Remote Sensing and Gis Based Suitability Analysis for Livestock Production in Yabello District, Southern Ethiopia
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Date
2009-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Land suitability analysis is the evaluation and grouping of specific areas of land in terms
of their suitability or capability for a defined use. To get the maximum benefit out of the
land, proper use of it for specific purposes is inevitable. Yabello district, which is
situated in arid and semi‐arid lands, experiences low and erratic rainfall and high
temperature that hinder any significant crop production. However, rapid population
growth of the study area has resulted in increasing demand for arable land leading to
reduced amount of land for natural grazing and forage production. Thus, the above
conflicting and challenging issues could lead to fast depletion of land resources.
Therefore, locating appropriate areas for livestock production using spatial models of
Geographic Information systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing would be indispensable
input to improve livestock productivity which enhances resilience of the environment.
This study intended to analyze and map suitable land areas for livestock production in
Yabello district using GIS and Remote Sensing techniques. Besides, it aimed at
identifying land cover change in the study area for the last 23 years and to what extent
and direction the change occur. The study made use of Landsat 1986 and 2003 Remote
Sensing Satellite Image analysis to determine the extent and pattern of rangeland
change, and Multi Criteria Evaluation in a GIS environment to come up with the final
suitability map. The study used weighted overlay technique of MCE in a GIS platform to
arrive at the final land suitability for livestock species. The current analysis showed that,
31.6%, 31.5%, 18.2% and 26.9% of the total study area is most suitable for the
production of cattle, sheep, goats and camels, respectively. Furthermore, it should be
noted that the larger portion of the study area (39.2% and 38.2%) fell under the
suitability class called marginally suitable for cattle and sheep, respectively. This could
be attributed to the encroachment of the rangelands by the woody plant species which
needs due treatment (e.g. rangeland rehabilitation or bush clearing) so as to reverse the
scenario. In addition, the study revealed that more than half of the study area is
permanently inaccessible to the major eelaas. In the current study, it is evident that
there is acute shortage of eelaas for watering livestock especially during the dry season.
Keywords: Yabello district, Suitability analysis, GIS and Remote Sensing techniques,
Multi‐criteria Evaluation, eelaas
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Keywords
Yabello district, Suitability analysis, GIS and Remote Sensing techniques, Multi‐criteria Evaluation, Eelaas