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Mapping Maize, Tobacco, and Soybean Fields in Large-Scale Commercial Farms

of Zimbabwe Based on Multitemporal NDVI Images in MAXENT

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DOI: 10.1080/07038992.2014.999914

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Mapping Maize, Tobacco, and Soybean Fields in Large-

Scale Commercial Farms of Zimbabwe Based on
Multitemporal NDVI Images in MAXENT
a a
Caleb Maguranyanga & Amon Murwira
a
University of Zimbabwe, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, P.O. Box
MP 167, Mt. Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
Accepted author version posted online: 22 Dec 2014.Published online: 14 Jan 2015.

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To cite this article: Caleb Maguranyanga & Amon Murwira (2014) Mapping Maize, Tobacco, and Soybean Fields in Large-Scale
Commercial Farms of Zimbabwe Based on Multitemporal NDVI Images in MAXENT, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing: Journal
canadien de télédétection, 40:6, 396-405, DOI: 10.1080/07038992.2014.999914

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 Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 40:396–405, 2014
Copyright 
c CASI
ISSN: 0703-8992 print / 1712-7971 online
DOI: 10.1080/07038992.2014.999914

Mapping Maize, Tobacco, and Soybean Fields

in Large-Scale Commercial Farms of Zimbabwe Based
on Multitemporal NDVI Images in MAXENT
Caleb Maguranyanga and Amon Murwira*
University of Zimbabwe, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, P.O. Box MP 167,
Mt. Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

Abstract. In this study we used the maximum entropy (MAXENT) method to test the extent to which a combination of temporal
Downloaded by [University of Zimbabwe] at 08:12 16 January 2015

NDVI series and ancillary field data can be used to map the distribution of maize fields, soybean fields, and tobacco fields. We also
test whether there are specific times during the growing season suitable for separately mapping the fields. Results indicate that we
can separately map fields of maize, soybeans, and tobacco using remotely sensed data at specific times during the growing season.
We conclude that MAXENT can be used to map fields of maize, soybeans, and tobacco using a temporal series of NDVI data. In
addition, we identify critical periods that provide significant (p < 0.05) NDVI values useful for mapping.

Résumé. Dans cette étude, nous avons utilisé la méthode d’entropie maximale (MAXENT) pour évaluer dans quelle mesure une
combinaison de séries temporelles IVDN «Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI» et de données de terrain auxiliaires
peut être utilisée pour cartographier la répartition des champs de maı̈s, des champs de soja et des champs de tabac. Nous testons
également s’il existe des moments précis pendant la saison de croissance permettant de cartographier les champs séparément.
Les résultats indiquent que nous pouvons cartographier les champs de maı̈s, de soja et de tabac séparément à l’aide de données
de télédétection à des moments précis au cours de la saison de croissance. Nous concluons que MAXENT peut être utilisé pour
cartographier des champs de maı̈s, de soja et de tabac en utilisant une série temporelle de données NDVI. En outre, nous identifions
les périodes critiques qui fournissent des valeurs de NDVI significatives (p < 0,05) qui sont utiles pour la cartographie.

