSS) accessible over the World Wide Web/ Distributed Networks/ Mobile Apps
- Mobile application
- Famer Advisory Services
The DSS comprises 9 modules:
- 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
- Farm Pond Location, Sizing and Designing
One of the major challenges faced in the project was the assimilation of the enormous data (spatial and non-spatial) at a single location. This was resolved with the help of LRI Data-Generating Partners:
- National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSSLUP), Bengaluru
- Karnataka State Agricultural University (UAS), Bengaluru
- Karnataka State Agricultural University (UAS), Dharwad
- Karnataka State Agricultural University (UAS), Raichur
- Karnataka State University of Horticultural Sciences (UHS), Bagalakote
- Karnataka State UAHS, Shimoga
The State Data Centre, Government of Karnataka, Bengaluru, was established to store the data at a centralised location.
Technology Deployed:
- Net 4.8 & MVC-5 Framework
- Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Enterprise Edition
- RDLC Reporting
COTs:
- ERDAS Imagine
- Apollo Server
- Geo-Portal
- Geomedia WebMap
- Geomedia Professional
CMS:
- Orchard
Mobile Application:
- Android
- iOS
Key Benefits
- Enables farmers to manage fertilizer utilization for any crop at any stage, under any condition and growing method, accounting for multiple dynamic factors.
- Decision support systems for Famers & Watershed Development Department with more informed decision-making, timely problem solving and improved efficiency.
- Common operational platform providing actionable intelligence and situational awareness to all its stakeholders like Farmers, Departments, Hydrologists
- Farmer and youth-oriented interventions due to site-specific LRI database on a real-time basis, rather than a blanket approach.
- Watershed cycle reduced to 3 to 4 years; would earlier take about 6 to 7 years.
- Real-time and realistic convergence of various programmes and budgetary allocations to line departments as per the requirement
More than anything, the time, capital and manpower use efficiency has increased significantly due to the application of this approach
