SPACE AGENDA FOR FOOD SECURUTY IN NEWMillENNIUM

K KasturiranganChairman, ISRO/Secretary, Deptt of Space

Antariksh Bhavan, Bangalore- 5600 94, India

Last fifty years have seen Agriculture, the world's oldest and largestenterprise, being transformed from a state of perpetual stagnation tothe absolute dynamism. The phenomenal growth in food productionfrom 620 million tones in 1950 to nearly 2000 million tones in recentyears (1) has been one of the greatestscientificachievementsin thetwentieth century. Ironically, this remarkable success coincides withthe explosive population growth, particularly in developing countriesviz., India and china. Extensive calculation made taking into accountthe pattern of population growth indicates that the food production inthe developing countries will fall short by at least 400 million tons ayear by 2050, even under most optimistic assumptions (2)Thecontinuing population pressure demands greater efficiency in foodproduction system. A quantum jump in productivity per unit of land,water, energy and even per capita calls for the second wave of greenrevolution, not only in a couple of species of higher economic valuesbut also to include a wide range of co-existing species. Compoundedwith the crises of land degradation, environmental pollution andfragmentation of resources holdings, agro-ecosystems areincreasingly becoming more & more stressed and vulnerable. Thereis a growing damage to the basic life support systems of land, water,forests, bio-diversity, oceans, and the atmosphere; and, prospects ofadverse changes in temperature, rainfall, sea level, and ultraviolet-~radiation. Considering the state of fragile agro-ecosystems inchanging climatic scenario, it is now being realized that the presentpathways of ' progress' in agriculture sector has not been in harmonywith ecological foundations of the ecosystems itself.

For India, agriculture is the heart and soul of its socio-economicgrowth. Indian agriculture not only provides food for a population ofnearly one billion but also provides livelihood to nearly 65% of ourpopulation. It has also come out from perpetual stagnation, as theoverall production went up from 51 million tons to about 200 million

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tons from 1950 to 1999.The annual growth was about 0.3 % from1900 to 1950. During the 1980s,it went up to 3.3 %. This decade, ithas come down to about 1.8 % (3). Our population is still growing atthe rate of about 2%.The short-fall in food grain production in India isexpectedto be between25-50 milliontons by the year 2030 (2). Theagricultural advancement made so far has largely been confined toirrigated areas. Out of 142 million ha. net sown areas, 92 million ha.are under rainfed agriculture. At present, 3 ha of rain fed areasproduce cereal grain equivalent to that produced in 1 ha. of irrigatedarea. These are the .areas having increasingly massive landdegradation, coupled with high risks and diverse cropping systems.These are also the territory where the nexus of poverty, hunger andenvironmental degradation is most severe. It has also been thebreeding ground of regional imbalances within the country andinequity among the people . With 96% irrigation and about 3.7 tIhaproductivity, Punjab has got the highest per capita income in thecountry. Since the gaps between actual and potential productivity isquite large in rain fed areas, there is scope of doubling theproductivity in these regions, by paying greater attention to soil andwater conservation, minimizing the adverse impact of aberrantmonsoon on food security as well as arresting soil erosion.

Food Production Strategy - New Paradigms

Sustainable development is no more an option but has become animperative for providing food, economic and health security to all. Iam in agreement with Dr M S Swaminathan's views (3) on foodproduction strategy which calls for a paradigm shift- by makingagriculture as knowledge and technology intensive, turning it toinformation rich enterprise, ensuring total quality management inagriculture sector and by integrating the principle of economics withecology and equity- called eco-technology. These new paradigmscall for fusion and blending of bio-technology with space andinformation technologies. While bio-technology provides a molecularunderstanding of the genetic basis of living organisms as well as theability to use this understanding to develop genetically improvedprocesses and products, space and information technologies allowquick propagation and assimilation of genetic materials. Informationrich agriculture needs to have gene banks, data warehouse, spectrallibraries and appropriate informatics case for decision support. Total

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quality management which includes the optimal management of land,water and agricultural inputs viz.fertilizer, seeds, integrated pestmanagement etc, is critical element in view of realising the geneticpotential of crops with ecological integrity. Coupling economics withecology and equity is a long term goal wherein the wide-spreadbenefits of enhanced food production could eliminate the poverty,hunger and malnutrition from the face of earth completely.

