Vikal Sharma
Palampur
A training program on “Crop Cutting Experiments” was successfully conducted at the Office of the Deputy Director Agriculture, Palampur, with participation from 33 agriculture officers. These experiments are crucial for estimating crop yields, which directly influence decisions on grain import-export and the disbursement of claims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
Deputy Director Agriculture, Dr. Kuldeep Dhiman, informed that a similar training session will be held for revenue officers on March 19 at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Dharamshala. He emphasized that both agriculture and revenue officers conduct crop cutting experiments by visiting farmers’ fields and selecting plots through random sampling based on khasra numbers.
For the current Rabi season, a total of 972 crop cutting experiments are planned—150 by agriculture officers and 822 by revenue officers—focused on wheat and barley fields. Officers use a mobile app to photograph the selected field, mark a 10m x 2m plot, and carry out harvesting and threshing to estimate yield.
Dr. Dhiman stated that the Agriculture Directorate’s Statistical Office will compile data from across the state to calculate average wheat yield per tehsil, which will form the basis for farmers’ crop insurance claims.
He urged all officers to promptly submit results to ensure timely benefits for farmers. The training was conducted by Technical Assistant Mamta, with participation from ARO Manoj Gautam (District Statistics Office) and Mrs. Deepti (NSO Office).
