DIGITAL GENERAL CROP ESTIMATION SURVEY

The Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES) was piloted in the Kharif 2023‑24 season across selected districts of 10 states and expanded in the Rabi 2023‑24 season to 22 states/UTs. It is now being implemented in 23 states/UTs. DGCES replaces traditional Crop Cutting Experiments with a fully digital, paper‑less workflow that captures data in real‑time via a mobile app, incorporating geo‑tagging, time‑stamping and photographic evidence. The system standardises data collection and validation, improving accuracy, reliability, consistency and timeliness of crop‑yield estimates, and enables online monitoring through web‑based dashboards. The rollout is phased, coordinated with state governments based on digital‑infrastructure readiness and capacity‑building of field staff, as stated by Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Ramnath Thakur in a Lok Sabha reply.