TY - JOUR

T1 - The role of earth observation in achieving sustainable agricultural production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world

AU - Qader, S.H.

AU - Dash, J.

AU - Alegana, V.A.

AU - Khwarahm, N.R.

AU - Tatem, A.J.

AU - Atkinson, P.M.

PY - 2021/8/26

Y1 - 2021/8/26

N2 - Crop production is a major source of food and livelihood for many people in arid and semi-arid (ASA) regions across the world. However, due to irregular climatic events, ASA regions are affected commonly by frequent droughts that can impact food production. In addition, ASA regions in the Middle East and Africa are often characterised by political instability, which can increase population vulnerability to hunger and ill health. Remote sensing (RS) provides a platform to improve the spatial prediction of crop production and food availability, with the potential to positively impact populations. This paper, firstly, describes some of the important characteristics of agriculture in ASA regions that require monitoring to improve their management. Secondly, it demonstrates how freely available RS data can support decision-making through a cost-effective monitoring system that complements traditional approaches for collecting agricultural data. Thirdly, it illustrates the challenges of employing freely available RS data for mapping and monitoring crop area, crop status and forecasting crop yield in these regions. Finally, existing approaches used in these applications are evaluated, and the challenges associated with their use and possible future improvements are discussed. We demonstrate that agricultural activities can be monitored effectively and both crop area and crop yield can be predicted in advance using RS data. We also discuss the future challenges associated with maintaining food security in ASA regions and explore some recent advances in RS that can be used to monitor cropland and forecast crop production and yield. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

AB - Crop production is a major source of food and livelihood for many people in arid and semi-arid (ASA) regions across the world. However, due to irregular climatic events, ASA regions are affected commonly by frequent droughts that can impact food production. In addition, ASA regions in the Middle East and Africa are often characterised by political instability, which can increase population vulnerability to hunger and ill health. Remote sensing (RS) provides a platform to improve the spatial prediction of crop production and food availability, with the potential to positively impact populations. This paper, firstly, describes some of the important characteristics of agriculture in ASA regions that require monitoring to improve their management. Secondly, it demonstrates how freely available RS data can support decision-making through a cost-effective monitoring system that complements traditional approaches for collecting agricultural data. Thirdly, it illustrates the challenges of employing freely available RS data for mapping and monitoring crop area, crop status and forecasting crop yield in these regions. Finally, existing approaches used in these applications are evaluated, and the challenges associated with their use and possible future improvements are discussed. We demonstrate that agricultural activities can be monitored effectively and both crop area and crop yield can be predicted in advance using RS data. We also discuss the future challenges associated with maintaining food security in ASA regions and explore some recent advances in RS that can be used to monitor cropland and forecast crop production and yield. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

KW - Agriculture

KW - Arid and semi-arid regions

KW - Crop monitoring

KW - Crop yield

KW - Remote sensing

KW - Agricultural robots

KW - Behavioral research

KW - Cost effectiveness

KW - Crops

KW - Cultivation

KW - Decision making

KW - Food supply

KW - Forecasting

KW - Agricultural activities

KW - Earth observations

KW - Food availability

KW - Political instability

KW - Spatial prediction

KW - Sustainable agricultural

KW - Traditional approaches

KW - Monitoring

U2 - 10.3390/rs13173382

DO - 10.3390/rs13173382

M3 - Journal article

VL - 13

JO - Remote Sensing

JF - Remote Sensing

SN - 2072-4292

IS - 17

ER -