Satellite data plus conservation equals better crop yields

Archita Bhatta in SciDev.net: Combining remote sensing technology with water and soil conservation techniques can help raise crop yields in South Asia, scientists have reported. Satellite data can help identify specific problems on farmlands such as moisture shortage, excessive soil wetness and flood occurrence.

Using the data along with appropriate resource conserving technology (RCT) will increase productivity, a study team of researchers reported this month (8 September) in Applied Geography. The study team included researchers from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and Punjab state’s department of agriculture.

Applied in the Balia district of northern Uttar Pradesh state, the method showed significant increase in annual per hectare incomes — US$ 63 by raising beds in saline soils, US$ 140 by introducing deep-water rice varieties, and US$ 147 through timely wheat planting.

"Our remote sensing studies show that wheat is generally sown late in more than half of the eastern Gangetic plains," Parvesh Chandna, scientist at the IRRI and one of the authors of the study, told SciDev.Net. "Zero tillage, a method of growing crops without disturbing the soil — thereby increasing water and organic matter and decreasing erosion — increases yield by advancing planting dates of winter wheat," said Chandna....

Satellite image of the Brahmaputra River, from NASA