Remote sensing for crop monitoring – A review

With the population increasing in leaps and bounds, an accurate and timely crop monitoring system is an essential element for strengthening the country's food security. Periodic with-in season estimates of crop hectarage and yield and accurate forecast of most likely range of crop growth conditions help in organising availability of inputs. Pre-harvest estimates of crop production, guides the decision makers in formulating optimal strategies for planning, distribution, price fixation, procurement, transportation and storage of essential agricultural products. The use of remote sensing technology for crop monitoring is playing a valuable role and the research findings on the adoption of remote sensing in crop inventory, yield estimation, crop acreage estimation and crop condition monitoring is reviewed.