Satellite-Based Evidences to Improve Cropland Productivity on the High-Standard Farmland Project Regions in Henan Province, China

Abstract

Under the pressure of limited arable land and increasing demand for food, improving the quality of existing arable land has become a priority to ensure food security. The Chinese government gives great importance to improving cropland productivity by focusing on the construction of high-standard farmland (HSF). The government puts forward the goal of constructing 1.2 billion mu (100 mu ≈ 6.67 hectares) of HSF by 2030. Therefore, how to apply remote sensing to monitor the ability to increase and stabilize yields in HSF project regions has become an essential task for proving the efficiency of HSF construction. Based on HSF project distribution data, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (Landsat8-OLI) data, this study develops a method to monitor cropland productivity improvement by measuring cropland productivity level (CPL), disaster resistance ability (DRA) and homogeneous yield degree (HYD) in the HSF project region. Taking China’s largest grain production province (Henan Province) as a case study area, research shows that a light use efficiency model that includes multiple cropping data can effectively detect changes in cropland productivity before and after HSF construction. Furthermore, integrated Landsat8-OLI and MODIS data can detect changes in DRA and HYD before and after HSF construction with higher temporal and spatial resolution. In 109 HSF project regions concentrated and distributed in contiguous regions in Henan Province, the average cropland productivity increased by 145 kg/mu; among the eight sample project regions, DRA was improved in seven sample project regions; and the HYD in all eight sample project regions was greatly improved (the degree of increase is more than 75%). This evidence from satellites proves that the Chinese HSF project has significantly improved the CPL, DRA and HYD of cropland, while this study also verifies the practicability of the three indices to monitor the efficiency of HSF construction.