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along Uttar Pradesh and Bihar States, are the important rice- 
wheat cropping system districts in this country. The spatial 
contiguity of the cropping pattern of the Southern Terai districts 
of Nepal with Uttar pradesh and Bihar states of Indian border 
enabled for extension of the spectral signatures to Nepal. 
The remote sensing estimate of 1999 kharif rice acreage in 
Nepal was 1.45 M ha, which is mainly concentrated in the 
Southern Terai districts of the country, as shown in the raw and 
classified IRS-WiFS data of Nepal. The post kharif rice fallow 
lands occupy only 0.39 M ha and mainly concentrated in the 
South East districts viz., Jhapa, Ilam, Sunsari, Sirha, Saptari 
-and Dhanusa. 
6. CONCLUSIONS 
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 fallows in 
different States of India and in the neighbouring Pakistan, 
Nepal and Bangladesh Nations. Information on the spatial 
distribution of kharif rice and rabi fallow lands were logically 
combined to derive the distribution and area of post kharif rice- 
fallow lands. For the first time countrywise maps of four 
agriculturally important nations, showing spatial distribution of 
kharif rice and post kharif rice fallow lands, were generated. 
The analysis indicated that good potential for the utilization of 
rabi fallow lands, where kharif crop was rice, existed in India, 
Bangladesh and Nepal with marginal potential in Pakistan. 
Remote sensing spatial information layer of rice fallows in 
India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan nations, in conjunction 
with soil and climate layers enabled ICRISAT for preparing 
GIS maps of potential areas for rice-fallow cultivation with a 
suitable short duration leguminous crop. 
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
The authors are thankful to the team of International Crops 
Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), 
Patancheru, and in particular to Dr. Chris Johansen, Principal 
Agronomist, ICRISAT for their association in this project. The 
authors thank the Director, NRSA for evincing keen interest in 
the project and the valuable and constructive criticism. We also 
thank the Deputy Director (RS&GIS) for his support and 
providing facilities to carry out the project. 
8. REFERENCES 
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practices using temporal ERS-1 SAR data. ISPRS 
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Jagdish Kumar, 2001. Towards a quantitative leap. The Hindu 
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Chennai. 
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Wing, Islamabad, 1999. 
Govt. of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Year Book of 
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Guyot, G. 1990. Optical properties of vegetation canopies. In : 
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K.S., Kumar, P. and Das, N.K. Rice acreage estimation in 
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