INTRODUCTION
In Southern Africa, recurrent droughts and the threat posed
by a changing climate call for improved methods of estimat-
ing crop production, especially in countries whose livelihoods
are dependent on agriculture and are vulnerable to food short-
ages (Kandji et al. 2006; Ngigi 2009). One of the countries
highly dependent on agriculture in Southern Africa is Zim-
babwe, where about 70% of the population depends on agricul-
ture for food, income, and employment (Government of Zim-
babwe 2010). Here, the objective of monitoring crop produc-
tion patterns as a way to manage and estimate agricultural pro-
duction is critical for providing accurate information to policy
makers.
The development of remote sensing and image processing
techniques has allowed the mapping of large areas in a fast
and economical way. Although remote sensing has been use-
ful in mapping crop versus noncrop areas generally (DeFries
and Townshend 1994; DeFries et al. 1998; Liu et al. 2005;
Loveland et al. 2000; Xiao et al. 2005), methods for mapping
Received 3 April 2014; Accepted 26 November 2014.
∗
Corresponding author e-mail:murwira@gis.uz.ac.zw; murwira
@alumni.itc.nl
specific crops are less well developed, hence, they are a cur-
rent focus of research. Knowledge of crop-specific statistics is
critical for food security and crop-marketing decisions, thus,
it is critical to develop remote sensing approaches that can
provide crop-specific area statistics, as well as yield statistics
of any particular area (Kumar et al. 2012; Penigraphy et al.
2009).
Specific crop-area statistics derived from single remotely
sensed images taken at specific times of the growing season were
one of the first approaches for mapping different crops based
on their spectral characteristics, particularly from the earliest
Landsat satellites (Badhwar 1984; Rembold and Maselli 2006;
Gusso and Ducati 2012). In recent years, the development of fine
temporal and moderate spatial resolution satellites such as the
moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) has
resulted in an increase of spatiotemporal-domain-based meth-
ods to map specific crop types from remotely sensed data (Chang
et al. 2007). A study of time series data for individual crop types
in Kansas, USA, concluded that MODIS 250 Normalized Dif-
ference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data had sufficient spatial and
temporal resolution for major crop-type identification (Ward-
low et al. 2007). The results of this work suggested that the spa-
tiotemporal domain is important for specific crop-area mapping.

396
 VOL. 40, NO. 6, DECEMBER/DÉCEMBRE 2014 397

Recently, multitemporal MODIS NDVI has been successfully

used to model specific crops in smallholder agricultural areas in
Zimbabwe (Sibanda and Murwira 2012).
In addition to the importance of the spatiotemporal domain
in enabling the mapping of crop-specific areas, the develop-
ment of accurate models using remotely sensed data could be
enhanced by the inclusion of ancillary data that include soil
type and field boundaries. This can be made possible by the
development and adoption of appropriate modeling frameworks
and methods. Among the suite of these models is the maximum
entropy (MAXENT) method (Phillips et al. 2006). MAXENT
models the probabilty of the presence of a particular spatial phe-
nomena based on available presence records and environmental
correlates. To this end, MAXENT has been applied in modeling
the potential distribution of species using presence data only
(Phillips et al. 2006). Recently, the realization of the potential
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of MAXENT has led researchers to test it on modeling differ-

ent distributions using remotely sensed data as the independent
variable (Egbert et al. 2002; Parra et al. 2004). Nevertheless, to
the best of our knowledge, the use of MAXENT in modeling
the areal extent of different crops based on a remotely sensed
temporal series data is still rudimentary.
In this study, we test the ability of MAXENT to map the dis-
tribution of tobacco, soybean, and maize in Zimbabwe. Specif-
ically, we use MAXENT to test the ability to which a temporal
series of remotely sensed vegetation indices and data on field
boundaries can be used to map maize, soybean, and tobacco
fields. Additionally, we identify the phenological stage (early
greenup onset, late greenup onset and green peak) at which
we can best separate maize, soybean, and tobacco within one
growing season.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Area
The study was carried out in the Large-Scale Commercial
Farming Area of Mashonaland West province in Zimbabwe,
which covers the districts of Hurungwe, Makonde, and Zvimba
(Figure 1). The study area lies between longitudes 29◦ 30 –30◦
40 and latitudes 17◦ 10 –18◦ 30 . Zimbabwe is divided into
agroecological regions that reflect different agricultural poten-
tial. Our study area is located within agroecological region 2a,
which is characterized by an average annual rainfall of 750 mm
to 1000 mm (Vincent and Thomas 1960). The soils vary from the
ferralic-chromic cambisols, lithic-eutric leptosols to the leptic-
chromic luvisols (Nyamapfene 1991). The 3 districts were se-
lected because the large-scale-crop farming in Zimbabwe is the
most viable in Mashonaland provinces due to better precipi-
tation received and soil types, compared with the rest of the
country.
Maize, soybean, and tobacco were selected for this study be-
cause of their agricultural importance. Soybean is an important
oil-seed crop and is used as human food, livestock feed, and
FIG. 1. The study area covering Hurungwe, Makonde, and
Zvimba districts. Map coordinates are WGS 84 UTM zone 36
south.
for various industrial purposes (Myaka 2005). Maize is an im-
portant staple food crop for Zimbabwe, grown mainly for food
security. Tobacco is Zimbabwe’s largest foreign currency earner,
accounting for about 26% of the agriculture sector’s contribu-
tion to total foreign export earnings (Government of Zimbabwe
2010).
Data
Field Data
A land-use map of Zimbabwe at 1:250 000 scale, ob-
tained from the Surveyor General’s Department of Zim-
babwe in Harare, showing areas designated for commer-
cial farming was overlaid on Google Earth1 to aid the on-
screen digitizing of fields in the study area. Fields that
fell within the commercial farms, indicating cropping activ-
ity, were manually digitized to obtain an accurate map of
maize, soybean, and tobacco field areas within the study area
(Figure 2).
Figure 2 shows the extent of the agricultural fields that were
used in this study. Crop data was collected in selected agricul-
tural fields. Stratified random sampling was used to select the
fields of maize, tobacco, and soybean for survey. A Global Po-
sitioning System (GPS) was used to locate the selected farms in
the field. The location of the center of each selected field was
measured using a GPS, and the crops grown in each field were
identified through direct observation during the growing season.
The stalks of the crops were used to identify the crops grown in
1www.googleearth.com
 398 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING/JOURNAL CANADIEN DE TÉLÉDÉTECTION
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FIG. 2. Location of the digitized agricultural fields in the study area. Map in geographic coordinates based on the WGS 84
reference spheroid.

