SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL LANDS EASTERN NILE-DELTA, EGYPT | ||||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||||
| Article 6, Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2013, Page 187-201 PDF (1.26 MB) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2013.51151 | ||||
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| Author | ||||
A. Elnaggar
| ||||
| Dept. of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Fertile agriculture areas in the Nile-Delta of Egypt are constantly deteriorating mainly due to urbanization. Providing up to date and accurate estimation of existing agricultural lands in Egypt is a necessity to support decision makers with the right information about the agriculture sector. The objectives of this study were to provide an accurate estimation of agricultural lands eastern Nile-Delta and to study the impact of urbanization on agricultural lands from 1984 to 2010. Accordingly, Landsat TM images in 1984 and ETM+ in 2002 and 2010 were used to study spatial and temporal changes in agricultural lands eastern of Nile-Delta. Normalized difference vegetation difference (NDVI) was used to map agricultural versus non - agricultural lands. Results indicated that agricultural lands were about 1.729, 1.831, and 1.732 million acres in 1984, 2002 and 2010, respectively. Annual increase in agricultural lands was about 5,637 acres per year during the period from 1984 to 2002; this was followed by an annual decreased of 12,309 acres per year during the period from 2002 to 2010. However, there was an annual increase in agricultural land by 115 acres per year during the whole studied period from 1984 to 2010. Significant reduction was observed in agricultural areas in Dekernis and Al-Zagazig cities that are completely surrounded by agricultural lands due to urban encroachment. Agricultural land was reduced in 26 years by about 45 and 50% in Al-Zagazig and Dekernis cities, respectively. The reduction rate in agricultural land from 1984 to 2002 was lower than that between 2002 and 2010 in both cities. On the other hand, agricultural land around Abohammad city located at the fringe of eastern Nile-Delta was increased by about 425% from its original area in 26-years from 1984 to 2010 due to agriculture reclamation projects. It could be concluded that urban encroachment over the fertile agricultural lands is the most serious process that result in fertile land degradation eastern of Nile-Delta in Egypt. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Land cover; land use; NDVI; Change Detection; urbanization; Remote Sensing; GIS | ||||
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