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Accurate crop mapping plays a crucial role in informing reliable crop production estimates, addressing climate change, and developing strategies for sustainable agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is working with university students in Tanzania on a pilot project to gather grassroots data on grain, oilseed, and cotton crops. The aim of this project is to strengthen community agricultural systems and improve crop condition assessments using satellite imagery.

In April, 14 students from the international network of university-based chapters called YouthMappers worked in the Arusha area for four days. They captured data on 334 fields by photographing, georeferencing, and identifying target crops. The collected data will enhance FAS satellite imagery analysis and contribute to more accurate crop mapping.

The collaboration between FAS, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Tanzanian groups focused on building skills in field work, data sampling, and assessing agricultural conditions. The team’s main objective was to create an agricultural library of ground-truth data from the regions of Arusha, Dodoma, and Mwanza.

To ensure the efficacy of the project, the team focused on locating crops that are the target of FAS’ International Production Assessment Division, such as corn, sorghum, millet, rice, and cotton. These crops are often grown in larger fields and can be detected by satellite imagery. The field work also revealed variability in crop heights, which indicated variations in rainfall patterns and provided insights into pest damage, especially from the fall armyworm.

Since the project began, the Tanzanian YouthMappers network has collected data from 1,700 fields in the Arusha, Dodoma, and Mwanza regions. The collected data will be paired with satellite imagery from Sentinel-2, improving our understanding of crop conditions and the impact of seasonal rains. This collaboration is invaluable in responding to unusual crop conditions due to climate change and providing more accurate information for decision makers.

In May, the YouthMappers trained additional university students on geo-mapping techniques to further advance Tanzanian agriculture. This project is part of FAS’ efforts to help develop young agricultural leaders in Africa, empowering them to contribute to self-development and capacity building. Similar projects are also underway in Ghana and Uganda.

The team’s work will be presented at the upcoming Africa Food Systems Forum, where the aim is to strengthen African agricultural and food systems through inclusivity, sustainability, resiliency, and equity.

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