each field where observation was done after harvesting, follow-
ing the methods of Sibanda and Murwira (2012). We used 71
samples for maize, 21 samples for soybean, and 15 samples for
tobacco with average field sizes of 22.03 ha, 20.89 ha and 16.41
ha, respectively, as shown in Table 1.
The samples fields are different, reflecting the proportions to
the area covered by each of these crops. The study area has more
large-scale commercial fields of maize compared to soybean and
tobacco. Because the tobacco fields were large, we deemed the
sampled area of tobacco adequate for modeling purposes.
TABLE 1
Descriptive statistics of the maize, soybean, and
tobacco fields
Crop Mean Minimum Maximum Standard No. of
Type (ha) (ha) (ha) Deviation Pixels
Remotely Sensed Crop Data
For this study, we used the 16-day composite MODIS NDVI
products (MOD13Q1), with a spatial resolution of 250 m,
covering the period between September 2010 and May 2011.
MODIS NDVI was used in this study because of its capability to
provide information at an intermediate spatial resolution,
between a finer resolution of Landsat and coarser resolution
of the advanced very high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR),
while still providing daily repeat coverage. In addition,
Landsat has a limited temporal resolution (up to 26 days)
that conceals many details of crop phenology dynamics. We
downloaded L3 Global 250 m MODIS 16-day data from
TABLE 2
Descriptive statistics of the maize, soybean, and tobacco fields
using a confidence interval of 80%
Cut off% (80) Crop Type Hectarage No. of Pixels

