Why in news?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed dedicated ‘Bharat Krishi Satellite’ programme for supporting the country’s agriculture sector

Bharat Krishi Satellite Programme

• Minimum of two satellites are stipulated to guarantee adequate coverage of the entire agricultural area of the country.
• They will aid a gamut of farm-related activities related to crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil data, and generation of critical data related to drought.
• The satellites will be owned by the Department of Agriculture and not by ISRO. The ISRO will provide the technical support.
• An ‘Earth Observation Council’ be created for addressing the current deficiencies in earth observation capabilities and data utilisation.
• Such a council can tackle shortcomings in this area in a centralised manner.

Why need such program?

Current deficiencies include:

• Discontinuity in earth observation missions
• Low utilisation of available remote sensing data
• Technology gaps and
• Absence of a streamlined mechanism for data processing and dissemination as required by the industry