Crop Cutting Experiments are an integral part of the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. CCEs are used to estimate the overall yield at Insurance unit level and provide production estimates over an area. Crop cutting is a method used for yield prediction and estimation. CCEs are a kind of sample surveys. Based on the results of this practice, expected crop-wise yield estimates are worked out.
As a part of the PMFBY pilot (Crop Yield Estimation using Technology at Gram Panchayat Level), We have conducted extensive fieldwork during the 2020 Kharif season, including field surveys for crop mapping at the beginning of the season and CCEs at the time of harvest. Initial field surveys used in crop mapping were done at 90 locations in each district. At each of these selected locations, global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, crop sown and surrounding land use were recorded.
For conducting the CCEs, we used an intelligent sampling scheme that selected 40 GPs in each of the 25 districts. We used satellite data at the peak growing season to identify three categories of crop performance: low, medium and high. We chose 15 GPs each in low and medium and 10 GPs in high performance category. In each of the GPs we conducted 4 CCEs, totalling 160 CCEs in each district.