Crop Monitoring in Smallholder Farms Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Facilitate Precision Agriculture Practices: A Scoping Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

(1) The table should not be paginated. If it is necessary to separate it into two pages, the table on the other page should also have a title, such as Table 1 & Table 3.

(2) The “Figure” in the figure title should be bold.

(3) The statistical data shall indicate the data source or be obtained from a database, such as the “Web of Science”.

(4) The quantity and annual publication of UAV monitoring in smallholder farms in internationally famous journals should be included, such Nature, Science, PNAS, et al. Meanwhile, the review papers on UAV monitoring of crops should be illustrated.

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The article found that UAVs have been used for monitoring crop growth and development, guiding fertilizer management, and crop mapping but also have the potential to facilitate other PA practices. While the potential of these technologies may be moderated by factors such as affordability, availability of data for model development and testing, and a lack of technical capacity, there remains much cause for optimism for future applications due to reductions in costs and continuous advancements in UAVs and associated technologies

It is according to the scope of the journal and publishable with the following major comments. 

The abstract with start with the main objectives of the study.

Please suggest the policy implications at the end of the abstract. 

The third sentence in the first paragraph of the introduction is without justifications/references to the previous studies. Therefore, I highly recommend modify and updating the given statement with given studies [1-5] as “The limited availability of arable land and water resources, the impacts of climate change, and the need to promote environmentally sustainable agricultural practices [1-3] that are likely to accentuate the pressures exerted upon existing agricultural food production systems [4-6]”

[1] Extreme weather events risk to crop production and the adaptation of innovative management strategies to mitigate the risk: A retrospective survey of rural Punjab, Pakistan

[2] Estimating smart energy inputs packages using hybrid optimization technique to mitigate environmental emissions of commercial fish farms

[3] Comprehensive Evaluation of Agricultural Modernization Levels

[4] Understanding farmers’ intention and willingness to install renewable energy technology: A solution to reduce the environmental emissions of agriculture

[5] Sensitivity analysis of greenhouse gas emissions at farm level: case study of grain and cash crops 

[6] Analysis of Energy Input–Output of Farms and Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Case Study of Cotton Growers

What are the main contributions of this review?

Table 3 should shift to the appendix section. 

Write the main values on the bars.  

Increase the font size of figure 5.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript submitted for review is very interesting. The method of conducting bibliometric analyses does not raise any objections.

Detailed comments are included in the pdf file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

In the introduction and discussion are missing literature from other continents, strong related to African research and arable farming.

The method selection was done well. Figure 5 should be improved, the different squares coloured do not explain the content well, could be for example columns.

The investigation, results and conclusion should be restricted to arable farming, should be clearly stated and mentioned in the results- und conclusion statements, because there are missing the important UAV research results of grassland management.

Unter "crops" is in my point of view unterstood bananas, apples,..not cereal, like grain, maize, barley,...

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 5 Report

The paper "Crop monitoring in smallholder farms using unmanned aerial 2 vehicles to facilitate precision agriculture practices: a scoping 3 review and bibliometric analysis" provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the use of UAVs in precision agriculture. The authors begin by discussing the increasing need for precision agriculture techniques to improve crop yields and reduce costs. Then, they talk about how UAVs can be used in precision agriculture, such as for mapping and surveying, keeping an eye on crops, and spraying them.

The authors note that UAVs are particularly well-suited for precision agriculture due to their ability to provide high-resolution images and data at a relatively low cost. Additionally, UAVs can cover large areas quickly, which is especially useful for monitoring large fields. The authors also discuss the different types of sensors that can be used with UAVs, including multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal imaging sensors.

The authors also discuss some of the challenges that come with using UAVs in precision agriculture. One of the main challenges is navigating regulations, as UAVs are still considered a relatively new technology and regulations are still being developed. The authors also point out that UAVs can be vulnerable to weather conditions, such as strong winds, which can make data collection challenging.

Overall, the paper provides a thorough and well-written overview of the current state of UAVs in precision agriculture. The authors do an excellent job of highlighting the benefits and challenges of using UAVs in this field. They also provide a good introduction to the different types of sensors that can be used with UAVs. The paper would be a useful resource for anyone interested in using UAVs in precision agriculture.

Some potential areas for improvement would be to include more data and case studies, as well as an update on the regulatory landscape, to give a more current view of the challenges and opportunities of using UAVs in precision agriculture. Also, it would be helpful to talk about the cost-benefit analysis of using UAVs versus other methods of precision agriculture.

 

The question of how the authors determine the size of small farms appeared to be open, since the farm size nomenclature is strongly dependent on the region. They lacked information on the criteria used. Also, the readers expect more than pure bibliometric analysis, which I really appreciate. In my opinion, I didn’t get what the difference was between the utilization of drones on big and small farms to justify the meaning of this topic.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have been successfully answered my raised queries, I have no further questions, however, I still find some spelling mistakes and typos, therefore, minor language editing’s and spelling checks are still required before publications.

Author Response

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. We have revised the manuscript accordingly to address the minor issues that have been identified.