Using Remote Sensing Techniques and Historical Records to Estimate Agricultural Area

Abstract

Reliable and timely information on agricultural land area, crop production, and land use are of great importance to planners and policy makers for efficient agricultural development. This study aims to estimate of agricultural area using remote sensing data and historical records from Agricultural Statistics Bulletin (ASB) during the period from 2001 to 2013. The results showed that, there is variability between the data from remote sensing and historical records especially when in studying the separated regions. The estimated agricultural area by remote sensing data is higher than historical records data from ASB in all regions inside Nile Valley (lower, middle, and upper Egypt regions), while outside valley region found agricultural area in satellite data lower than observed in historical records data from ASB. The remote sensing technique discussed in this paper provides several improvements. It covers large geographical areas, the assessment is updated monthly, it is easily obtained, and inexpensive.