On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia

Maintaining permanent coverage of the soil using crop residues is an important and commonly recommended practice in conservation agriculture. Measuring this practice is an essential step in improving knowledge about the adoption and impact of conse...

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Main Authors:	Kosmowski, Frederic, Stevenson, James, Campbell, Jeff, Ambel, Alemayehu, Tsegay, Asmelash H.
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2016
Subjects:	agricultural survey crop residue mulch remote sensing NDTI conservation
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26765552/ground-or-air-methodological-experiment-crop-residue-cover-measurement-ethiopia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25058

id	okr-10986-25058
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-250582021-04-23T14:04:28Z On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia Kosmowski, Frederic Stevenson, James Campbell, Jeff Ambel, Alemayehu Tsegay, Asmelash H. agricultural survey crop residue mulch remote sensing NDTI conservation Maintaining permanent coverage of the soil using crop residues is an important and commonly recommended practice in conservation agriculture. Measuring this practice is an essential step in improving knowledge about the adoption and impact of conservation agriculture. Different data collection methods can be implemented to capture the field level crop residue coverage for a given plot, each with its own implications for the survey budget, implementation speed, and respondent and interviewer burden. This study tests six alternative methods of crop residue coverage measurement among the same sample of rural households in Ethiopia. The relative accuracy of these methods is compared against a benchmark, the line-transect method. The alternative methods compared against the benchmark include: (i) interviewee (respondent) estimation; (ii) enumerator estimation visiting the field; (iii) interviewee with visual-aid without visiting the field; (iv) enumerator with visual-aid visiting the field; (v) field picture collected with a drone and analyzed with image-processing methods; and (vi) satellite picture of the field analyzed with remote sensing methods. Results of the methodological experiment show that survey-based methods tend to underestimate field residue cover. When quantitative data on cover are needed, the best estimates are provided by visual-aid protocols. For categorical analysis (such as greater than 30 percent cover or not), visual-aid protocols and remote sensing methods perform equally well. Among survey-based methods, the strongest correlates of measurement errors are total farm size, field size, distance, and slope. The results deliver a ranking of measurement options that can inform survey practitioners and researchers. 2016-09-13T15:38:04Z 2016-09-13T15:38:04Z 2016-09 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26765552/ground-or-air-methodological-experiment-crop-residue-cover-measurement-ethiopia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25058 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7813 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Ethiopia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	agricultural survey crop residue mulch remote sensing NDTI conservation
spellingShingle	agricultural survey crop residue mulch remote sensing NDTI conservation Kosmowski, Frederic Stevenson, James Campbell, Jeff Ambel, Alemayehu Tsegay, Asmelash H. On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia
geographic_facet	Africa Ethiopia
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7813
description	Maintaining permanent coverage of the soil using crop residues is an important and commonly recommended practice in conservation agriculture. Measuring this practice is an essential step in improving knowledge about the adoption and impact of conservation agriculture. Different data collection methods can be implemented to capture the field level crop residue coverage for a given plot, each with its own implications for the survey budget, implementation speed, and respondent and interviewer burden. This study tests six alternative methods of crop residue coverage measurement among the same sample of rural households in Ethiopia. The relative accuracy of these methods is compared against a benchmark, the line-transect method. The alternative methods compared against the benchmark include: (i) interviewee (respondent) estimation; (ii) enumerator estimation visiting the field; (iii) interviewee with visual-aid without visiting the field; (iv) enumerator with visual-aid visiting the field; (v) field picture collected with a drone and analyzed with image-processing methods; and (vi) satellite picture of the field analyzed with remote sensing methods. Results of the methodological experiment show that survey-based methods tend to underestimate field residue cover. When quantitative data on cover are needed, the best estimates are provided by visual-aid protocols. For categorical analysis (such as greater than 30 percent cover or not), visual-aid protocols and remote sensing methods perform equally well. Among survey-based methods, the strongest correlates of measurement errors are total farm size, field size, distance, and slope. The results deliver a ranking of measurement options that can inform survey practitioners and researchers.
format	Working Paper
author	Kosmowski, Frederic Stevenson, James Campbell, Jeff Ambel, Alemayehu Tsegay, Asmelash H.
author_facet	Kosmowski, Frederic Stevenson, James Campbell, Jeff Ambel, Alemayehu Tsegay, Asmelash H.
author_sort	Kosmowski, Frederic
title	On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia
title_short	On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia
title_full	On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia
title_fullStr	On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed	On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia
title_sort	on the ground or in the air? : a methodological experiment on crop residue cover measurement in ethiopia
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2016
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26765552/ground-or-air-methodological-experiment-crop-residue-cover-measurement-ethiopia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25058
_version_	1764458268155969536

On the Ground or in the Air? : A Methodological Experiment on Crop Residue Cover Measurement in Ethiopia

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