A training workshop has been organized for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technicians from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), the Remote Sensing Center in Jos, and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMARD) on the use of a field spectrometer recently purchased by NASRDA for predicting cassava yield in Nigeria.
The technicians were trained in the use of the device by two specialists from the Remote Sensing Laboratory, which is part of the Jacob Blaustein Institute of Desert Research of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev-Israel. The training was aimed at equipping the participants with the capacity to apply the spectrometer to assess the crop vigor, the health and specific spectral signatures of cassava for determining the crop yield.
Using the equipment, satellite derived data in combination with field methods will help to improve agricultural production and planning. Furthermore, with the help of the equipment it will henceforth be possible to determine the cassava belt in Nigeria from space, with a view to ascertaining the actual hectarage and predict yield of the crop in the country.
According to Dr. Joseph Akinyede, Director, Space Applications of NASRDA the need for the training originated from images developed by NigeriaSat-1, the first satellite launched into the orbit by NASRDA in 2003. Experts who studied the images found them to be useful for agricultural purposes; and forwarded proposals amongst which were predicting cassava yield with the ultimate goal to increase national production.
Due to IITA’s extensive research experience on cassava production, NASRDA signed a Memor andum of Underst anding (MOU) with the Institute in 2006 and initiated a joint research project with the purpose of predicting cassava yield in Nigeria financed by the Nigerian Government.
Dr. Kai Sonder of the IITA Geospatial Laboratory explained that the Institute has collected and analyzed soil samples; and taken yield data from 10 selected sites of cassava-producing states in Nigeria as part of the ground data collection activities of the project.
As part of the workshop, participants visited Ekah-Agro farm in Lanlate, Oyo State, one of the sites selected for the study.
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