Powering up Nutritious Food Production in India with Spatial Solutions

Abstract

In India, the demand of nutritional food grains continues to rise while the total area of arable land is not expected to increase significantly. An example of untapped opportunity lies in the potential use of crop-fallows such as rice-fallows. These crop-fallows are very dynamic in nature, travelling year by year across landscapes, mostly driven by monsoon climate but also by human intervention such as economic, agronomic, and cultural practices. The implementation of a digital, open access decision system, able to provide timely information on the arable land area, would facilitate the development of appropriate intervention packages, optimizing land management and boosting production.