Coordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management using geoinformatics (CHAMAN)

• In a bid to develop India’s horticulture sector and help states identify suitable areas and crop types, the agriculture ministry is working on a project which uses satellites and remote sensing technology. The project is known as CHAMAN.

About CHAMAN:

• Under the Mission of Integrated Horticulture Development (MIDH), the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare has initiated the project CHAMAN (Coordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management using geoiNfromatics) for assessment and development of Horticulture through Remote Sensing & geo-informatics.
• The project is being implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) in collaboration with ISRO Centres (SAC & NRSC) and 12 state horticulture departments, NHRDF, IMD, ICAR Centre and State Remote Sensing Centres.
• This programme envisages use of satellite remote sensing data for area and production estimation of 7 horticultural crops (Potato, Onion, Tomato, Chili, Mango, Banana and Citrus) in 12 major states in 180 districts.
• The programme also uses GIS (Geographical Information System) tools along with remote sensing data for generating action plans for horticultural development (site suitability, infrastructure development, crop intensification, orchard rejuvenation, aqua-horticulture, etc.).
• Another component of CHAMAN is to carry out research activities on horticultural crop condition studies, diseases assessment and precision farming.

Salient achievements of the project include:

• Potato Production Forecast at National/State Level and Final forecast (F2) at District Level for 5 states (Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal)
• Mango and Citrus Orchard mapping: Using LISS III and LISS IV and Cartosat dataset object based/Pixel-based classification was done for Fruit Crop Mapping (Mango and Citrus) in selected districts of Bihar, UP & Punjab.
• Post-harvest infrastructure planning by assessing the potential of cold storage capacity for fruits and vegetables in Bihar state.
• Aqua-horticulture: Remote sensing based assessment of wetlands for Makhana (Foxnut) cultivation in Darbhanga district of Bihar.
• Signature study of vegetable crops using hand-held spectro- radiometer.
• Phenology assessment of grapes using multi-date remote sensing data in collaboration with ICAR-NRC Grapes.

By: Vishal