maize 22.0312 6.9676 59.6150 13.0630 250 maize 7543.75 1207

soybean 20.891 8.4003 45.829 11.7407 70 soybean 1731.25 277
tobacco 16.4128 6.5177 44.9182 11.7249 39 tobacco 1564.22 250
 VOL. 40, NO. 6, DECEMBER/DÉCEMBRE 2014
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FIG. 3. NDVI profiles of maize, soybean, and tobacco for the 2010–2011 growing season. These results can be confirmed using
the Friedman test. The shaded areas show the periods that have significant NDVI values.
the USGS EROS Data Center2 (NASA 1999). These data
are produced by using a constrained maximum view angle
approach (Huete et al. 2002). They were used because they are
well calibrated and well validated to provide a substantially
improved basis for scientific studies of this nature (Zhang
et al. 2003). The processing of these data includes atmospheric
correction, cloud removal, and bidirectional reflectance dis-
tribution function (BDRF) correction (Chen et al. 2006). The
data were downloaded in the native integerized sinusoidal
(ISIN) projection and reprojected to the geographic coordinate
projection system (lat/lon), World Geodetic System 1984
(WGS84) in a Geographic Information System (GIS). The
data were then analyzed in the Integrated Land and Water
Information System Geographical Information System3 (ILWIS
GIS).
The MODIS NDVI data obtained from the sampled sites were
tested for spatial autocorrelation, using Moran’s I. We found no
significant spatial autocorrelation in the data (p > 0.05). Next
we plotted the NDVI data graphically (Figure 3).
We then tested the data for any significant (p < 0.05) de-
viations from normality, using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test
as a first step. Normality test results showed that data signifi-
cantly (p < 0.05) deviated from a normal distribution. We also
2https://wist.echo.nasa.gov
3http://www.itc.nl
399
tested whether there are any significant differences between crop
NDVI among the image dates or among the different months,
using the Friedman ANOVA for ranks. Furthermore, the Kendall
concordance coefficient was used to test whether the crops’ ND-
VIs are similar (i.e., correlated). The Mann Whitney U test was
used to determine whether and at which time there was a sig-
nificant difference in the median NDVI values among maize,
soybean, and tobacco.
We then tested for the phenological stage at which we could
significantly distinguish among maize, soybean, and tobacco
fields in a large-scale commercial farming area of Zimbabwe.
This method was adopted from the one developed in the
Zambezi valley of Zimbabwe to distinguish cotton from maize
and sorghum in smallholder agricultural landscapes (Sibanda
and Murwira 2012). We used a temporal series of 16-day
MODIS-derived NDVI data and GPS-surveyed crop-type
data of the 2010 to 2011 cropping season (September to
May).
Modeling the Distribution of Maize, Soybean,
and Tobacco
We modeled the distribution of maize, soybean, and tobacco
by using the MAXENT method (Phillips et al. 2004, 2006) and
2 environmental variables: NDVI and field boundaries. Specif-
ically we used the freely available MAXENT software version
 400 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING/JOURNAL CANADIEN DE TÉLÉDÉTECTION
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FIG. 4. (a) Maize probability of occurrence. (b) Soybean probability of occurrence. (c) Tobacco probability of occurrence.
3.3.3k.4 MAXENT relies on presence-only occurrence records
to estimate the probability of occurrence for a species, which
can then be used to discriminate suitable versus unsuitable ar-
eas. MAXENT finds the probability distribution of maximum
entropy (i.e., that which is most spread out, or closest to uniform)
and then constrains the distribution using a set of environmental
variables with a range of values defined by the environment at
locations where the species is known to occur (Phillips et al.
2006). MAXENT is based on the premise that the unknown
probability distribution should have maximum entropy but is
constrained by the environmental characteristics of the niche.
MAXENT controls overfitting and variable selection using a
regularization that smoothes the modeled distribution, with a
penalized maximum likelihood model that balances model fit
with model complexity (Phillips and Dudik 2008; Elith et al.
2011). Furthermore, MAXENT determines how each variable
influences the presence of the modeled species in 2 ways. In the
first approach, MAXENT provides the percent contribution of
each variable to the final model (Baldwin and Bender 2008). The
second alternative method for assessing variable importance is
