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porträtt Ol Hall

Ola Hall

Head of Department, Senior Lecturer

porträtt Ol Hall

Remote sensing of yields : Application of UAV imagery-derived ndvi for estimating maize vigor and yields in complex farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

  • Ibrahim Wahab
  • Ola Hall
  • Magnus Jirström

Summary, in English

The application of remote sensing methods to assess crop vigor and yields has had limited applications in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due largely to limitations associated with satellite images. The increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles in recent times opens up new possibilities for remotely sensing crop status and yields even on complex smallholder farms. This study demonstrates the applicability of a vegetation index derived from UAV imagery to assess maize (Zea mays L.) crop vigor and yields at various stages of crop growth. The study employs a quadcopter flown at 100 m over farm plots and equipped with two consumer-grade cameras, one of which is modified to capture images in the near infrared. We find that UAV-derived GNDVI is a better indicator of crop vigor and a better estimator of yields—r = 0.372 and r = 0.393 for mean and maximum GNDVI respectively at about five weeks after planting compared to in-field methods like SPAD readings at the same stage (r = 0.259). Our study therefore demonstrates that GNDVI derived from UAV imagery is a reliable and timeous predictor of crop vigor and yields and that this is applicable even in complex smallholder farms in SSA.

Department/s

  • Department of Human Geography

Publishing year

2018

Language

English

Publication/Series

Drones

Volume

2

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

MDPI AG

Topic

  • Human Geography
  • Agricultural Science, Forestry and Fisheries

Keywords

  • Green normalized difference vegetation index
  • Maize yields
  • Near infrared
  • Remote sensing
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2504-446X