Assessment of Wheat Crop Water Productivity of Larkana District: A Remote Sensing Approach

Abstract

The growing global population is driving up food demand, which in turn is exerting pressure to boost crop production. Therefore, there is a need to improve crop production using limited resources. This study uses satellite imagery to estimate crop water productivity (CWP) in the Larkana district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Wheat was selected as the subject crop in this study due to its significant importance in the Pakistan Rabi crop season. The processed satellite data were obtained from the Google Earth Engine Evapotranspiration Flux (EEFlux), a version of Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC), a land image-based process. The wheat growing period spans 160 days, from November 1, 2017, to April 10, 2018. The results showed that the mean actual evapotranspiration (ETa) values for the initial, development, mid, and late stages were 28.14, 67.95, 162.8, and 92.83 mm, respectively, with total consumptive use for the season being 358 mm. The CWP of wheat was found to be 0.89 kg/m³, higher than Pakistan's average of 0.76 kg/m³. However, the CWP in the Larkana district is lower than that in developed countries such as Germany and France, where it equals 1.42 and 1.35 kg/m³, respectively. The findings emphasize the importance of utilizing advanced remote sensing technologies to enhance agricultural water management, which is crucial for improving food security and promoting sustainable farming practices in water-scarce regions.