This paper by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) presents a new approach for analysis of water productivity (WP) of rice and wheat in the Indus and the Ganges river basins, South Asia, based on the integration of readily available remote sensing, national crop productivity and land use statistics and weather data. Understanding crop water productivity over large river basins has significant implications for sustainable basin development planning.
Three major steps are involved in producing crop water productivity maps: (1) crop dominance map, (2) yield estimates, and (3) water consumption (evapotranspiration (ET)) estimates. The crop dominance map is synthesized from the relevant, and publically available, land use/land cover (LULC) maps with ground truth data. National statistics on crop area and yields are collected, and the yields are interpolated to grid level (500 meters (m) x 500 m) using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps.
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