A systematic review of remote sensing applications for agricultural water management in a water-stressed South Africa

Abstract Recent advancements in earth observation and computational technologies have enabled the prudent use of remote sensing (RS) for monitoring and managing water resources. RS is a spatially explicit and effective approach for field-level to large-scale monitoring through data-driven insights on key agricultural water management (AWM) aspects of water consumption, productivity, agricultural drought and irrigated area extent mapping. However, the progress made in the South African context is not well documented. Hence, this review aimed to assess how RS is utilized for AWM in South Africa. Article search was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases using keywords remote sensing, earth observation, agricultural water management, irrigation, evapotranspiration, water use, water productivity, agricultural drought, and South Africa. The bibliometric analysis from 165 articles revealed that number of publications have a 8.3% annual growth over 26 years. RS data have been utilized to assess evapotranspiration (ET), crop water productivity (CWP), agricultural drought, scheme performance, and irrigation water quality. Data limitations, insufficient technical capacity, and limited computational infrastructure were the notable challenges. Future research should focus on integrated use of multi-temporal and multi-source data to minimize gaps across sensors and improve accuracy. Overall, RS has substantial potential to address water management issues in the agricultural sector of South Africa. Addressing the challenges through continued innovation, data integration, and capacity building is key to utilizing RS for sustainable agriculture and water security.