Haryana received the Geospatial Excellence Award at the Geospatial World Forum in Amsterdam in May 2026 for a satellite-powered system that helps farmers identify water stress before they see it. The international jury praised Haryana’s Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) for building a practical, scalable system that tackles food security, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience together.
At its heart, the platform brings together satellite imagery, remote sensing data, GIS dashboards, mobile apps, UAV surveys, and AI analytics in one operational layer. Through this, HARSAC provides crop monitoring and yield assessment, water resource management, crop insurance analytics, image-based crop health monitoring, and mandi mapping with market rate information. Farmers can check market rates and selling outlets through a common portal, while government departments use the same system for agricultural planning and climate-resilience initiatives.
The system relies on vegetation indices derived from satellite data to track crop health. Tools like NDVI, which measures plant vigour, and land surface water indices allow officials to spot water stress or nutrient deficiency weeks before visible symptoms appear. When an area shows signs of stress, officials can issue targeted advisories rather than using broad interventions.
Water is running out for Haryana’s farmers. Groundwater is being pumped out faster than it can refill—about 137% of what nature gives back each year. Agriculture takes up 87% of that water, with water levels falling between 0.33 and 1 metre per year in many districts. HARSAC’s system helps spot trouble early by mapping water stress across thousands of fields, flagging areas of overuse or inefficiency. The system also uses satellites to spot crop residue fires and send GPS alerts to officials, helping cut down farm fires.
What sets apart HARSAC is not any single technology but integration of multiple data streams into a system that is both operationally active and accessible. By building the system as a government service through existing administrative structures including revenue officials and patwaris, HARSAC has created a channel through which satellite intelligence can reach farmers without requiring smartphones or subscriptions. The savings from improved yield estimation and procurement planning are estimated at Rs 300 to 400 crore annually. As groundwater pressures intensify and climate variability makes crop planning harder, the ability to turn satellite views into actionable warnings is exactly the kind of practical innovation Indian agriculture needs.
