The automation of agricultural mapping using satellite-derived remotely sensed data remains a challenge in Africa because of the heterogeneous and fragmental landscape, complex crop cycles, and limited access to local knowledge. Currently, consistent, continent-wide routine cropland mapping of Africa does not exist, with most studies focused either on certain portions of the continent or at most a one-time effort at mapping the continent at coarse resolution remote sensing. In this research, we addressed these limitations by applying an automated cropland mapping algorithm (ACMA) that captures extensive knowledge on the croplands of Africa available through: (a) ground-based training samples, (b) very high (sub-meter to five-meter) resolution imagery (VHRI), and (c) local knowledge captured during field visits and/or sourced from country reports and literature. The study used 16-day time-series of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) composited data at 250-m resolution for the entire African continent. Based on these data, the study first produced accurate reference cropland layers or RCLs (cropland extent/areas, irrigation versus rainfed, cropping intensities, crop dominance, and croplands versus cropland fallows) for the year 2014 that provided an overall accuracy of around 90% for crop extent in different agro-ecological zones (AEZs). The RCLs for the year 2014 (RCL2014) were then used in the development of the ACMA algorithm to create ACMA-derived cropland layers for 2014 (ACL2014). ACL2014 when compared pixel-by-pixel with the RCL2014 had an overall similarity greater than 95%. Based on the ACL2014, the African continent had 296 Mha of net cropland areas (260 Mha cultivated plus 36 Mha fallows) and 330 Mha of gross cropland areas. Of the 260 Mha of net cropland areas cultivated during 2014, 90.6% (236 Mha) was rainfed and just 9.4% (24 Mha) was irrigated. Africa has about 15% of the world’s population, but only about 6% of world’s irrigation. Net cropland area distribution was 95 Mha during season 1, 117 Mha during season 2, and 84 Mha continuous. About 58% of the rainfed and 39% of the irrigated were single crops (net cropland area without cropland fallows) cropped during either season 1 (January-May) or season 2 (June-September). The ACMA algorithm was deployed on Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform and applied on MODIS time-series data from 2003 through 2014 to obtain ACMA-derived cropland layers for these years (ACL2003 to ACL2014). The results indicated that over these twelve years, on average: (a) croplands increased by 1 Mha/yr, and (b) cropland fallows decreased by 1 Mha/year. Cropland areas computed from ACL2014 for the 55 African countries were largely underestimated when compared with an independent source of census-based cropland data, with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 3.5 Mha. ACMA demonstrated the ability to hind-cast (past years), now-cast (present year), and forecast (future years) cropland products using MODIS 250-m time-series data rapidly, but currently, insufficient reference data exist to rigorously report trends from these results

A satellite-derived cropland extent map at high spatial resolution (30-m or better) is a must for food and water security analysis. Precise and accurate global cropland extent maps, indicating cropland and non-cropland areas, are starting points to develop higher-level products such as crop watering methods (irrigated or rainfed), cropping intensities (e.g., single, double, or continuous cropping), crop types, cropland fallows, as well as for assessment of cropland productivity (productivity per unit of land), and crop water productivity (productivity per unit of water). Uncertainties associated with the cropland extent map have cascading effects on all higher-level cropland products. However, precise and accurate cropland extent maps at high spatial resolution over large areas (e.g., continents or the globe) are challenging to produce due to the small-holder dominant agricultural systems like those found in most of Africa and Asia. Cloud-based geospatial computing platforms and multi-date, multi-sensor satellite image inventories on Google Earth Engine offer opportunities for mapping croplands with precision and accuracy over large areas that satisfy the requirements of broad range of applications. Such maps are expected to provide highly significant improvements compared to existing products, which tend to be coarser in resolution, and often fail to capture fragmented small-holder farms especially in regions with high dynamic change within and across years. To overcome these limitations, in this research we present an approach for cropland extent mapping at high spatial resolution (30-m or better) using the 10-day, 10 to 20-m, Sentinel-2 data in combination with 16-day, 30-m, Landsat-8 data on Google Earth Engine (GEE). First, nominal 30-m resolution satellite imagery composites were created from 36,924 scenes of Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 images for the entire African continent in 2015–2016. These composites were generated using a median-mosaic of five bands (blue, green, red, near-infrared, NDVI) during each of the two periods (period 1: January–June 2016 and period 2: July–December 2015) plus a 30-m slope layer derived from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) elevation dataset. Second, we selected Cropland/Non-cropland training samples (sample size = 9791) from various sources in GEE to create pixel-based classifications. As supervised classification algorithm, Random Forest (RF) was used as the primary classifier because of its efficiency, and when over-fitting issues of RF happened due to the noise of input training data, Support Vector Machine (SVM) was applied to compensate for such defects in specific areas. Third, the Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation (RHSeg) algorithm was employed to generate an object-oriented segmentation layer based on spectral and spatial properties from the same input data. This layer was merged with the pixel-based classification to improve segmentation accuracy. Accuracies of the merged 30-m crop extent product were computed using an error matrix approach in which 1754 independent validation samples were used. In addition, a comparison was performed with other available cropland maps as well as with LULC maps to show spatial similarity. Finally, the cropland area results derived from the map were compared with UN FAO statistics. The independent accuracy assessment showed a weighted overall accuracy of 94%, with a producer’s accuracy of 85.9% (or omission error of 14.1%), and user’s accuracy of 68.5% (commission error of 31.5%) for the cropland class. The total net cropland area (TNCA) of Africa was estimated as 313 Mha for the nominal year 2015. The online product, referred to as the Global Food Security-support Analysis Data @ 30-m for the African Continent, Cropland Extent product (GFSAD30AFCE) is distributed through the NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) as (available for download by 10 November 2017 or earlier): https://doi.org/10.5067/MEaSUREs/GFSAD/GFSAD30AFCE.001 and can be viewed at https://croplands.org/app/map. Causes of uncertainty and limitations within the crop extent product are discussed in detail.

