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Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER RESOURCES, COASTAL AND OCEAN

ENGINEERING (ICWRCOE 2015)

Crop Pattern Mapping of Tumkur Taluk using NDVI Technique: A

Remote Sensing and GIS Approach
Bharathkumar L*., M.A. Mohammed-Aslam
Dept. of Geology, Central University of Karnataka, Kadaganchi, Gulbarga, Karnataka-585311, India

Abstract

Agriculture is the backbone of our country. Most of the Land in Tumkur taluk is occupied by agriculture. Due to lack of
awareness, farmers grow different variety of crops in different localities. Ultimately they face the problems in crop production
due to low yield. Crop suitability map provide solutions to all these problems. The study area Tumkur Taluk is located in
southern part of Karnataka and belongs to semi-arid climatic condition. The cropping pattern includes majorly Coconut
plantation, Arecanut plantation, Banana plantation, Ragi, Wheat, Maize, Jowar and other crops. Crop pattern study was carried
out using the NDVI processing of Landsat 8 data. NDVI result is recoded by taking the training sets in field visit. Finally the crop
pattern map is prepared using ArcGIS tools. Among current cropping patterns Coconut plantation, Ragi, Rice, Maize, Wheat
were consume less water and they are currently suitable for the area. But Arecanut plantation, Rice and Banana plantation
consume huge amount of water and were not at all suitable for the regional climatic condition. The major result deducing from
this study is, Mines and Geology department accounted 34500 bore wells in Tumkur district. Every day minimum 10 crore litre
of water is extracted from the ground water reservoirs. Our suitability crop modelling map will minimize the maintenance of
ground water. Suitability crop pattern map includes high income and yield to farmers within less maintenance and less water
usage with respect to the climatic conditions.

2015
2015TheTheAuthors. Published
Authors. Publishedby Elsevier B.V.B.V.
by Elsevier This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015.
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015
Keywords: Remote Sensing and GIS, NDVI, Training set, Crop Pattern Map, Crop Suitability Map.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: maslam.in@gmail.com

2214-241X 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015
doi:10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.181
1398 L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404

1. Introduction

Cropping pattern is a basic element of cropping system. Cropping pattern is the proportion of an area undergoing
various crops at a point with respect to space and time. Majorly the cropping patterns were closely influenced by
geo-climatic, socio-economic, political and historical factors (Wardlow and Egbert, 2002). Tumkur taluk belongs to
central dry zone. Most of the Indian economy depends on agriculture. Indian agriculture mostly depends on
Monsoons. As the monsoon is seasonal, agriculture production requires external Water resource for crop yields.
According to global consumption of water resource, agriculture accounts for 70% of water resource. Remaining 20%
is accounting for industrial use and 10% for domestic purpose. It is possible to sustain the water resource completely
by adopting the scientific method of agriculture practices. Remote Sensing and GIS plays an important role in cost
effective agricultural applications and implementations (Zhang and Hoffman., 2011). NDVI image is often useful
because of its crop biomass; vigour and canopy cover (Son and Cru, 2012).

2. Study area

The study area Tumkur taluk falls under Tumkur district, Karnataka, India as shown in Fig. 1. As the area is
under semi arid climatic condition it is necessary to sustain the water resource. The average rainfall of the Tumkur
taluk is 687.9 mm. Major proportion of the study area is covered by sandy soil. Cropping patterns play an important
role in groundwater and surface water exploration. In Tumkur Taluk majorly we can found coconut plantation,
Arecanut plantation, mango plantation, Ragi, Wheat, Maize, Jowar, and other Cereals crop varieties. The study
covers an area of 1031.34 sq. kms.

Fig. 1. Study area map

3. Methodology

Landsat 8 data is downloaded from the USGS (United State Geological Survey) Earth explorer website
(earthexplorer.usgs.gov) and processed in Erdas imagine 9.1 and Arcmap 9.3 softwares. The data is processed under
NDVI to extract the vegetation information. NDVI Stands for Normal Difference Vegetative Index, which gives the
vegetative proportions in an area. The formula to calculate NDVI is shown below.
NDVI= (NIR-Red) / (NIR+Red)
The value of NDVI ranges from -1 to +1. The data is recoded in Erdas Imagine software by taking training sets
using GPS control points. The training set selections were taken according to major crop production in the study
area. As a result the major crops like Coconut plantation, Arecanut plantation, Ragi, Paddy and other mixed crops
were taken into considerations. Later the crop type classifications were successfully achieved by recoding the NDVI
data from the training sets. Suitability crop map is achieved by integrating the knowledge of spatial decisions as
shown in Fig. 2.
 L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404 1399

