UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Office (RSO) in Ukraine, the Space Research Institute NASU-NSAU, has elaborated an operational forecast of the winter wheat yield in Ukraine for 2012 using Earth Observation Data. Due to the winter kill effect, many areas of winter wheat in southern regions of Ukraine have been damaged in the last year. These regions could be identified with satellite imagery. The obtained results were delivered the Department of Agriculture of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center and Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
Ukraine is one of the biggest crop producers in the world. According to the 2011 statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Ukraine was the 8th largest exporter and 10th largest producer of wheat in the world. Timely and accurate crop yield forecasts for Ukraine have become a key element in providing support to policy making in food security.