4http://www.princeton.edu/∼schapire/maxent, accessed November 2011
the jackknife approach (Phillips 2009). This approach excludes
one variable at a time when the model is running. Consequently,
it provides information on the performance of each variable in
the model in terms of how important each variable is at explain-
ing the species distribution and how much unique information
each variable provides. In addition, several recent studies have
found the MAXENT model to perform well, or better, when
compared to other modeling methods (Kumar et al. 2009; Elith
et al. 2006; Evangelista et al. 2008; Hernandez et al. 2006).
MAXENT provides output data in raw, cumulative, and logis-
tic formats (Phillips and Dudik 2008). Scores range from 0–1
(Phillips et al. 2006). The raw, cumulative. and logistic ouput
formats can be imported into a GIS to map probability distribu-
tions. We used a 0.8 probability threshold to produce crop-type
probability maps (maize, soybean, and tobacco) in ILWIS GIS.
Selection of the threshold was made following general rules
guiding the usefulness of the model based on scientific liter-
ature (Elith et al. 2006; Baldwin 2009; Peterson et al. 2007;
Pittman and Brown 2011; Araujo and Guisan 2006). We then
compared probabilities above 0.8. For each pixel, we retrieved
the crop with the highest probability to represent that crop type.
Maps showing the relative distribution of maize, soybean, and
tobacco were then produced.
 VOL. 40, NO. 6, DECEMBER/DÉCEMBRE 2014
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FIG. 5. The MAXENT model results showing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for (a) maize, (b) soybean,
and (c) tobacco.
Training the model, we used 70% of the training records, and
the remaining 30% were used to test the model performance.
Validation and test data were randomly selected for each differ-
ent crop-type grouping. Prediction by the model was achieved
using the receiver operating curve (ROC). This curve is con-
structed by plotting the true positive rate (sensitivity) of the
model in the y-axis versus the false positive rate (1-specificity)
in the x-axis. Sensitivity represents how well the data correctly
predicts presence, whereas specificity provides a measure of
correctly predicted absences (Baldwin 2009). The area under
the ROC curve (AUC) is used as a measure of strength of the
model or, in real terms, the probability that a cell chosen at
random will be classified correctly relative to a random sample
of background cells (Phillips et al. 2006). The possible values
of the AUC fall between 0.5 and 1.0. The higher the AUC value,
the better the simulated results; and if the AUC value is less than
0.5, the simulated results were considered to be worse than ran-
dom prediction (Fielding and Bell 1997). If the AUC > 0.5, the
model performed is considered better than random prediction
(Phillips et al. 2006), and if it is greater than 0.75, the prediction
is considered useful (Elith et al. 2011). Furthermore, following
Araujo and Guisan (2006), if the AUC value of the model was
between 0.70 and 0.80, the model produced was considered av-
erage; between 0.80 and 0.90 was good; and a value between
401
0.90 and 1 was considered to produce an excellent model. In
this study, based on exploratory data analysis, we adopted the
Araujo and Guisan (2006) classification scheme.
MAXENT calculates the contribution of each environmental
variable in building the model and its final output. Jackknife
tests (Phillips et al. 2006) calculate the test, training, and AUC
gain resulting from each variable in the model on its own, in
its absence, and in the presence of all other variables. These
tests were used to determine which of the environmental vari-
ables are most important in explaining the distribution of maize,
soybeans, and tobacco.
RESULTS
Figures 4a, 4b, and 4c illustrate the probability of occur-
rence of maize, soybean, and tobacco by location in the study
area based on the MAXENT model using digitized fields and
multitemporal NDVI variables for 70% observation data.The
probability of finding maize and soybean fields is high in Hu-
rungwe, Makonde, and Zvimba districts, whereas the prob-
ability of finding tobacco fields is high in the Hurungwe
district only. Furthermore, it can be observed that fields of
high maize probability are close to fields with high soybean
probabilty.
 402 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING/JOURNAL CANADIEN DE TÉLÉDÉTECTION
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FIG. 6. The MAXENT Model results showing the jackknife test of the importance of variables used in training the distribution of
(a) maize, (b) soybean, and (c) tobacco.

