Application of multi-temporal Sentinel-1 SAR data for yield estimation of rice crops in An Giang, Vietnam

Rice is one of the main agricultural crops and plays an important role in food security. Therefore, it is essential to propose a method for monitoring the distribution of rice yield. Radar remote sensing data sources provide a sustainable solution for rice monitoring challenges in the countries located in the tropical monsoon region like Vietnam. The SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) remote sensing data from the Sentinel-1 satellite provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) is free of charge, has a large coverage and high spatial-temporal resolution. In this paper, rice growing areas in the An Giang province of Vietnam Mekong Delta were analyzed, which demonstrates the potential applications of multi-temporal data and proposes a method to estimate rice yield for agricultural management. The analysis results showed that in 2018 the Winter-Spring rice crop has the highest yield, and the Autumn-Winter crop has the lowest yield. Accurate and timely estimation of rice yield and production can provide important information in terms of spatial distribution and seasonal yield for government and decision-makers in policy making related to import and export.