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SERVIR is proud to present “Space to Farm: Using Satellites to Map Crops in the Himalayas,” an AGU TV film featured at the annual American Geophysical Union conference.

In the Himalayas, SERVIR partners with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to address critical issues like food security and sustainable agriculture. In Nepal, where rice is a staple crop for millions, SERVIR uses Earth observation data to map farmland, providing vital insights into agricultural production. This is crucial for a country where 65% of the population works in agriculture.

Nepal has worked with SERVIR to map rice in the flat region of Terai, but national decision-makers need crop information for the entire country. In the difficult-to-access, mountainous terrain of the Himalayas, it is challenging to collect on-the-ground crop information for food security assessments. Cloudy weather and steep steep terrain mean these rugged areas are also difficult to monitor with satellites, and small farms in these areas can be easy to miss. In neighboring Bhutan,  SERVIR and national partners addressed this issue by collaboratively developing the Farm Action Toolkit (FAcT), integrating local knowledge with satellite data to monitor smallholder farmland in mountainous areas. After successfully piloting FAcT in Bhutan, SERVIR is working with ICIMOD to replicate the toolkit in Nepal, expanding the reach of existing rice monitoring. 

By transforming satellite data into practical solutions, SERVIR is supporting its partners in their efforts to secure food supply, enhance agricultural productivity, and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events like droughts and floods.