The Uttar Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday that it plans to implement a digital crop survey called 'e-Padtal' to protect farmers from crop losses caused by seasonal changes and to ensure they benefit from government grants and schemes. Preparations have been made under the supervision of CM Yogi to begin crop inspection through this digital survey during the current Kharif season.
In addition, plans have been developed for future digital crop surveys across the state during the Rabi and Zaid seasons, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
As per the statement, the upcoming survey will include several important features. Its primary goal is to create an ecosystem and a reliable database that will serve as the state's single authoritative source for crop-related information. This will allow for real-time crop condition updates and informed decision-making by the relevant departments, it said.
The survey will collect information from 35,983 e-Padtal clusters and 31,002 accountants from 350 tehsils in 75 districts across Uttar Pradesh. Each cluster will compile detailed crop status information, including photographs and related data, the statement said.
When the crop data collection is finished, the database will provide a detailed overview of the crop status. This information will be useful to the departments in a variety of ways, including extending the benefits of government schemes to farmers and determining crop prices, it said.
The state's Kharif season began on June 15, and preparations for the survey are already underway. During the Kharif season, "the survey is scheduled to take place between August 10 and September 25," the statement read.
The Rabi season survey will take place from January 1 to February 15, while the Zaid season survey will take place from May 1 to May 31. An additional survey may be conducted in October if necessary.
According to the statement, district-level "District Master Trainers" and tehsil-level "Tehsil Master Trainers" will be identified for training in a three-day workshop at Krishi Bhawan in Lucknow to ensure a smooth survey process.
"Surveyors, supervisors, and verifiers in the Lucknow circle will be trained at Lok Bhavan, while those in other districts will be trained at their district headquarters," it said. In addition, 12 Assistant Commissioner-level State Master Trainers have been identified and trained to oversee the survey's implementation.