Using a confidence interval of 80%, we observe that maize
has an area of 7543.75 hectares, soybeans an area of 1731.25
hectares, and tobacco an area of 1562.5. hectares.
Figure 5a illustrates the model evaluation using the ROC
curve of the randomly selected training and test data for maize-
field prediction. The training line shows the “fit” of the model to
the training data. The testing line indicates the fit of the model
to the testing data, and is the real test of the model’s predictive
power. The diagonal straight line shows the line expected if the
model performed no better than random (Phillips et al. 2006).
We observe that the MAXENT model distinguished between
probable and improbable maize fields because the AUC for the
 VOL. 40, NO. 6, DECEMBER/DÉCEMBRE 2014
training data as well as for the test data is greater than that
of the random prediction line (0.5). The AUC for the training
data is 0.82 and for the test data is 0.81. In addition, the MAX-
ENT model distinguished between probable and improbable
soybean fields. The AUC for the training data is 0.89 and for
the test data is 0.85, which are all greater than the random pre-
diction line (0.5; Figure 5b). Furthermore, the MAXENT model
distinguished well between probable and improbable tobacco
fields. The AUC for the training data is 0.77 and for the test data
is 0.76 (Figure 5c).
Figure 6a illustrates that the environmental variable with the
highest AUC gain when used in isolation is the NDVI for 6
March 2011, whereas the environmental variable that decreases
the AUC gain most when used in isolation is the field boundaries
(here depicted as fieldsfinal). Figure 6b shows that the environ-
mental variable with the highest gain when used in isolation is
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the NDVI for January 17, 2011, and the environmental variable
that decreases the most when used in isolation is fieldsfinal.
Figure 6c illustrates that the environmental variable with the
highest gain when used in isolation is the NDVI for February
2, 2011, and the environmental variable that decreases the most
gain when used in isolation is fieldsfinal.
DISCUSSION
Results of this study indicate that we can use a temporal
NDVI series in MAXENT to separately map fields of maize,
soybean, and tobacco at specific times during the growing sea-
son. The high AUC for maize (0.81), soybean (0.85), and to-
bacco (0.76) indicate the high predictive power of the MAXENT
model in mapping maize, soybean, and tobacco fields (Elith et al.
2011). These results are supported by findings in Northeastern
Thailand (Heumann et al. 2011) where MAXENT was suc-
cessfully used to model for upland cassava and lowland paddy
rice varieties in a human-managed landscape. Furthermore, our
results are consistent with other findings that suggest the MAX-
ENT algorithm is of particularly high utility for applications in
which presence data are limited (Evans et al. 2010; Phillips et al.
2006).
With the MAXENT jackknife-based variable selection proce-
dure, results indicate that we can identify critical days of NDVI
variables, which are important for determining the separability
of of maize, soybean, and tobacco fields. Specifically, results
indicate that the middle of January and early March (midgrow-
ing season) correspond with the critical periods of late greenup
onset and green peak that provide significant (p < 0.05) NDVI
values for mapping maize, soybean, and tobacco fields. This is
consistent with the crop calendars of the 3 crops. Specifically,
soybean crops are planted about 2 weeks after maize, however,
during the period January 6 to March 6, 2011 (late greenup
phase to green peak) soybean has higher NDVI values than
maize, whereas, earlier in the growing season, maize has higher
NDVI values compared with soybean. This is also the time when
403
tobacco starts to mature and is the beginning of ripping; hence,
the significantly different NDVI values.
The difference between this study and other studies is in
the explicit use of temporal NDVI data (in particular, pheno-
logical phases) and field boundary data in MAXENT to model
occurance of fields of maize, soybeans, and tobacco in a sin-
gle season. Other studies have emphasized climatic variables
in modeling crop distribution. Sun et al. (2012) revealed the
major climatic indices of the distribution of winter wheat culti-
vation zones, using MAXENT. In addition, Kemp (2012) used
a MAXENT modeling technique to analyze information about
environmental conditions at the current locations of agricultural
crops on Hawaii Island in order to predict the probability of suit-
able conditions existing for the same crops at other locations on
the island. In particular, soil characteristics, rainfall, solar radi-
ation elevation, slope, and temperature provided variables for
the modeling effort. Among the results was the identification of
various landscape conditions found in all locations where each
indvidual crop is found.
Although temporal NDVI data analysis for the months under
study perfomed well in our study area, they may not neces-
sarily be the best candidates in other geographic regions or
spatial scales, thus, transfereability of the model may be lim-
ited. Further refinement of our methods is required, including
tests that employ different sensors across multiple spatial scales.
Specifically, further research should consider precisely match-
ing temporal NDVI data and spatial resolution. In addition, our
model results could have been improved if we integrated addi-
tional geospatial variables that characterize the physical land-
scape (e.g., soil characteristics, slope, rainfall, temperature, etc.)
taking cognizance of the need not to include large data layers in
the analyses.
CONCLUSION
The objective of this study was to determine the extent to
which a temporal series of remotely sensed vegetation indices
(NDVI) and field boundaries used as environmental variables in
MAXENT can map the distribution of maize, soybean, and to-
bacco fields and identify the phenological stage (early greenup
onset, late greenup onset and green peak) that can best separate
maize, soybean, and tobacco within one growing season. We
conclude that we can separately map out fields of maize, soy-
bean, and tobacco using remotely sensed data at specific times
during the growing season. Specifically, we confirm that the
middle of January 2011 and the early of March 2011, which
correspond with the late greenup onset and green peak are the
critical periods that provide signifcant (p < 0.05) NDVI values
for mapping maize, soybean, and tobacco fields.
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