1. Innovative Mobile Application and Web Portal for General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES)

Current Context: The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) launched an Innovative Mobile Application and Web Portal for the General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES) to Revolutionize Farming Practices in New Delhi.

Key points:

• This revolutionary portal and mobile application have been designed to transform agricultural practices across the country. 
• It will help to enhance data accuracy and improve digital data governance in agriculture. 
• It has been developed by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

Key Challenges Addressed by GCES Web Portal and Mobile Application:

• Delay in Reporting: It will replace the manual process of data collection which causes a delay in reporting by states. In the new process, the field data will be collected using GPS GPS-enabled mobile application and will be stored in the server which ensures on-time reporting of crop statistics.
• Transparency: GPS-enabled devices provide precise latitude and longitude coordinates for data collection points. This information ensures that data is linked to specific geographic locations, leaving no room for ambiguity or manipulation of data regarding where it was collected.

Key Features of the GCES Web Portal and Mobile Application:

• Comprehensive Information- The portal and the app provide a comprehensive repository of yield estimation including village-wise GCES plan and plot details where the crop-cutting experiments are conducted, post-harvesting crop weight, and driage weight of the crop.
• Geo-referencing- Geo-referencing is one of the key features of the mobile application, which enables the primary worker to draw the boundary of the experimental plot and upload photos of the plot as well as of the crops through it. This feature will ensure transparency and accuracy of the data as well.