Odisha wins ‘Global Planet Purpose Award

Bhubaneswar: Odisha won the Global Planet Purpose Award for its satellite image-based validation of paddy crop system.

The award was given to Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department, Electronics & Information Technology Department at the Planet Explore 2023-Transparency to Action Conference held in Washington DC, USA.

Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department, Electronics & Information Technology Department along with Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC) are using satellite based imagery in paddy procurement to weed out bogus farmers and effective disbursal of Minimum Support Price to farmers.

The technology-aided governance is being used for greater welfare of farmers. The system uses satellite imagery to provide accurate and up-to-date information on crop grown at field level which helps FS & CW Department to seamlessly transfer Minimum Support Price to genuine farmers.

The innovative Crop Analytics system uses bundle of technologies like GIS, satellite imagery and process it with power of visualisation to verify the plots on which paddy is grown. The fool-proof system helps in detecting suspect claimants for complete transparency in MSP scheme.

The system is integrated with Odisha Govt’s land record database-Bhulekh and Paddy Procurement Automation (PPAS) which helps in verifying the genuine farmers. Paddy crop validation is done using remote sensing image analysis technology while AI based mobile application is used for further prevention of possible manipulation by field level officials.

Odisha currently procures paddy worth INR 14,000 Crores from more than 1.5 million farmers across the state covering about 50,000 villages under the MSP Minimum Support Price scheme.

Congratulating Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “Technology is corner-stone of our 5T governance model. Glad to know that the use of technology is ushering in a new era of transparency for greater welfare of lakhs of farmers. Commend the department for using frontier technology for effective distribution of MSP benefits to lakhs of our farmers.”

“The technology uses real-time satellite images from Planet for successful validation of paddy grown in farm lands across Odisha. The technology-aided transparency has also encouraged more small and medium farmers to avail benefits of the MSP scheme, improving their participation from 67 percent to 73 percent,” said Atanu sabyasachi Nayak, Minister Food Supply & Consumer Welfare, Cooperation and congratulated the Department for this Award.