Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure

Smallholder farms are major contributors to agricultural production, food security, and socioeconomic growth in many developing countries. However, they generally lack the resources to fully maximize their potential. Subsequently they require innovative, evidence-based and lowercost solutions to opt...

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Autores principales: Gokool, S., Mahomed, M., Brewer, K., Naiken, V., Clulow, A., Sibanda, M., Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140679
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author Gokool, S.
Mahomed, M.
Brewer, K.
Naiken, V.
Clulow, A.
Sibanda, M.
Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
author_browse Brewer, K.
Clulow, A.
Gokool, S.
Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
Mahomed, M.
Naiken, V.
Sibanda, M.
author_facet Gokool, S.
Mahomed, M.
Brewer, K.
Naiken, V.
Clulow, A.
Sibanda, M.
Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
author_sort Gokool, S.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Smallholder farms are major contributors to agricultural production, food security, and socioeconomic growth in many developing countries. However, they generally lack the resources to fully maximize their potential. Subsequently they require innovative, evidence-based and lowercost solutions to optimize their productivity. Recently, precision agricultural practices facilitated by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have gained traction in the agricultural sector and have great potential for smallholder farm applications. Furthermore, advances in geospatial cloud computing have opened new and exciting possibilities in the remote sensing arena. In light of these recent developments, the focus of this study was to explore and demonstrate the utility of using the advanced image processing capabilities of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) geospatial cloud computing platform to process and analyse a very high spatial resolution multispectral UAV image for mapping land use land cover (LULC) within smallholder farms. The results showed that LULC could be mapped at a 0.50 m spatial resolution with an overall accuracy of 91%. Overall, we found GEE to be an extremely useful platform for conducting advanced image analysis on UAV imagery and rapid communication of results. Notwithstanding the limitations of the study, the findings presented herein are quite promising and clearly demonstrate how modern agricultural practices can be implemented to facilitate improved agricultural management in smallholder farmers.
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spelling CGSpace1406792025-10-26T12:51:40Z Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure Gokool, S. Mahomed, M. Brewer, K. Naiken, V. Clulow, A. Sibanda, M. Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe crops mapping unmanned aerial vehicles imagery machine learning smallholders farmers land use land cover Smallholder farms are major contributors to agricultural production, food security, and socioeconomic growth in many developing countries. However, they generally lack the resources to fully maximize their potential. Subsequently they require innovative, evidence-based and lowercost solutions to optimize their productivity. Recently, precision agricultural practices facilitated by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have gained traction in the agricultural sector and have great potential for smallholder farm applications. Furthermore, advances in geospatial cloud computing have opened new and exciting possibilities in the remote sensing arena. In light of these recent developments, the focus of this study was to explore and demonstrate the utility of using the advanced image processing capabilities of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) geospatial cloud computing platform to process and analyse a very high spatial resolution multispectral UAV image for mapping land use land cover (LULC) within smallholder farms. The results showed that LULC could be mapped at a 0.50 m spatial resolution with an overall accuracy of 91%. Overall, we found GEE to be an extremely useful platform for conducting advanced image analysis on UAV imagery and rapid communication of results. Notwithstanding the limitations of the study, the findings presented herein are quite promising and clearly demonstrate how modern agricultural practices can be implemented to facilitate improved agricultural management in smallholder farmers. 2024-03 2024-03-31T05:22:43Z 2024-03-31T05:22:43Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140679 en Open Access Elsevier Gokool, S.; Mahomed, M.; Brewer, K.; Naiken, V.; Clulow, A.; Sibanda, M.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe. 2024. Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure. Heliyon, 10(5):E26913. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26913]
spellingShingle crops
mapping
unmanned aerial vehicles
imagery
machine learning
smallholders
farmers
land use
land cover
Gokool, S.
Mahomed, M.
Brewer, K.
Naiken, V.
Clulow, A.
Sibanda, M.
Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
title Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
title_full Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
title_fullStr Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
title_full_unstemmed Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
title_short Crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
title_sort crop mapping in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and geospatial cloud computing infrastructure
topic crops
mapping
unmanned aerial vehicles
imagery
machine learning
smallholders
farmers
land use
land cover
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140679
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