ARTICLE Monsoon paddy monitoring and assessment using synthetic aperture radar data under BGREI programme in Odisha, India Dipanwita Haldar • K. R. Manjunath • Sushma Panigrahy • Varunika Jain • R. S. Gopalan • Mukesh Khullar • Manab Chakraborty • J. S. Parihar Received: 11 March 2014 / Revised: 2 July 2014 / Accepted: 5 July 2014 Ó The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan 2014 Abstract Bringing green revolution in eastern India (BGREI) is an initiative of Department of Agriculture and Co-operation (DAC) Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Govt. of India with the aim of increasing crop productivity through improved inputs and package of practices in seven states of eastern India comprising the low productivity zones. The current study aimed at assessment of the BGREI plots with respect to crop vigour variability using space-based observations. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data were used to assess the rice crop growth pattern and vigour through change in backscatter response. A SAR- based methodology was developed to evaluate the effect of BGREI initiative in the state of Odisha. The peak biomass, an indicator of crop vigour was 15–30 % higher in BGREI plots compared to the controlled plots. The improvement was higher in traditionally low productivity rainfed zones. Uniformity in growth in terms of growth rate, transplan- tation time and duration was observed in BGREI plots. The positive effect of BGREI in Odisha indicates that BGREI may be a breakthrough in improving rice productivity in low productivity zones of eastern India. Keywords BGREI Á Synthetic aperture radar Á SAR backscatter Á Biomass Á Transplantation dates Introduction The eastern region of India is traditionally a low crop productivity area and wanted attention in the past to raise the productivity levels. Bringing green revolution in east- ern India (BGREI)—a part of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) programme launched in 2010–2011 aims improving crop productivity through better input and package of practices. BGREI is being implemented in the eastern region, comprising Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (Socio- economy at Glance 2012, India at 2022, source- http\\:www.bgrei.nic.in). The programme gained momen- tum in 2011–12 with the focus on rice & wheat and stra- tegic interventions relating to crop production, water harvesting and recycling, asset building and site-specific activities. This was needed for improving the productivity per unit area and the income of the farmers. The pre- liminary survey reveals a good response as rice production from the region increased by 19.8 % in 2011–12 over the previous year (Socio- economy at Glance 2012). The monitoring of the programme using a methodology like remote sensing is essential considering the significant government investment. The remote sensing of rice- growing areas can not only contribute to the precise map- ping of rice areas and the assessment of the dynamics in rice-growing regions, but can also contribute to harvest prediction modelling (Kuenzer and Knauer 2013). D. Haldar (&) Á K. R. Manjunath Á V. Jain Á M. Chakraborty Á J. S. Parihar Earth, Ocean, Atmosphere, Planetary Sciences and Applications Area (EPSA), Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad 380 015, India e-mail: dipanwita@sac.isro.gov.in S. Panigrahy Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, India R. S. Gopalan Department of Agriculture, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India M. Khullar Department of Agriculture and Co-operation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi, India 123 Paddy Water Environ DOI 10.1007/s10333-014-0452-0