Raipur — The Chhattisgarh state administration is turning to unmanned aerial vehicles to sharpen the precision of this year’s kharif crop assessment. The conventional girdawari exercise, due for completion in October, will now integrate drone‑generated maps with field verification by revenue officers.
Aerial mapping meets on‑site checks
Compact drones are being dispatched over key farming belts to capture high‑resolution snapshots of field boundaries, crop‑type patterns and cultivated acreage. The raw imagery is processed into a digital ledger that logs the exact location of every crop.
At the same time, revenue teams are touring farms to corroborate the aerial data. Any inconsistency between the drone‑derived record and the ground observation is flagged for further investigation.
Ongoing oversight of the girdawari operation
Senior officials are monitoring the survey’s progress closely, reviewing reports submitted by field crews. When a discrepancy emerges—such as a crop listed in official registers that does not appear in reality—the responsible officers must justify the variance.
This two‑layer methodology is intended to prune errors from the state’s crop database and deliver a more reliable picture of agricultural output.
Detecting illegal opium and cannabis farms
The aerial sweep is not limited to legal kharif crops. Authorities are also using drone feeds to keep tabs on areas prone to illicit opium and cannabis cultivation. Revenue officers coordinate with police and other agencies; if the imagery or a subsequent field visit hints at suspicious planting, a targeted ground inspection follows before any enforcement action.
Officials contend that aerial mapping can quickly expose hard‑to‑reach pockets, enabling a faster response to potential illegal farms.
Scale of the sowing target
Chhattisgarh has set an ambitious target of sowing kharif crops on 48.69 lakh hectares this season. As of 22 September, satellite‑assisted estimates indicated that cultivation had already covered 48.44 lakh hectares.
Rice remains the dominant kharif crop, while maize, kodo, kutki, arhar, moong, groundnut and ramtil also feature prominently across the landscape.
The final girdawari round in October is expected to lock in the exact area under each crop.
Why precise records matter for farmers
Accurate crop data underpins a host of government schemes—crop‑insurance payouts, disaster relief, compensation and other farmer‑centric programmes. When the type of crop and the exact cultivated area are reliably recorded, authorities can pinpoint eligible beneficiaries and channel assistance more efficiently.
By marrying drone technology with traditional field checks, the administration aims to build a robust, transparent crop database that ensures public support reaches the right hands.
