Aiming to enhance the farmers’ income by improving soil health and productivity, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched a unique mission to develop region-specific smart agro-technologies for various crops across India, including Apple, Saffron, Paddy and Gerbera in Jammu Kashmir Union Territory.
The project envisages the use of Internet of Things (IoT) based sensors and drone-based hyper and multi-spectral imaging to generate a real-time precision database to develop knowledge on phonological and physiological indicators as influenced by micro-environment of the target crops being grown across different agro-climatic conditions.
Under this, the scientists would measure and document real-time data on soil and crop health indicators using advanced technologies like soil optix for soil health mapping and multispectral imaging of crop canopy through UAVs for crop health monitoring.

The outcome would help to develop improved crop-specific agrotechnologies for enhancing soil and plant health through optimisation of mineral nutrition, irrigation, real-time crop management, and agronomic practices for good crop husbandry, pest-disease management, and achieving quality and sustainable crop yields.
The investigation would serve as the baseline data for mapping soil health and preparation of high-definition nutrient and texture maps of the soil. These soil health maps will be used for variable rate precise fertilizer application using UAVs and granular fertilizer applicator.
The multi-spectral imaging would help to identify areas of stress, disease, and pest infestation allowing for targeted and timely interventions.
Under this mission, the activities in the Union Territory of J&K will be implemented by CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) Jammu.
Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu, Dr Zabeer Ahmed told the Excelsior that the crops to be targeted in J&K are Paddy, Apple, Saffron and Gerbera, which will be subjected for analysis under the different verticals.“So far, survey, identification and registration of the field sites have been carried out. Airborne hyper and multi-spectral imaging of the crops will be starting with the apple in March 2024 and would be periodically measured for better crops in the season,” he said. The drone-based imaging and soil optix for measuring soil health in real-time will be a continuous process throughout the life cycle of the plant, he added.

According to Senior Scientist Dr Shahid Rasool of CSIR-IIIM Jammu, who is part of this mission, the data would keep the growers abreast with the different crop phenological and physiological events and overall production ecosystem which would help them to make timely and precise decisions about their crops, leading to the optimisation and precise management of crop inputs, and increasing the quality productivity and profitability while reducing the adverse environmental impact.
Since ultimate objective of the project is to enhance the farmers’ income, crops and area chosen for the intervention are based on consumption, production, scale of cultivation and its economic value.The apple industry in Jammu Kashmir is worth more than Rs 12,000 crore and saffron is the most expensive crop of J&K while Paddy and Gerbera are also major crops of the UT.
Therefore these four crops from J&K were identified based on economic value, geographical expanse where they are grown, their potential on how they can transform the income situation of the farmers besides challenges in production.