Delineation of Food Insecure Areas Using Remote Sensing and Gis (Food Availability Analysis) The Case of South Gondar Zone
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Date
2014-05
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Food insecurity is a matter of both limited food availability and restricted access to food. Food
availability is the availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, supplied
through domestic production or imports. The main objective of this study is delineation of food
insecure areas in south Gondar Administrative Zone using remote sensing and GIS from the
food availability perspective. The necessary data were generated from satellite images,
meteorological data, and other ancillary data. The data analysis technique evolved generation of
major factors determining food security. Because there are numerous factors determining food
security, the researcher selected cyclic drought and soil erosion as determinant factors from crop
production (food availability) perspective. Deviations of NDVI from the long term mean and the
Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) derived from SPOT-4 near real time dekadal NDVI images
for eight years were used for drought detection. The results were validated using ground truth
data such as crop production, food aid beneficiaries and the amount of food aid distributed
including the number of stunted and under weight children and pregnant and lactating mothers.
The soil loss spot areas through erosion from the study area were estimated using USLE. These
two determinant factors were then weighted and overlaid in the ArcGIS environment to generate
a map indicating food insecure areas. Of the total areas of the Zone 16.3% is found to be
generally food secure, 42.5% moderately food insecure, 32 % highly food insecure and 9.7% is
chronically food insecure. The result of the research indicated that food insecure areas can be
mapped by ecological boundary, which could be very important during area targeting for food
aid and solve the problem under of area targeting using administrative boundaries. In the
research it is recommended that delineation of food insecure areas using Remote Sensing and
GIS at local level should be encouraged. This system could be scaled up at regional and federal
level after incorporating other factors determining food security. In doing so, (1) resource
liquidation will be reduced to its optimum level (2) inclusion and exclusion errors for
emergency response and or food for work or cash for work will be minimized.
Key words: Drought, food insecurity, food availability, Drought detection, Dekade, near real
time, inclusion, exclusion, and resource liquidation.
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Keywords
Drought, Food insecurity, Food availability, Drought detection, Dekade, Near real time, Inclusion, Exclusion, and resource liquidation