Emerging Technologies and New Opportunities '

While the twentieth century began with the rediscovery of Mendel'slaws of inheritance and Maxwell's electromagnetic wave propagationtheories, it ended with advances in molecular mapping andrecombinant DNA technology along with revolutions in space andinformation technologies. On the threshold of the twenty - firstcentury, these developments mean that the world has never beenbetter equipped to deal with any developmental issues, including thefood security. Space has provided the vantage point to view theplanet earth in its totality and brought in the much needed globalconnectivity , cutting across the physical barriers and transnationalboundaries. The convergence of large computations and satellitebased communications has paved the way for seamless networks toprovide personal communication and multi-media services thuscreating a world where communication, information, entertainmentand motivation are literally at the will of one's finger tips. Satelliteremote sensing applications have widely been recognized as one ofthe major instruments for enhancing human ability to understand theenvironment and manage natural resources by establishing its mutualinterdependence. However, with all the developments taking placeworld-wide, the question really is whether the socio-economicstructure, particularly in developing countries, is geared enough toabsorb and harness the potential benefits of these technologies. Thegaps in utilization of these emerging technologies would create widerrich-poor divide, leading to the unsustainable lifestyles andunacceptable poverty, economic inequity among nations and amongcommunities/regions within nations.

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Using Space Technology for Food Security -IndianExperience

The Indian Space Programme has been characterized by a vision touse space technology for development at grass-root levels.Agriculture has been at the core of its priorities. While India's EarthObservation (EO) satellites, the Indian Remote Sensing Satellites(IRS) 1A to 1D, are tailored to meet the critical information ,needs ofagriculture sector, the INSAT series of satellites have been offeringthe valuable agro- meteorological services as well as disseminationof improved agricultural practices to the farming communities. Thefirst experiment using remote sensing technology was carried out oncoconut wilt diseases in Kerala way back in 1969. Since then theremote sensing application scenario has witnessed a phase transitionfrom resource mapping to decision making. While buffer stock offoodgrains can be ascribed partly to the inferences drawn fromremote sensing based pre-harvest crop acreage and productionestimation in the country, the ground water potential maps for entirecountry, prepared during eighties, have been the major source ofinformation that contributed to the tremendous success of drinkingwater technology mission. Identification of salt affected andwaterlogged areas in the command areas of the irrigation projectsand inventory of crop lands and cropping patterns have facilitatedefficient water usage resulting in increased cropping intensity. Nation-wide waste land and land use I land cover mapping has helped inexpanding and intensification of agricultural activities. Similarly,nationwide soil mapping has contributed in identifying the landcapability classes and crop suitability indices. Remote sensing hasthus become one of the most important tool for evaluation of thephysical attributes of land and water resources in the country .

As a facilitator of nation-wide planning for agriculture resourcedevelopment on the basis of agro-climatic zonation, the applicationsof space remote sensing have been further moved from large scalemapping across the various scales to micro-level decision making forsustainable development. Remote sensing based Integrated Missionfor Sustainable Development (IMSD) project being carried out inabout 85 million ha. of problem lands falling in 175 districts of thecountry has been successful in certain areas towards enriching the

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ground water potential, increasing the cropping intensity along withthe net returns from the fields and finally conserving the land andwater resources. It is important to note that IMSD experiment wasconducted in the terrain of low productivity, mainly dry lands/rain fedareas predominantly waste lands, where the scope of doubling foodproduction is the main issue. The success of IMSD experiment inthese areas lies not only in applications of space inputs but alsolargely due to the synergistic interfaces among grass root levelfarmers, administrator/policy makers and multi-disciplinary scientificcommunities, which were developed during the experiment. Withoperationalisation of National Natural Resources ManagementSystem (NNRMS) under the Department of Space (DOS), the space,ground and user segments have been properly tuned to respond tothe challenges of sustainable crop production in the country.

