Abstract
Global and regional scale agricultural monitoring systems aim to provide up-to-date information regarding food production to different actors and decision makers in support of global and national food security. To help reduce price volatility of the kind experienced between 2007 and 2011, a global system of agricultural monitoring systems is needed to ensure the coordinated flow of information in a timely manner for early warning purposes. A number of systems now exist that fill this role. This paper provides an overview of the eight main global and regional scale agricultural monitoring systems currently in operation and compares them based on the input data and models used, the outputs produced and other characteristics such as the role of the analyst, their interaction with other systems and the geographical scale at which they operate. Despite improvements in access to high resolution satellite imagery over the last decade and the use of numerous remote-sensing based products by the different systems, there are still fundamental gaps. Based on a questionnaire, discussions with the system experts and the literature, we present the main gaps in the data and in the methods. Finally, we propose some recommendations for addressing these gaps through ongoing improvements in remote sensing, harnessing new and innovative data streams and the continued sharing of more and more data.
Highlights
Achieving food security is high on the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015), in particular SDG 2 to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”
This paper provides an overview of the eight main global and regional scale agricultural monitoring systems currently in operation and compares them based on the input data and models used, the outputs produced and other characteristics such as the role of the analyst, their interaction with other systems and the geographical scale at which they operate
Agricultural monitoring on a regional and national level has been in place for decades, e.g. the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CropWatch in China, and the Monitoring Agriculture with Remote Sensing (MARS) system from the European Commission (EC)
Summary
Achieving food security is high on the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015), in particular SDG 2 to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. Agricultural monitoring on a regional and national level has been in place for decades, e.g. the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CropWatch in China, and the Monitoring Agriculture with Remote Sensing (MARS) system from the European Commission (EC). A brief overview of each system is provided below in chronological order of their establishment Some of these systems are part of more comprehensive food security monitoring initiatives (e.g. FEWS NET and GIEWS) but the aim of this paper is to focus on a comparison of the global crop production components. Maps for several weather and crop indicators are available and the information is updated three times per month
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