Case Study of the Day: Crop Pest Surveillance System and Advisory Project

Context: The Maharashtra state in collaboration with ICAR, took up the CROPSAP initiative in 2009, in the backdrop of severe pest outbreak on soybean crop.

About CROPSAP

• Crop Pest Surveillance System and Advisory Project (CROPSAP) was launched in 2009-10 under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra.
• Objectives:
  • Develop an online real-time pest monitoring and advisory system
  • Identify hot-spots to avoid pest build-up and recurrence
  • Issue real-time advisories based on pest status and create mass awareness among farmers about integrated pest management.
• Major crops covered: Cotton, soybean, arhar, rice, gram, mango, pomegranate and banana.
• Process involved:
  • Pest scouts collect data on pest incidence from random plots in representative villages on certain days.
  • Data is then fed on-line and analyzed through software, post which location specific advisories are issued by experts in form of messages, which are transmitted to around 50 lakh registered farmers in the form of SMS.
  • Mass awareness programs are also undertaken.
• Impacts from implementing CROPSAP
  • Increased awareness among farmers relating to Pest Management.
  • Timely surveys have helped in early detection of pests attack, and in taking corrective measures.
  • Yields of crops to farmers have increased.
  • Scientific advisories to farmers have helped farmers to avoid wasteful expenditures on pesticides.

Conclusion

• Integration of Technology with Primitive concepts in agriculture could result in far fetching benefits. Given the potential, there is a need for more such innovations to make farming sustainable in near future.

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