APPLE ORCHARD CHARACTERIZATION USING REMOTE SENSING GIS IN SHIMLA DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

摘要

Recognising importance of horticulture in promoting livelihood and employment opportunity and bringing prosperity to the state, the Govt. of India has extended National Horticulture Technology Mission Programme to Himachal Pradesh. The objective of Mission is to develop horticulture based farming system that is economically viable and ecologically sustainable using all the modern tools and techniques available. The space technology including remote sensing, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) are the advanced tools that aid in gathering and updating information and develop scientific management plans. Updated and accurate database is pre-requisite for systematic planning of horticulture sector be it area expansion, increase in productivity or creating post harvest handling facilities. With this aim, a study was carried out to generate block wise database on apple plantation in Shimla which is the largest apple growing district of Himachal Pradesh. Remote sensing data from the Indian Remote Sensing satellites like IRSP6 has been used along with other international sensors to generate apple orchard maps, orchard conditions in term of density, terrain parameters like elevation, slope, aspect etc. The GIS tools have been used to characterize the orchard distribution pattern in relation to terrain parameters. The final outputs are in digital form amenable to produce maps at different scales as well as statistics as required by a user.