Estimativa de produção de cana de açúcar em pequenas plantações através do uso de sensoriamento remoto

Abstract

Brazil leads global sugarcane production, but in recent decades, the expansion of plantations appears to have reached a limit. The challenge now is to increase productivity per hectare, which requires the adoption of new technologies. Remote sensing has emerged as a crucial tool in this context, due to its ability to capture distinct reflectance patterns in sugarcane fields. In this study, the analysis focused on plots located in the municipality of Araraquara (SP), and we used Sentinel-2 satellite images acquired between 2019 and 2022. To assess the performance of the plantations it was used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which has a strong correlation with plant biomass. This approach allowed us to identify patterns and extract information about the crops. These analyses can have a significant impact on the agribusiness sector, providing quantitative data to assess the feasibility of optimizing sugarcane production. It is concluded that, while initial on-site data collection is crucial, remote monitoring of sugarcane fields is a viable reality. Furthermore, the method presented is objective and easy to interpret, representing a potential tool for more efficient management of sugarcane plantations.