Patna: A statewide digital crop survey is underway across all 38 districts to create a scientific, verified database of farmland and crop patterns, in what officials describe as a major step towards modernising agricultural planning and welfare delivery.
The technology-driven initiative seeks to replace inconsistent and often conflicting data collected through traditional methods. By generating real-time information on the area under cultivation and the crops being sown, the government hopes to ensure that subsidies, insurance and other farm benefits reach eligible farmers more accurately.
Under the Digital Crop Survey (DCS), fields are being geo-tagged and photographs of crops uploaded to a centralised system. Officials say the authenticated database will allow authorities to assess crop coverage precisely, forecast production and design region-specific strategies, including marketing and procurement plans.
However, implementation has been uneven. In Bhagalpur district, only 5.42% of the identified plots have been digitally surveyed so far, well below the state average of 11.62%. The slow pace has prompted the director of agriculture, Saurabh Suman Yadav, to seek explanations from district officials, with similar reviews ordered in 22 districts reporting delays.
To speed up the process, agriculture staff, farmer advisers and coordinators have been deployed across panchayats, and a dedicated control room has been set up to monitor daily progress. The district alone has 254,709 plots to be surveyed, and officials claim nearly a tenth have already been covered.
Authorities say the survey forms the backbone of future agricultural planning. With reliable, plot-level data, they argue, policymakers will be better equipped to prepare crop plans, respond to climate risks and direct support to the farmers who need it most.
