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Karnataka launched the Composite Digital Crop Survey (CDCS) on 6 August 2026 for crop data collection and agricultural mapping.
It uses Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Aperture Radar, high-resolution satellite imagery, drone surveys, GIS data and machine learning for plot-level assessment.
The pilot will begin in five selected hoblis covering all geographical divisions of the state.
It builds on Karnataka's existing Digital Crop Survey, which has collected plot-level data through a GIS-based mobile application since 2018.
The Agriculture Department is separately developing an AI-powered advisory platform for more than one crore registered farmers.
Optical satellite imagery depends on visible light, so it fails at night and cannot see through cloud. That is a serious limitation for crop monitoring in India, because the kharif season coincides with the monsoon, when cloud cover is heaviest and crop growth most needs tracking. Synthetic Aperture Radar transmits its own microwave signal and measures the reflection, so it captures surface data through cloud and in darkness. Combining SAR with optical imagery, drone surveys and ground-level data collected through a mobile application allows plot-level assessment that no single method could deliver on its own — which is what the word 'composite' in the survey's name refers to.
Simple Analogy: Optical imaging is like photographing a field on a clear day. SAR is like using sonar — it works in fog and darkness because it supplies its own signal rather than relying on the sun.
Crop insurance claims depend on accurate assessment of area sown and loss incurred, which plot-level digital surveys are intended to supply.
State-level digital crop surveys feed the national effort to build farmer and crop registries as digital public infrastructure.
Linking crop data to Revenue Department land records is what allows a single authoritative record per plot.
GS Paper 3 > Agriculture — technology in agriculture; Science and Technology — remote sensing
General Awareness > State initiatives and technology
General Awareness > Science, technology and agriculture
A remote sensing technology that transmits its own microwave signal, enabling data capture through cloud cover and at night.
An administrative sub-district unit used in the revenue system of Karnataka.
A system for capturing, storing and analysing spatial and geographic data, used here for plot-level crop mapping.
Crop data collected for each individual land parcel rather than aggregated at village or block level.