Landsat 8 TIRS Data

NDVI analysis

Training set collection

Recode of NDVI Dataset

Crop pattern mapping

Accuracy assessment analysis

Crop suitability mapping

Fig. 2. Flow of Methodology Chart

4. Results and discussions

The total extent of the study area is 1031.34 sq. kms. As per our crop pattern mapping 329.33 sq. kms is covered
by Coconut and Arecanut plantation, 174.01 sq. kms is covered by Non-vegetative class, 277.36 sq. kms is covered
by Paddy cultivation, 2.89 sq. kms is covered by dense forest and 247.74 sq. kms is covered by Ragi cultivation. The
water required for crops depend mainly on climatic conditions. Crops which are growing in Semi arid regions
consume the following quantity of water for 1 KG of crop yield.

Table 1. Table showing Water requirements for Crop varieties

Sl. Crop variety Water requirement in Litres for 1 KG crop production
No.
1 Coconut 1425
2 Arecanut 3542
3 Paddy 2497
4 Ragi 627
5 Potato 287
6 banana 790
7 Cabbage 237
8 tomato 214
(Source: IME, http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste)
1400 L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404

Table 2. Taluk wise details of water utilised for Agriculture budget in Tumkur Taluk
Purpose Dug wells Bore wells

Irrigation 4396 17068

(Source: Tumkur District Brochure, http://cgwb.gov.in/District_Profile/karnataka/Tumkur_Brochure.pdf)

Table 3. Taluk wise details of water budget in Tumkur Taluk as per Tumkur District Brochure
Purpose No.of Habitations No. Of Bore wells No.of Piped No. of Mini
Water supply water supply
Schemes schemes
Domestic 752 2314 100 501

Accuracy assessment
Firstly the Landsat 8 data is processed in NDVI to get vegetative and non-vegetative cover maps. Crop pattern
distribution maps of Tumkur Taluk were prepared using Supervised Classification and Training site selections.
Based on the training site selection NDVI map is recoded into Cocunut and Arecanut plantation map, Ragi
distribution map, Paddy distribution map, Non vegetative cover and Forest distribution maps. The accuracy
assessment is done by using the accuracy assessment tool in ERDAS Imagine 9.1 software. The accuracy of the
classification is found to be 76% as the crop classification is very sensitive and is associated with the mixed crops
like cereals, fruits, and vegetables.

Fig. 3. NDVI map Fig. 4. Training set Collection

L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404 1401

Fig. 5. Crop pattern map Fig. 6. Cocunut and Arecanut Plantation map

Fig. 7. Ragi Crop Distribution Map Fig. 8. Paddy Crop Distribution map
1402 L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404

Fig. 9. Non-Vegetative Cover map Fig. 10. Forest Distribution map

5. Crop Suitability Map

Crop phenology mainly depend on the climatic conditions, Soil moisture content, Composition of soil, water
availability and daily insolation. As the soil variety is sandy soil, it is very acidic requires plenty of organic matters
to improve moisture contents. As the area is purely semi arid climatic it is necessary to avoid high water feeding
plants like Arecanut, Paddy and Banana plantations. The priority must be given to such plants, which feeds less
water. Crop suitability map is prepared by integrating Drainage, Slope and Existing crop information. Weightages
were given according to table shown below

Table 4. Weightage assessment for different layer to propose Crop Suitability map
Drainage distance Slope in percentage Exhisting crop Suitable Crop
1 KM radius 0 to 10 Paddy Paddy
1.1 to 2.5 KM radius 11 to 25 Ragi, Cocunut Ragi
2.6 to 5 KM radius 26 to 40 Ragi, Cocunut Cocunut
More than 5 KM radius 41 to 55 Ragi, Cocunut Cocunut
 L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404 1403

Fig. 11. Draianage network map Fig. 12. Drainage Network and Training set map

Fig. 13. Slope map Fig. 14. Integrated Crop Suitability Map
1404 L. Bharathkumar and M.A. Mohammed-Aslam / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 1397 1404

Fig. 15. Crop Suitability map

6. Conclusion

The study illustrates the effective use of Remote Sensing and GIS techniques in Crop Pattern mapping and Crop
suitability mappings. Landsat 8 data is analysed under NDVI and supervised classification processes to carry out the
cropping information. The crop growth of an area depends upon climatic conditions, Terrain factors and water
resource of an area. Thematic layers like Drainage, Slope and Current crop activity map were taken into
consideration to perform the analysis. The crop suitability map aims at sustainability of water resource in the region.
Crop suitability map clearly highlights less water consuming crops. Crop suitability map highlights the crop
production of Ragi, Coconut plantation and paddy fields in order to potentiality of water resource of an area. Crop
suitability map can provide a guideline to farmers to achieve high yield in spatial patterns.

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