IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002
XNVENTORY OF POST KHARIF RICE FALLOW LANDS OF SOUTH ASIA FOR
INTRODUCTION OF LEGUMES- AN ENDEAVOUR TOWARDS MACRO LEVEL
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Krishna Rao MV, Hebbar KR, Sesha Sai MVR and Venkataratnam L.
National Remote Sensing Agency
Department of Space, Govt. of India, Hyderabad, India.
(e-mail : krishnarao. mv G nrsa.gov.in)
KEY WORDS: Sustainable agriculture, Inventory, South Asia, Rice fallow lands, Legumes, Macro level
ABSTRACT:
Rice is the major food grain cereal crop grown in South Asia and is cultivated mostly during the kharif (rainy) season. Since the
scope is limited for horizontal expansion, increased cropping intensity on the existing agricultural lands is one of the best crop
management options. In this context, post kharif rice fallows offer a considerable scope for achieving sustainable production by
introduction of short duration leguminous crops. IRS-WiFS data of 1999 kharif season and rabi 2000 season were analysed
following total enumeration approach for deriving spatial distribution of kharif rice and rice fallow lands. Supervised classification
method using maximum likelihood classifier enabled in delineating different agricultural cover classes. Kharif rice and rabi fallow
lands were logically combined to obtain the distribution and area of post kharif rice-fallow lands. State level estimates were
generated for India and nation level estimates for Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Analysis of satellite data showed that India,
Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan have 11.65, 2.11, 0.39 and 0.14 M ha of post kharif rice fallow lands, respectively, out of 40.18,
6.36, 1.45 and 2.45 M ha kharif rice cropped area, thus revealed the potential for introduction of legumes existed in these nations
leading towards sustainable agriculture. This information alongwith pedo-climate regimes and the socio-economic conditions in GIS
environment enables for better utilization of the post kharif rice fallow lands towards enhancing the crop productivity in a
sustainable manner in South Asia.
1. INTRODUCTION
Rice is the second most important cereal in the world,
occupying a land area of nearly 150 M ha with an average
productivity of 3.5 tonnes per hectare and 90% of total area is
located in Asia. The cultivation of rice extends over a wide
range of climatic, soil and hydrological conditions. In South
Asia, rice is cultivated mostly during the kharif season,
coinciding with the period of active monsoon rains. Crop
intensification and diversification programmes in the South
Asia are aimed at increasing the food production. Since the
scope is limited for horizontal expansion, increased cropping
intensity on the existing agricultural lands is one of the best
crop management options. In this context, post kharif rice
fallows offer a considerable scope for improving the crop
production scenario. These post kharif rice fallows can support
one short duration leguminous crop, fix atmospheric nitrogen
and enrich the soil fertility besides acting as a cover crop to
protect the topsoil from erosion. These crops also break the pest
and disease cycles. All these benefits due to the cultivation of
the pulse crops could enhance the long-term sustainability of
rice production.
In this endeavour, inventory of the post kharif rice fallow lands
and mapping the spatial distribution of these potential land
parcels are the most essential pre-requisites. The updated
spatial information enables the analysis of the potential and
constraints for post-rice cultivation, recommended agronomy
and socio-economic considerations. Satellite remote sensing is
the best tool for deriving this valuable information in spatial
and temporal domains by providing the multi-spectral
reflectance data at regular periods in a synoptic mode. The
satellite data is also amenable for geo-referencing, thus making
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it compatible to the analysis in the geographical information
system (GIS).
Procedures for the estimation of rice acreage and production
using optical data are operational with the techniques developed
and tested under Crop acreage and Production Estimation
(CAPE) project using single date Linear Imaging Self Scanning
Sensor (LISS-I/IT) data of Indian Remote Sensing Satellites IRS
1A/1B satellites and are being routinely generated at district,
State and National levels (Parihar et al.,1990). The second
generation Indian Remote Sensing Satellites IRS-1C/1D on-
board have three sensors viz., the Panchromatic camera (PAN),
LISS-III, and the Wide Field Sensor (WiFS) and are very useful
in deriving crop information at different levels. The PAN data
provides high resolution in a single spectral band of 500 to 750
nm, at 5.8 m spatial resolution and is mainly useful in micro-
level planning and infrastructure development. The LISS-III
provides reflectance data in green, red and near-infrared bands
at 23.5 m spatial resolution and at 24 days re-visit, covering a
swath of about 141 km. This data is found to be useful for
identification of cash crops such as chillies, tobacco etc. grown
in small land holdings and for improved discrimination of
different crops grown under multiple crop situations (Krishna
Rao et al., 1997).
The WiFS sensor provides reflectance data in red and near
infrared bands at 188 m spatial resolution and at 5 days re-visit,
covering a swath of about 800 km, and is useful in deriving
regional level crop information. High frequency of the
availability of the WiFS data due to the short re-visit period
also facilitates the monitoring of crops (Kasturirangan et
al.1996). WiFS data was found to be suitable for deriving
spatial distribution of rabi rice crop grown in the Godavari delta
of East and West Godavari districts and pulse crop cultivated in
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