The Crop Monitoring for Evidence-based decision making initiative uses satellite Earth observation data to provide actionable agricultural intelligence across Kenya's farming regions.
What is CroME?
CroME, Crop Monitoring for Evidence-based decision making, is KSA's flagship space applications programme. It uses satellite imagery from Taifa-1 and international Earth observation satellites to monitor crop conditions, soil moisture, and vegetation health across Kenya.
The Technology
The system combines multispectral satellite imagery with ground-based weather station data, soil surveys, and historical yield records. Machine learning algorithms process this data to generate vegetation indices (NDVI), soil moisture maps, and crop yield predictions at county level.
Impact on Farmers
CroME data is distributed to county governments, the Ministry of Agriculture, and farming cooperatives. It enables early warning of drought conditions, identification of pest-affected areas, and optimisation of planting schedules, directly supporting food security for millions of Kenyans.
Scaling Up
KSA plans to expand CroME to cover the entire East African Community region, providing agricultural intelligence to partner nations including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan.
Written by
KSA Applications
Space Applications Division
