As a subsidiary of using GIS, querying and updating of 
information stored could be easily maintained. A specific 
system for the distribution of the results of the project was 
designed and has been revised with a Chinese interface. 
4. FURTHER STUDY 
Following on from the DRSS study the Ministry of Agriculture 
initiated the Monitoring Agricultural Land (MAL) project in 
southwest China, a more comprehensive study on the 
potential use of satellite data for agricultural statistics. The 
MAL project aims at the acquisition of agricultural 
information with high-speed, sophistication, up-to-date 
facts, and dynamics. Further study would be focused on the 
reduction of cost concerning time, money and labour, 
including trial studies on operational or sub-operational 
procedures by adopting sampling techniques and 
incorporating computer aided image recognition with expert 
knowledge. 
5. CONCLUSIONS 
The ’routine survey + GIS + remote sensing’ procedure by 
using satellite image has been proved to be successful in the 
monitoring of agricultural resources on the middie scale of 
mapping in China. The GIS enables the full operational 
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management of data and information with the advantages of 
easy-handling and easy-updating. 
Further research effort over the next few years will enable a 
comprehensive and efficient methodology, as for both 
accuracy and cost, to be devised. Such a methodology will 
enable a repeat agricultural land monitoring by 
thoroughgoingly using the potential of satellite remotely- 
sensed data to produce information on a full range of crops, 
with the precision demanded by the administrators and 
planners who require access to the information. 
REFERENCES 
Yu, Genong 1992. Peat Resources Investigation in Rouergai 
Plateau Using Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques. In 
Chinese. MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT AND DISASTER 
PROTECTION IN THE YANGTZE RIVER. Chengdu Mapping 
Publishing House, CHENGDU. p197-202. 
Zen, Liangxiu, Huamao Zhou, and Genong Yu 1994. 
Remote Sensing Investigation for the Change of the 
Cultivated Land in Chengdu and Chongain Regions of 
Sichuan Basin. In Chinese with English abstract. 
SOUTHWEST CHINA JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL 
SCIENCES. 7(4):49-53. 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996