Space technology support for development of agriculture in the North Eastern Region of India – scope and challenges

The North Eastern Region of India (NER) has tremendous scope for accelerating its growth in agriculture and allied areas through advanced data acquisition, interpretation and dissemination methods with geospatial technology. For several thematic applications, geospatial tools and techniques are being used to provide synoptic, cost-efficient and timely information for effective crop planning and monitoring in the region. A review of space applications in agriculture, horticulture, sericulture, land-use suitability, shifting cultivation, groundwater prospecting, soil resources management, etc. has been made, highlighting the scope and limitation of using these advanced technologies. Satellite remote sensing has several limitations in NER, viz. small and fragmented farmlands, persistent clouds during monsoon, mixed farming, steep hills, etc. Considering these facts, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used as an alternative for satellite remote sensing applications in agriculture. The increased availability of very high resolution satellite and UAV data will offer opportunities for innovative solu­tions to fulfil specific user needs of agriculture and allied sectors in NER