Weather index for crop insurance to mitigate basis risk

Weather index insurance against severe weather and flooding is an important research issue to protect both people and agriculture in developed and developing countries. This study utilized remote sensing data and climate data to find the relationship between crop yield and different indicators, like EVI, crop stage at flooding, inundation period, and other climate factors to reduce the basis risk. In this study, MODIS and PALSAR imageries are analyzed for flood detection using SVM in Illinois state. Results indicate that flood mostly destroyed those cropped areas which were near the river. Remote sensing clears the affect of weather, crop phenology and flooding on crop harvest loss, which is key to lower basis risk for weather index insurance.