Constraints Management - Reducing the InformationGaps

In addition to the low productive dry lands, there are some morecritical issues viz., land degradation, drought & floods, crop pests &diseases, nutrient loss, post harvest losses and inappropriateagricultural practices, constraining the cause of food security in the'country. Managing these constraints covers a wide gamut ofactivities ranging from the agricultural research and appropriatepackage of scientific practices, basic inputs of seed, fertilizers, micro-nutrients, plant protection, credit- both short-term and medium/longterm, soil moisture, transmission of research results to the field topost harvesting technology and marketing. It is here that therelevance and utility of informatics in agriculture assume paramountimportance. Also, the globalisation of economics including agriculturehas thrown up fresh challenges of undertaking critical analysis of theimplications of various developments as a result of tariff and non-tariffregulations and intellectual property rights in the field of agriculturaltrade. Towards these, a national infrastructure, called National(Natural) Resources Information System (NRIS), has beenestablished for the availability of organised spatial and non-spatialdata and multi-level information networking to contribute to local,national and global needs of sustainable development. Similarly,single window approach based pilot project to supply information to

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all the users and decision makers at the grass root level farmingcommunity is being implemented in the form of Agro-climaticPlanning and Information Bank (APIB). One of the most crucialinformation that is directly linked up with pricing, export-import,procurement etc., is the pre-harvest production estimates of the majorcrops in the country. The improvised Crop Acreage and ProductionEstimation (CAPE) project, now called Forecasting AgriculturalOutput using Space Agrometeorology and Land-based Observations(FASAL) is being launched for the multiple production foreaasting ofthe major crops with improved accuracy, timeliness and scope. Allthese efforts are aimed at building the informatics infrastructure in theagriculture sector.

Agro-meteorological Services and Dissemination ofAgricultural Practices

The INSAT-VHRR observations on clouds, cyclone depressions,surface radiance and monsoon parameters in Indian Ocean havereally strengthened the agro-meteorological services in the country.To disseminate the appropriate locale specific agricultural packages,there are several programmes such as 'Krishi Darshan' beingbeamed through all the regional channels. An operational system ofpublic instruction has been established since 1995, using the INSATTraining and Development Communication Channel (TDCC) fordisseminating improved agricultural practices, training primaryteachers, panchayat raj, elected representative, Anganwadi workers,wasteland development functionaries etc., Recently, JhabuaDevelopment Communication Project (JDCP) has been undertakenby ISRO in Jhabua district of MP to provide communication support tothe developmental activities and also interactive training to thedevelopment functionaries and common people. The establishmentof a large scale operational development communications networkwould certainly help in turning the stagnant rural societies intoinformation rich vibrant societies.

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New Millennium - An Era of Technological Convergence

In the new millennium when we have to produce more food and otheragricultural commoditiesunder conditionsof diminishing per capita .

arable land and irrigation water resources and expanding biotic andabiotic stresses, the triad of bio technology, space technology andinformation technology holds the key towards achieving the goals ofsustainable development. The proliferation of communications andI

earth observation satellites will offer tremendous potentials andopportunities to the community of agriculture scientists to turnagriculture a knowledge and technology intensive sector. Nearly 180communications satellites are operating in geostationary orbits andthe transponder capacity is poised to grow from about 4500 in 1997to over 10000 ( in C, Ku and Ka-bands) by the year 2007 (4).Similarly,future earth observation missions viz. NASA-Earth Enterprise, ESA-ENVISAT, Japanese ADEOS, Indian Remote Sensing satellites(CARTOSAT, RESOURCESAT, etc.,), including about 70 missionsalready planned globally carrying onboard 230 sensors, are tailoredto reduce the scientific uncertainties due to complex Geosphere-Biosphere interactions, which also addresses the issues related tosustainability of agro-ecosystems world wide. High-resolution imagingof agro-ecosystems , appropriately coupled with GeographicInformation System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS),simulation modeling tools, would provide enough technologicalbreeding ground to stimulate precision farming practices, a uniqueexample of information rich agriculture enterprise. Precision farmingbased simulation models ,further interfaced with eco-system dynamicmodels would help in drawing up more appropriate plans andpractices for sustainable development ,connecting local practices withglobal ramifications. While the twentieth century was a century ofhopes, the twenty first century could be the century of realities as thetriad of bio technology, space technology and information technologytogether is going to play catalytic role in putting the new paradigms,encompassing economics, ecology and equity of food security intothe action.

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References

(1) World Resources (1998-99) : World Resources Institute Dept.,Oxford University Press, (N. Y.)

(2) Global Food Production to 2020 (1995) ; IFPRI Publication,Washington, 0 C

(3) M S Swaminathan (1999), A Century of Hope: Harmony withnature and freedom from hunger, East West Book ( Madras) pvtLtd.,Chennai.

(4) K Kasturirangan et ai, Expanding the use of space technologyapplications-opportunity and constraints, UNIIAF Workshop, Sept24, 1998, Melborne, Australia.

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