Application of remote sensing technology to monitor sugar cane cutting and planting in Guadeloupe (French West Indies)

In the context of the SUCRETTE project, the CIRAD (Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement), in collaboration with Spot Image Company, conducts research activities to study the potentialities of remote sensing for sugarcane monitoring. Among different operational products that can be derived from satellite images, we present here how a time series of SPOT4 & 5 satellite data could be used as a decision support tool for planting survey and harvest monitoring of small-scale cane fields. A pilot study was set up in Guadeloupe (French West Indies) where the individual sugarcane fields are progressively mapped in the framework of the AGRIGUA project. The objectives were to provide the fraction of harvested fields throughout the milling season and a summary map of ploughed fields at the end of the planting season. The spectral properties of the different cane field status - full covered green canopy, stressed canopy, crop residues and bare soil - showed that harvested and ploughed fields could be easily mapped with high accuracy (more then 90%) thanks to a field-base approach. The resulting maps were then integrated within a decision support system devoted to sugarcane management. This on-shelf GIS permits to visualize maps and edit monthly statistics of the management practices in each administrative area. (Résumé d'auteur