1. Use of Remote Sensing and GIS in Agriculture and Related Disciplines
Dhammika Dayawansa
Department of Agricultural Engineering
Faculty of Agriculture
University of Peradeniya

2. Geo-Informatics Education at University of Peradeniya
Two postgraduate programmes
Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture - PGIA
Postgraduate Institute of Science – PGIS
Course on GIS and Remote Sensing for other postgraduate students
Applications in research
Undergraduate programmes
Courses on remote sensing and GIS are offered for the undergraduates in many faculties including Arts, Agriculture, Science and Engineering
Use of geo-informatics technology in undergraduate research
Short term training programmes

3. Remote Sensing
acquisition of information of an object or a process, without physical contact
Remote Sensing data sources
Satellite images
Aerial photographs

4. Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
A system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to locations
Can relate different information in a spatial context

5. Geo-Informatics and agriculture
Remote Sensing, GIS and allied disciplines can be used in
Assessment of crop area extent
Management of water resources
Identification of pest attacks and diseases
Yield assessment studies
Land suitability assessment for agriculture
Disaster management
Precision agriculture

6. Assessment of crop area extent
Assessment of crop area extent is useful in yield forecasting, water and other input management
Satellite images can be used to identify the crops using
Visual interpretation
Digital image interpretation
Expert classification techniques – knowledge based classifier

7. Assessment of crop area extent
Paddy areas in Mahaweli System C with different false colour composites (FCCs)

8. Paddy area extracted by visual interpretation of IRS LISS II images
Paddy area extracted by supervised classification of IRS LISS III image
Paddy area extracted by supervised classification of ASTER image
Use of suitable satellite sensor in identification of crop areas is important to improve the accuracy of the output

9. Management of water resources
Identification and mapping of surface water
Infrared satellite images – Identification of surface water bodies
Inventory of water bodies, reservoir capacity calculation, identifying seasonal fluctuations of water levels

10. Identification of tank water levels and irrigation command areas

11. Water resources management with RS and GIS
Irrigated lands assessment and inventory
Calculation of water requirement of crops and subsequent water budgeting for command areas
Assessment of water availability in rivers and reservoirs for optimal management to meet irrigation demand
Based on empirical relations with surface area, shoreline length and volume or based on topographic features - Determine volume of water stored and change in the level with time

12. Water resources management with RS and GIS
- Delineation of water logged /saline areas - Identification of aquatic vegetation associated with water logging - Eutrophication and pollution monitoring

13. Assessment of land degradation using Geo-Informatics

14. Assessment of crop yield and yield forecasting
Mostly based on vegetation indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
- By developing relationships
between yield & other crop
parameters
eg: canopy cover
biomass content

15. Identification of pest attacks and diseases
Based on
changes in pigmentation
chlorophyll content
leaf orientation
vegetative characteristics
tillering, branching

16. Land suitability assessment for agriculture
Land suitability for a given crop is based on
Soil characteristics
Existing land use
Climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature
Topography
Availability of transportation facilities and agricultural labour
Availability of water sources for irrigation

17. Land suitability assessment for agriculture
Land suitability can be assessed through the modeling capabilities available in GIS

18. Disaster management - Disaster forecasting
eg: Floods, Droughts, Cyclones, Forest fires
Disaster affected area estimations
eg: Flooded area
Drought prone agricultural lands
Forest Fires

19. Precision agriculture
To identify potential agricultural
lands considering
* water availability
* Soil salinity, fertility
* Topography
To identify fish resources in inland and
marine aquaculture
Crop Health
Soil Fertility

21. Remote Sensing
GIS
Sustainable Agriculture
Collaboration

22. Thank you very much for your attention