GIS for Agricultural Planning at Village Level

Agricultural activity is best handled through community participation. This is particularly relevant in the case of Goa, India where farm holdings are extremely small and fragmented. In community farming, resources are shared and managed together, thereby bringing greater benefits to all. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to map and quantify all the available agricultural land in a village and identify its status of utilization, i.e. whether it is cultivated or not.  

An Agricultural Map of Carmona Village in South Goa is shown here. In order to map all the designated agricultural land in the villager, the Regional Plan for Carmona was used as a basemap. Various high-resolution satellite imagery was interpreted using Google Earth Engine and Google earth pro to identify cultivated and uncultivated areas. The map was further validated on the ground with farmer inputs before it was finalized.

Using this map, the village can better plan logistics for cultivating 250.5 ha of agricultural land, of which 90.2 ha are cultivated and 160.3 ha are uncultivated. 

On the basis of the spatial insight provided by the map, the farmers have identified four clusters of areas. Clusters have a designated farmer in charge to oversee all the farmers who have land in that particular cluster. This is the first time a local farmers' group has used GIS and Remote Sensing technology for grassroots planning in Goa. There is still a long way to go, and more plans for GIS implementation are in the works. This will be covered in another post. watch this space. Thanks for reading.

Community Outreach Footprint Mapping

A lot of NGOs work in specific regions where they conduct various activities for the communities that they serve. Many times the objective is to reach out to the maximum number of people in need, this also needs to be done in a cost-effective and efficient manner without missing out on anyone. this is where GIS can help gain spatial insight for better decision-making. 

Presenting a community outreach footprint map. This map depicts the areas covered under community outreach initiatives of a local NGO based in Goa. Such maps can help the NGO's/Organizations/Institutions gain a spatial insight into planning their activities more efficiently. For example, they can identify areas of clusters of activities and areas that have remained out of their outreach programmes and hence plan further activities in these areas.

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