Improving Climate Response in Africa through Remote Sensing
Its 21st century and agriculture is transforming rapidly than ever with the healthy implementation of contemporary technologies such as IoT, GIS, Machine learning, satellite imagery, to name a few. Consequently, a new way is being paved with the help of cutting-edge technology that makes agriculture efficient, sustainable and empowers farmers and agriculturists by ensuring climate, harvest, and other prediction accuracy.
Response to weather advisories – floods, draught
As per the graph shown above, the displacement of people due to floods was the highest in the past decade in Africa at about 858 thousand people while approximately 343, 175, 79, 20, and 11 million people were displaced due to other natural disasters such as earthquake, storm, wildfire, drought and extreme temperatures respectively. Moreover, 0.08% percent of people displacement was due to wet mass movement throughout the entire continent of Africa.
Africa has indeed seen a fair share of natural calamities. Global warming is responsible for numerous disasters that cause severe damages to life and the economy. Furthermore, frequent catastrophes may lead to food contamination and create food security issues, knocking citizens into a cycle of poverty and famine. In such situations, it would be a boon to the farmers and agriculturists if, with the help of advancements such as remote sensing, they can predict the weather and natural calamities in advance. Moreover, if governments offer insurances to protect people’s investment during natural calamities, it would significantly boost the economy as well. People would then freely invest in business opportunities irrespective of weather conditions and possible natural disasters.
Satellite imagery done by remote sensing satellites could be instrumental in addressing climate issues that affect agriculture. Satellite imagery could assist, by predicting accurate climatic conditions, in agriculture patterns that go well with the imminent weather. With the knowledge of forthcoming weather, farmers and agriculturists can chart a dynamic plan that could help save them a ton of money by mitigating the impact of weather on the crops.
Pest control via predictive analysis
There have been many attempts by government researchers to assess and predict agricultural losses. Index-based insurance has offered some hope, but the outcome has been less than satisfactory in many instances.
What modern technology today can do today is nothing short of a miracle – controlling pests and mitigating agriculture losses with the help of predictive analysis. Predictive analysis uses big data to simulate models that predict various crop factors such as crop health, harvest time, yield volume, nutritional value of the soil, potential infestations, to name a few.
Pest control can be detrimental for crops, and thus, controlling pest infestation is a crucial factor that can deter a good yield and crop health.
As shown in the graph above, pests, viruses and pathogens cause about 15%, 5%, and 20% crop losses respectively, which is a significant amount and can result in heavy losses.
Most traditional farming methods use sprayable pesticides and insectoids to keep crops healthy and harmful pests at bay. However, as each plot and harvest are different, spraying the same uncalculated volume of pesticides through the field can damage the crop. Moreover, if pesticides are over-sprayed, along with the crops, they can be damaging to the nutritional value of the soil as well.
With the help of remote sensing satellites, the data obtained can determine the accurate pesticide requirement for each crop. This technology will ensure that each crop receives only the necessary amount of pesticide and can benefit in mitigating food contamination and security concerns. It can also provide a good quality crop yield, keep the soil healthy, and ensure crop failure seldom happens.
Simplified technology that enables quick solutions
Technology makes life easier; it has got to be simple to use to befit its purpose. Researchers have endeavored to bring modern technologies to a level where even non-specialists could easily comprehend and use them effortlessly to understand things better. Agriculture development has come a long way, and now it is time the farmers use ERP software that renders them total control of agriculture technology being utilized in the crops.
Practical Developments in Africas
To combat the issues of land degradation, invasive species spread, diseases and pests and quantity losses, among other, scientific contributions that can address environmental problems facing Africa. Before the insects hatch and spread, the locust breeding sites can now be identified using satellite imagery, the research on which is ongoing by NASA scientists.
Further, the AfSIS team in Africa, in order to improve Africa’s agricultural output is working to rapidly identify and map the moisture and nutrient level, soil textures, across the continent. Their digital map, a pathbreaking innovation, combines remote sensing data, satellite imagery and the soil samples to maximize food production. The tool is effective to recognize clear-cutting deforestation practices that can potentially threaten the local biodiversity and climate change.
Do you work in the agricultural industry? Are you looking for solutions that enable you to implement remote sensing for improving climate response in your business with ease?
Our SaaS based management software enables the farmers and agriculturists to obtain critical inputs such as soil quality, pesticide amount and quality as per the crops, weather data, crop photos, and much more, right on their computers. The data can then be shared with the experts for a quick solution or suggestion.
Thus, the data obtained can provide meaningful insights and drive agriculture to smart procedures that significantly boost productivity and efficiency and diminish crop failure. Customized solutions, an easy-to-use interface, and innovative technology help you prevent problems and understand the nuances of your business deeply.
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