Article ID: | iaor2013316 |
Volume: | 115 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 137 |
End Page Number: | 143 |
Publication Date: | Feb 2013 |
Journal: | Agricultural Systems |
Authors: | Lobell David B, Ortiz-Monasterio J Ivan, Sibley Adam M, Sohu V S |
Keywords: | India, crop yield, wheat, satellites |
Wheat is a staple crop throughout much of India, but in many areas it is commonly sown past the optimum window for yields. Recent technologies, such as adoption of no‐till practices or earlier maturing cotton and rice varieties, have enabled some farmers to sow wheat earlier, but repeatable and publicly available measurements of sow date trends are lacking. Here we utilize satellite measurements since 2000 to estimate sow dates over a decade throughout wheat growing areas in India. Comparisons with ground‐based sow dates in Punjab confirmed the reliability of satellite estimates, and data from two independent satellite sensors were used as a robustness check. We find statistically significant (