Background:
Perception about production efficiency of a particular land is must for its management, planning and development. Going for onsite experimentation to find out the production efficiency and land aptness of a site for perennial crop like almond is not commonly feasible. Improper planning, management and less profitability along with unawareness of land aptness has led to shifting/substitution of almond crop to other crops in cold humid regions of northwest Himalayas. The area under almond has reduced by 7.65% in three years. Keeping afore said issues in mind, an investigation was carried out to develop an efficient methodology in the form of user friendly software application that can help in proper management of the said crop to get optimum returns and can help in discontinuing the shifting /substitution of this important crop:
Technology Details:
The PPA (software application) is first of its kind. It can be used to find out the production efficiency of an area for almond crop and further can suggest the suitability class and aptness of the area for the crop. The suggestions are based on the extent of area to be brought under almond. The application can be used for establishing new orchard as well as established orchards. The another important feature of the application is “Yield Prediction” well in advance that further helps in designing contingency planning for the crop. The application thus can be used to manage and establish almond orchards at suitable locations that will further reduce the chances of its substitution.