This paper presents an approach to the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) for crop acreage estimation to support the crop forecasting system at regional level. The research adopted the Structured System Development Methodology (SSDM) to develop a GIS that includes complex processes and data models. The overall aim of the system design was to support crop area estimation through Area Frame Sampling (AFS), Remote Sensing (RS), and a combination of both. However, a detailed design was carried out to support AFS only. Based on a system that can support AFS survey design, field work, data processing, and assessment of the quality of data entered, two prototype systems were designed: CAEIS-I and CAEIS-II. CAEIS-I was developed using the Arc Macro Language (AML) of UNIX based Arc/Info, and CAEI-II was developed using MS Access '97 in a PC environment.
