Raipur — In a bid to sharpen the accuracy of this year’s kharif assessment, Chhattisgarh’s state government is turning to unmanned aerial vehicles. The traditional girdawari exercise, due for completion in October, will now incorporate drone‑generated maps alongside on‑the‑ground checks by revenue officers.
From sky to soil: drones meet field verification
Compact UAVs are being dispatched over principal farming belts to capture high‑definition imagery of plot boundaries, crop patterns and cultivated acreage. The visuals are processed into a digital ledger that pinpoints exactly where each crop is sown.
Concurrently, revenue teams are touring farms to validate the aerial information. Any inconsistency between the drone‑produced record and the on‑site observation is flagged for further scrutiny.
Real‑time oversight of the girdawari workflow
Senior administrators are monitoring the survey’s progress closely, reviewing reports submitted by field crews. When a mismatch emerges—such as a crop listed in official registers that does not correspond with the reality on the ground—the responsible officers must explain the variance.
This two‑layer methodology is intended to prune errors from the state’s crop database and deliver a more trustworthy snapshot of agricultural output.
Identifying illegal opium and cannabis farms
The aerial sweep is not limited to legal kharif varieties. Authorities are also analysing drone feeds to spot zones prone to illicit opium and cannabis cultivation. Revenue officers coordinate with police and other agencies; if the imagery or a field visit suggests suspicious planting, a targeted ground inspection follows before any enforcement action is taken.
Officials believe that aerial mapping can quickly expose hard‑to‑reach pockets, enabling a swifter response to potential illegal farms.
Scale of the sowing ambition
Chhattisgarh has set a lofty target of sowing kharif crops on 48.69 lakh hectares this season. By 22 September, satellite‑aided 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 precision matters 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.
