Bahrain greenhouses inventory conducted by NSSA team

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A team of young national professionals working in the National Space Science Agency (NSSA) have conducted an inventory of agricultural reserves in the Kingdom of Bahrain, determine their locations and estimate their total area based on images and data.

This is part of an effort by the NSSA to contribute to achieving sustainable development goals by harnessing space science and technology to implement various studies.

Cooperation was made with a number of experts and academics specialised in this field and the use of high-resolution satellite images in the implementation of this study to conduct an inventory of greenhouses and accurately determine their geographical distribution at the level of the four governorates of Bahrain.

The team, represented by Eng. Munira Al Malki and space data analyst Aisha Al Hajri, confirmed that the study constitutes an added value to the agricultural geographical information base established by the NSSA’s laboratory. It includes pivotal information in the agricultural issue, and its outputs are diverse and of very high value.

It will benefit those concerned with the agricultural sector and food security in the Kingdom by providing accurate and periodically updated information according to demand. The study showed the total area of greenhouses in all regions of Bahrain, which is approximately 65 hectares, which adds to its total green area.

They noted that these results were based on data analysis and satellite images, which contributes to providing data faster and less costly to decision-makers, explaining that the analysis is a supportive component of field studies and not a substitute for them.

The NSSA provides satellite images and data for the Kingdom’s lands and territorial waters, recent or archived, with varying levels of accuracy, in different ranges such as Multispectral, PANSARP, RGB, NIR and PAN.

They were obtained through many satellites, in addition to providing services for processing and analysing such data and satellite images, by submitting a request via its website and through the link https://www. nssa.gov.bh/ar/services. Many parties are communicating with the NSSA to take advantage of the services it provides for the purpose of supporting their projects and activities.

The results of this study have been specifically shared with a number of concerned government agencies, including the agriculture and marine resources sector in the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, and the national initiative for the development of the agricultural sector.

The NSSA was established by Royal Decree 11/2014, with a vision “to promote Bahrain to a position of international prominence in the field of space science for the purpose of achieving comprehensive and sustainable development”.