By Cleophas Khasakhala
With development in satellite imagery aerial photography, GPRS technology and Google maps, the agricultural sector has not been left behind in embracing this new technology.
The method has been employed in various fields of agriculture such as field mapping, soil sampling, tractor guidance and has been integrated with other methods of agriculture such as agricultural census and survey in order to increase productivity due to increase efficiency and precision in farming activities.
The main focus on the article will be focusing on GPS technology particularly Google map technology (due to its popularity, accessibility and cheapness). With crop cut technique in order to determine yields in both small scale and large scale farms.
The method is done by randomly generating two points for example (0.2833, 34.75) and the point where they intersect is the spot where the plantation is located and that is where you should start doing agricultural crop cutting technique to determine the yield of the particular farm.
Crop cut is done to a sample farm(s), in which is a method used to estimate crop yield for example maize production, whereby land is demarcated into a subplot within the larger field/plot.
The yield harvested on the demarcated small area for example 25m×25m of land can be quickly multiplied by the total area of the land and this can provide an estimated total quantity of harvest for a particular planting season.This method can be used to determine quality of harvest over a wide area of land such as ward of a particular county.
The procedure should be conducted on many different random farms in order to increase accuracy in results. And then the average results to be collected which is important in making various strategic farming decisions and plans important in enhancing food security.
The method is important because it minimizes biasness because the location of the maps are randomly generated and not picking specific farms therefore both good, medium and poor harvest are captured and thus the correct situation is captured
Harvest area of several sample farm in an area can be used to represent yield production of other neighboring farms and that is important in determining the yield of a large area of land using sample technique and it is important in reducing costs which would be incurred in measuring harvest for every farm
It is important in knowing whether to export or not to export a particular crop commodity that important in planning. This reduces chances of hunger and starvation and enhances food security for a better nation.
The method is also important by government contracted farmers as it will show the production of a particular farmer who is contracted by the government in which if the production is low he may receive compensation due to several factors that may have led to poor harvest such as poor weather conditions such as drought or hailstorm which could have damaged farmers crops and hence making him eligible for compensation due to the losses occurred.
It’s important in knowing the production of a piece of land and the quantity of harvest a farmer must expect on that particular piece of land. To know if it is bringing profit or losses.
It enables large scale producers/farmers or government plantations to collect soil samples of a particular area and the nature of the crop condition growing in a specific location. This information will enable the farmer to know areas where to apply fertilizers or not to apply.
The technology gives accurate positioning to map pest, insect and weed infestations to the field, there by pest problems can be pinpointed and mapped for future management decisions and input recommendations decisions.