Remote Sensing and Gis-Based Modeling and Analysis of Vulnerability to Food Insecurity: the Case of Meket District, Northwest Ethiopia
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Date
2019-06-05
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Addis Ababa University
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 was to investigate vulnerability to food
insecurity using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques in Meket District of Northwest Ethiopia. The
necessary data used for the study were satellite images, meteorological data and other ancillary data.
Drought, land degradation and socio-economic maps were generated by considering them as the major
factors determining vulnerability to food insecurity in the study area. For drought detection, NDVI
anomaly and SPI were generated from SPOT-Vegetation and PROVA-V dekadal NDVI images for the 10
study years (2008–2017). The land degradation vulnerability of the study area was modelled using Land
Degradation Assessment Model. This model considers topographic, vegetation, soil, rainfall and human
factors. In addition, socio-economic susceptibility of the community was also assessed and mapped.
Then, these three determinant factors were weighted and overlaid to produce a model of vulnerability to
food insecurity and further to delineate vulnerable areas. Firstly, a comprehensive map was produced that
indicates agricultural drought risk prone areas of the study area by combining the frequency maps of the
NDVI anomaly and SPI indices and confirmed drought pattern. This map shows that no, slight, moderate,
severe and very severe drought risk areas constitute 2.5, 11.3, 34.87, 42.9 and 8.43%, respectively, of the
total area of Meket District. The result map was validated using ground truth data such as crop
production and experts in the Office of Agriculture of Meket District. Secondly, the land degradation
vulnerability for 12.48, 28.78, 22.43, 26.42 and 9.89% of Meket District falls under very high, high,
medium, low and very low vulnerability classes, respectively. Thirdly, the percentage areas categorized as
very severely, severely, moderately, slightly and not susceptible classes were 7.25, 36.72, 33.24, 12.02
and 10.78% of the total area of Meket District, respectively. Finally, the result of vulnerability to food
insecurity reveals that 23.26, 44.26 and 17.09% of the district were identified as moderately, severely and
very severely vulnerable areas to food insecurity. Only 1.79 and 13.60% were found to be no and slightly
vulnerable areas to food insecurity, respectively. Thus, the result could be used as a guide for concerned
government and non-government organizations for taking actions on adaptive strategies of food insecurity
in the study area. Spatially, most of northern, central and eastern parts of the district were found to be
categorized into the severe and very severe food insecurity vulnerability classes.
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Keywords
Food Insecurity, Drought, NDVI, SPI, Land Degradation, Socio-Economy