Remote sensing has been found to be a valuable tool in evaluation, monitoring and management of land, water and crop resources. The launching of the Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS) has enhanced the capabilities for better utilization of this technology and significant progress has been made in soil and land cover mapping, land degradation studies, monitoring of waste land, assessment of crop conditions crop acreage and production estimates

1. Application of
Remote Sensing in
Agriculture
By - UTTAM KUMAR
29/09/2015 1

2. INTRODUCTION
Remote sensing has been found to be a valuable
tool in evaluation, monitoring and management
of land, water and crop resources. The
launching of the Indian remote sensing satellite
(IRS) has enhanced the capabilities for better
utilization of this technology and significant
progress has been made in soil and land cover
mapping, land degradation studies, monitoring
of waste land, assessment of crop conditions
crop acreage and production estimates (Das,
2000).
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3. HISTORY
• In ancient India apparently had a clear concept
of remote sensing. For instance epic ‘Maha
Bharata’ Sanjaya had been endowed,
presumably with some equipment which
enabled him to report (in real time) all the
events at the distant “Kurukshetra” battle
field, whether they were open or camouflaged
and occurred in day or by night.
• In recent times, Frenchman Mr. Tournachen
took photographs for the first time from a
balloon which floated over Paris in 1858.
cont…
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4. • The term “Remote sensing” was first used in 1961
when U.S. Naval project on the study of Aerial
photographs was renamed as “remote sensing”.
• The application of remote sensing technology to
agriculture and forestry was presented in couple of
papers in 1968 at the occasion of U.N. conference on
peaceful uses of on the space uses and the first satellite
in remote sensing technology was launched in July
1972 in U.S.A. In India the remote sensing activities
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5. •“is the measurement or acquisition of
information of some property of an
object or phenomena by a recording
device that is not in physical or intimate
contact with the object or phenomena
under study”
What is remote sensing:
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6. Basic principle
Different objects based on their
structural , chemical and physical
properties reflect or emit different
amount of energy in different wave
length ranges of the E.M.S
•The sensors measure the amount of
energy reflected from that object .
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7. SCALE IN REMOTE SENSING
1. small scale : 1cm=5km or more
2. Inter mediate scale : 1cm=0.5 to 5km
3. Large scale : 1cm=0.5km or less
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8. ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF
REMOTE SENSING
1. Signals from a source/light
2. Sensors on a plate form
3. Sensing (Signal reception, storage,
processing, information extraction
and decision making)
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9. Components of Remote Sensing process
Earth Surface
Source
of Energy
Sensing
Systems
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10. The remote sensing processThe remote sensing process
Visual
Digital
Reference
data
Air photos
Digital data
Maps
Statistics
GIS data
sets
User
Decision
Maker
Data
products
Inter-
pretation
Information
products
Target
audience
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11. SOURCES OF ELECTROMAGNATIC
RADIATION.
1.Natural body (sun, earth)
2.Man made source(redar, lidar
system)
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12. TYPES OF REMOTE SENSING
1.Passive remote sensing
2.Active remote sensing
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13. When remote sensing work is
carried out with the help of
electromagnetic radiation (signals)
reflected by a natural body(sun and
the earth). eg.visible, near infra red
and microwave remote sensing.
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14. When remote sensing work is
carried out with a man made
source of radiations which is
used to illuminate a body and to
defect the signal reflected form
eg. Radar and lidar remote
sensing
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15. VisibleLight
Nearinfrared
Midinfrared
Thermalinfrared
Ultraviolet(UV)
Microwave
TVandradio
Xrays
γrays
blue
green
red
UV near
infrared
110-1
10-2
10-3
10-4
10-5
10-6
104
103
102
10 107
106
105
wavelength (µm) wavelength (µm)
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 µm
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16. COLLECTION OF DATA:
1.GROUND OBSERVATION PLATFORMS
Eg; Tripod stand , man
2. AIR BORNE OBSERVATIONS
Eg: BALLONS , AIRCRAFTS , DRONES
3. SPACE BORNE OBSERVATIONS
Eg: SATELLITE
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17. 17
SATELLITE TYPES :
1. Natural : Moon
2. Artificial:
GEOSTATIONARY Eg : INSAT series
SUN SYNCHROUNOUS
Eg : IRS, SPOT, LANDSAT..
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18. 09/29/15 SKRAU, Bikaner 18
Factors that Influence Soil Reflectance
in Remote Sensing:
1. Mineral composition,
2. Soil moisture,
3. Organic matter content and
4. Soil texture (surface)

19. APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES:
1.AGRICULTURE
2.FORESTRY
3.WATER RESOURSES
4.DETECTION OF WATER POLUTION
5. GEOLOGY AND MINERAL SOURSES
6. MAPPING OF LAND USE / LAND COVER
7.MONITORING OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
8.WEATHER AND CLIMATIC RELATED APPLICATIONS
9. ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS
10. HUMAN INDUCED GEOLOGICAL HAZARDS
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20. Applications in agriculture
1. Crop identification
2. Crop acreage estimation
3. Crop condition assessment and stress detection
4. Identification of planting and harvesting dates
5. Crop yield modeling and estimation
6. Identification of pest and disease infestation
7. Soil moisture estimation
8. Irrigation monitoring and management
9. Soil mapping
10. Monitoring of droughts
11. Land cover and land degradation mapping
12. Identification of problematic soils
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21. Table 1 Area under wasteland in India as estimated by using Remote
sensing techniques (NASA, 1985)
Category Area (million hectare)
(A) Cultivable wasteland
I Salt affected lands 3.90
ii Gullies or ravines lands 4.32
iii Water logged land 0.89
iv Undulating land 10.79
v Shifting cultivation and forest blank 2.40
vi Sandy areas 10.53
(B) Uncultivated wasteland
i Bassin hill ridge or rock out map 2.75
ii Snow covered area 17.70
Total 53.28
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22. Forms of agricultural remote sensing:Forms of agricultural remote sensing:
OperationalOperational
StrategicStrategic
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23. Strategic Agricultural Remote SensingStrategic Agricultural Remote Sensing ::
• Involves large areas
• Concerned with overall crop estimates
• Province of states and large companies
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24. Operational Agricultural Remote SensingOperational Agricultural Remote Sensing
•Involves single farms or even fieldsInvolves single farms or even fields
•Concerned with day to day managementConcerned with day to day management
•Involves individual farmersInvolves individual farmers
•Cost and timelinessCost and timeliness
•Light aircraft/ videographyLight aircraft/ videography
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25. SERIES OF SATELLITES FOR REMOTE SENSING :
LAND SAT, IKONOS, QUICKBIRD U.S.A
SEO (Bhaskara-1), IRS INDIA
SPOT FRANCE
ERS-1 U.K
JERS-1 JAPAN
RADAR SAT-1 CANADA
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26. Table 2 IDENTIFICATION INDICATORS :
(HOW TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENT OBJECTS)
EARTH SURFACE FEATURE COLOUR SIGNATURE
FOREST GREEN
AGRICULTURE LAND PINK/ BRIGHT RED
HEALTHY VEGETATION
BROAD LEAF TYPE
NEEDLE LEAF TYPE
RED TO MAGENTA
REDISH BROWN TO PURPLE
STRESSED VEGETATION
PRE –VISUAL STAGE
VISUAL STAGE
PINK – BLUE
CYAN
WATER DARK BLUE -BLACK
WATER WITH SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS LIGHT BLUE
UNCULTIVATED LAND BLUE /WHITE
RED SOIL YELLOW
DAMP GROUND DISTINCT DARK TONES
SAND DUNES YELLOW / WHITE
CITY/ TOWN BLUE
CLOUD/ SNOW WHITE
SHADOW BLACK WITH A FEW VISIBLE DETAILS
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27. WEST BENGAL
SAC, ISRO(2002)
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28. SKRAU, Bikaner

29. PROBLEMS ON REMOTE SENSING FOR INDIAN CONDITION
SMALL SIZE OF PLOTS
DIVERSITY OF CROPS SOWN IN A PARTICULAR AREA
VARIABILITY OF SOWING & HARVESTING DATES IN DIFFERENT FIELDS
INTER CROPPING & MIXED CROPPING PRACTICES
EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER DURING THE RAINY SEASON
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30. CONCLUSION :
Useful for crop identification, crop diversification,
yield estimation and yield prediction.
To solve the problems through identification of pests and diseases.
Sustainable utilization of land resources.
To select the crops for optimum ground water utilization
and increase the crop production and productivity
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