Given the advances in remotely sensed imagery and associated technologies, several global land cover maps have been produced in recent times including IGBP DISCover, UMD Land Cover, Global Land Cover 2000 and GlobCover 2009. However, the utility of these maps for specific applications has often been hampered due to considerable amounts of uncertainties and inconsistencies. A thorough review of these global land cover projects including evaluating the sources of error and uncertainty is prudent and enlightening. Therefore, this paper describes our work in which we compared, summarized and conducted an uncertainty analysis of the four global land cover mapping projects using an error budget approach. The results showed that the classification scheme and the validation methodology had the highest error contribution and implementation priority. A comparison of the classification schemes showed that there are many inconsistencies between the definitions of the map classes. This is especially true for the mixed type classes for which thresholds vary for the attributes/discriminators used in the classification process. Examination of these four global mapping projects provided quite a few important lessons for the future global mapping projects including the need for clear and uniform definitions of the classification scheme and an efficient, practical, and valid design of the accuracy assessment.

Mapping croplands, including fallow areas, are an important measure to determine the quantity of food that is produced, where they are produced, and when they are produced (e.g. seasonality). Furthermore, croplands are known as water guzzlers by consuming anywhere between 70% and 90% of all human water use globally. Given these facts and the increase in global population to nearly 10 billion by the year 2050, the need for routine, rapid, and automated cropland mapping year-after-year and/or season-after-season is of great importance. The overarching goal of this study was to generate standard and routine cropland products, year-after-year, over very large areas through the use of two novel methods: (a) quantitative spectral matching techniques (QSMTs) applied at continental level and (b) rule-based Automated Cropland Classification Algorithm (ACCA) with the ability to hind-cast, now-cast, and future-cast. Australia was chosen for the study given its extensive croplands, rich history of agriculture, and yet nonexistent routine yearly generated cropland products using multi-temporal remote sensing. This research produced three distinct cropland products using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 250-m normalized difference vegetation index 16-day composite time-series data for 16 years: 2000 through 2015. The products consisted of: (1) cropland extent/areas versus cropland fallow areas, (2) irrigated versus rainfed croplands, and (3) cropping intensities: single, double, and continuous cropping. An accurate reference cropland product (RCP) for the year 2014 (RCP2014) produced using QSMT was used as a knowledge base to train and develop the ACCA algorithm that was then applied to the MODIS time-series data for the years 2000–2015. A comparison between the ACCA-derived cropland products (ACPs) for the year 2014 (ACP2014) versus RCP2014 provided an overall agreement of 89.4% (kappa = 0.814) with six classes: (a) producer’s accuracies varying between 72% and 90% and (b) user’s accuracies varying between 79% and 90%. ACPs for the individual years 2000–2013 and 2015 (ACP2000–ACP2013, ACP2015) showed very strong similarities with several other studies. The extent and vigor of the Australian croplands versus cropland fallows were accurately captured by the ACCA algorithm for the years 2000–2015, thus highlighting the value of the study in food security analysis. The ACCA algorithm and the cropland products are released through http://croplands.org/app/map and http://geography.wr.usgs.gov/science/croplands/algorithms/australia_250m.html

Monitoring global agriculture systems relies on accurate and timely cropland information acquired worldwide. Recently, the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program has produced Global Food Security-support Analysis Data (GFSAD) cropland extent maps at three different spatial resolutions, i.e., GFSAD1km, GFSAD250m, and GFSAD30m. An accuracy assessment and comparison of these three GFSAD cropland extent maps was performed to establish their quality and reliability for monitoring croplands both at global and regional scales. Large area (i.e., global) assessment of GFSAD cropland extent maps was performed by dividing the entire world into regions using a stratification approach and collecting a reference dataset using a simple random sampling design. All three global cropland extent maps were assessed using a total reference dataset of 28,733 samples. The assessment results showed an overall accuracy of 72.3%, 80–98%, and 91.7% for GFSAD1km, 250 m (only for four continents), and 30 m maps, respectively. Additionally, a regional comparison of the three GFSAD cropland extent maps was analyzed for nine randomly selected study sites of different agriculture field sizes (i.e., small, medium, and large). The similarity among the three GFSAD cropland extent maps in these nine study sites was represented using a similarity matrix approach and two landscape metrics (i.e., Proportion of Landscape (PLAND) and Per Patch Unit (PPU)), which categorized the crop proportion and the crop pattern. A comparison of the results showed the similarities and differences in the cropland areas and their spatial extent when mapped at the three spatial resolutions and considering the different agriculture field sizes. Finally, specific recommendations were suggested for when to apply each of the three different GFSAD cropland extent maps for agriculture monitoring based on these agriculture field sizes.