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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
THE ROLE OF SATELLITE RADAR DATA IN AGRICULTURAL FRAUD DETECTION 
R. Harris^ " A J Graham? 
* Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK - 
(r.harris 0 geog.ucl.ac.uk) 
? Telford Institute of Environmental Systems, Department of Geography, Peel Building, University of Salford, 
Manchester M5 4WT, UK — (a.graham@salford.ac.uk) 
Commission VII . 
KEY WORDS: Sustainable agriculture, Radar, ERS, Field identification, Irrigation monitoring, Irrigation scheduling 
ABSTRACT: 
One important component of sustainable agriculture is the improved management of the resources used in agriculture: these 
resources include water, agro-chemicals and financial resources. As management strategies improve and become more explicit there 
is a greater need to detect those in the agriculture sector who are not following formal guidelines, that is those who are carrying out 
fraudulent activities. This paper addresses two major ways in which satellite radar data can be used to help detect fraud in the 
agriculture sector: (1) the identification of fields growing particular crops, and (2) the identification of the illegal use of water for 
irrigation purposes. Optical remote sensing data from Landsat and SPOT satellites have been used for many years to identify crop 
types in individual fields. Optical Earth observation data are very valuable, but in the presence of cloud become useless: this is a 
particular problem for some temperate latitudes and for tropical latitudes. This paper examines the steps in the processing chain 
necessary to use satellite radar data as part of a crop identification programme. The paper reports the results of a project carried out 
in the UK in association with the British Potato Council to identify fields growing potatoes where there is a requirement to check the 
accuracy of farmer’s planting returns. Satellite radar data respond to two environmental components in a radar scene, roughness and 
moisture content. The data on moisture can potentially be used to detect changes in crop and soil moisture. If such changes are the 
result of illegal irrigation then radar data can be used to detect such fraud. The paper describes modelling work using the water 
cloud model to estimate changes in the water status of potato fields in eastern England. The paper describes the development arfd 
application of the water cloud model, the development of a combined hydrological and irrigation model, modelling results and the 
potential for operational use. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
1.4 Environmental Pressure 
Many areas of the world are experiencing lower rainfall. 
During 2002 almost 70 per cent of India experienced the worst 
drought for 15 years as 355 out of 600 districts in the country 
had low or no rainfall during the summer monsoon, and bare, 
cracked earth replaced rice paddies. In Tunisia a drought from 
1999 has affected the whole country, a fact recognised in that 
country's Tenth Economic Development Plan for 2002 — 2006. 
With lower rainfall there is evidence of illegal abstractions of 
water from ground water resources, as is found in the Badia 
region of Jordan where some farmers dig wells without water 
extraction permits. Over-exploitation of ground water has led to 
salinisation of water supplies, for example in Oman where parts 
of the Batinah region have had the date palm agriculture 
devastated because of increased ground water salinity resulting 
from over-exploitation of ground water through wells. The 
government of Oman has constructed 15 ground water recharge 
dams to attempt to increase fresh ground water supplies. 
Along with lower rainfall and the consequences for agriculture, 
there is increased pressure on land resources and a greater need 
to be efficient and effective in the use of land. In many 
countries, such as China and France, there are support 
programmes to assist farmers growing certain crops. In other 
countries, such as the United Kingdom, farmers pay central 
bodies for the right to grow crops. In both types of case there 
  
Corresponding author. 
are financial transactions that control or influence the use of 
land for agricultural purposes. 
In the case of both water resources and land resources there is 
an increasing need to manage these resources effectively by 
monitoring agriculture. As management strategies become 
more explicit there is a greater need to detect those in the 
agriculture sector who are not following formal guidelines, that 
is those who are carrying out fraudulent activities. This paper 
addresses two major ways in which satellite radar data can be 
used to help detect fraud in the agriculture sector: (1) the 
identification of fields growing particular crops, and (2) the 
identification of the illegal use of water for irrigation purposes. 
Both these issues will help sustainable agriculture because 
uncontrolled agriculture is becoming unsustainable in the light 
of pressure of land and water resources. 
1.2 Earth Observation 
This paper addresses the role of radar data in agricultural fraud 
detection. Radar data present a challenge. On the one hand they 
are difficult to interpret and, because of the speckle effect, 
often produce poorer quality results compared with optical 
data. On the other hand because a radar sensor can be used to 
collect environmental information in cloudy conditions the 
radar can guarantee data collection from space. Therefore, if 
the difficulties with using radar data can be overcome then we 
can develop operational data supplies where users can rely on 
having Earth observation data at defined dates. With the