FEATURE
INGENIEUR
FEATURE
INGENIEUR
UAV-based Remote Sensing for Precision Agriculture in Rice Farming
By Dr Teoh Chin Chuang Engineering Research Centre Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute
The average rice self-sufficiency level in Malaysia was around 62.5 % for the years 2019 – 2022 with an average yield of 3.528 metric tonnes per hectare [ 1 ]. Malaysia ’ s rice production is currently facing challenges due to declining or stagnating productivity , climate change , water scarcity , rising cost of fertilisers , herbicides and pesticides , and labour shortage [ 2 ]. Transformation of traditional agriculture to modern agriculture is needed to boost the paddy and rice industry and improve food security .
Precision Agriculture ( PA ) technologies have a significant potential to increase farm productivity , profitability and environmental sustainability through targeted application of inputs [ 3 ]. PA is farm management that involves identifying and managing on-farm variability . Remote Sensing ( RS ) is generally considered one of the most important technologies for PA . RS allows obtaining and interpreting information from a distance using sensors that are not in physical contact with the object being observed [ 4 ]. RS has been widely used to monitor many crops and vegetation parameters through images at various wavelengths . In the past , RS was often based on satellite images to monitor vegetation status at specific growth stages . However , satellite imagery is limited to the low spatial and temporal resolutions of images acquired and hampered by environmental restrictions such as cloud cover .
The development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV ) -based remote sensing systems has taken RS and PA one step further in the application of modern precision farming technology . To date , UAV-based remote sensing has been successfully employed in a variety of applications for PA in rice farm management , such as land preparation , water management , plant population density monitoring , fertiliser management , pest , disease and weed management and yield prediction . Thus , this review focuses on applications of UAV-based remote sensing systems for precision agriculture in rice production for the above-mentioned rice farm management .
LAND PREPARATION
Precision land levelling facilitates application efficiency through the even distribution of water and increased water-use efficiency that results in uniform seed germination , improved crop establishment , improved crop nutrient uptake and increased crop yield [ 5 , 6 ]. Traditional land levelling is performed by the operator to modify the land topography through land cut and fill works using implements mounted on a tractor .
Assessment of soil unevenness after land levelling is an important step to ensure that the rice field is ready for planting . A UAV equipped with a digital camera can be used to map ground elevations for assessment of soil unevenness . Enciso et al . ( 2018 ) [ 7 ] reported that UAV-based remote sensing could be an efficient method for determining terrain elevation with a 0.3 % error and an observed value of R 2 = 0.93 between
50 VOL 99 JULY - SEPTEMBER 2024