IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v11y2021i11p1057-d666611.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Affordable Use of Satellite Imagery in Agriculture and Development Projects: Assessing the Spatial Distribution of Invasive Weeds in the UNESCO-Protected Areas of Cuba

Author

Listed:
  • Eduardo Moreno

    (Faculty of Experimental Sciences, University of Huelva, Av. de las Fuerzas Armadas, S/N, 21071 Huelva, Spain)

  • Alberto Zabalo

    (Departamento Ciencias Agroforestales, Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieria, Universidad de Huelva, Av. de las Fuerzas Armadas, S/N, 21071 Huelva, Spain)

  • Encarnacion Gonzalez

    (Faculty of Experimental Sciences, University of Huelva, Av. de las Fuerzas Armadas, S/N, 21071 Huelva, Spain)

  • Reinaldo Alvarez

    (Departamento de Agronomia, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Sancti Spiritus “Jose Marti”, Av. de los Martires, 360, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba)

  • Victor Manuel Jimenez

    (Institute of Geography, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Circuito de la Investigacion Cientifica, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico)

  • Julio Menendez

    (Departamento Ciencias Agroforestales, Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieria, Universidad de Huelva, Av. de las Fuerzas Armadas, S/N, 21071 Huelva, Spain)

Abstract

The effective and regular remote monitoring of agricultural activity is not always possible in developing countries because the access to cloud-based geospatial analysis platforms or expensive high-resolution satellite images are not always available. Herein, using paid high-resolution satellite images first and then free medium-resolution satellite images, we aimed to develop a cost-free, affordable method for regularly mapping the spatial distribution of sicklebush ( Dichrostachys cinerea ), an archetypal allochthonous invasive plant in Cuba that is becoming impossible to control owing to its rapid growth in areas planted with sugar cane in the Trinidad-Valle de los Ingenios area (Cuba), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two types of images were used (WorldView-2 and Landsat-8); these were subjected to supervised classification, with accuracy values of 88.7% and 93.7%, respectively. Vegetation cover was first derived from the purchased WorldView-2 image, and this information was then used as the training field to obtain spectral signatures from the Landsat-8 free image so that Landsat images may be regularly used to monitor D. cinerea infestations. The results obtained in the spatial distribution map for sicklebush in the Landsat-8 images had an overall reliability of 93.7% and a Kappa coefficient reliability of 91.9%. These values indicate high confidence in the results, which suggests that sicklebush has invaded 52.7% of the total 46,807.26-ha area of the Trinidad-Valle de los Ingenios. This process proved extremely effective and demonstrated the benefits of using high-resolution spatial images from which information can be transferred to free satellite images with a larger pixel size.

Suggested Citation

  • Eduardo Moreno & Alberto Zabalo & Encarnacion Gonzalez & Reinaldo Alvarez & Victor Manuel Jimenez & Julio Menendez, 2021. "Affordable Use of Satellite Imagery in Agriculture and Development Projects: Assessing the Spatial Distribution of Invasive Weeds in the UNESCO-Protected Areas of Cuba," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:11:p:1057-:d:666611
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/11/1057/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/11/1057/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sudhanshu S. Panda & Thomas H. Terrill & Ajit K. Mahapatra & Brian Kelly & Eric R. Morgan & Jan A. van Wyk, 2020. "Site-Specific Forage Management of Sericea Lespedeza: Geospatial Technology-Based Forage Quality and Yield Enhancement Model Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sudhanshu S. Panda & Thomas H. Terrill & Aftab Siddique & Ajit K. Mahapatra & Eric R. Morgan & Andres A. Pech-Cervantes & Jan A. Van Wyk, 2024. "Development of a Decision Support System for Animal Health Management Using Geo-Information Technology: A Novel Approach to Precision Livestock Management," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Sudhanshu S. Panda & Thomas H. Terrill & Ajit K. Mahapatra & Eric R. Morgan & Aftab Siddique & Andres A. Pech-Cervantes & Jan A. van Wyk, 2023. "Optimizing Sericea Lespedeza Fodder Production in the Southeastern US: A Climate-Informed Geospatial Engineering Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:11:p:1057-:d:666611. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.