The Potential of GIS analyses in Farming Systems Development The case of Al Faria'a basin- Western of the Jordan Valley

Publication Type

Contribution to conference

Authors

Hijawi, T.

Year of publication

2003

Published in

Pre-Proceedings Farming and Rural Systems Research and Extension, Local Identities and Globalisation

Page (from - to)

30-38

Conference name

Fifth International Farming Systems Association European Symposium

Conference location

Florenz, Italien

Conference date

08.-11.04.2002

Current and accurate land use / land cover inventories are essential information for studying the farming system for monitoring and to make sound plans for the future. GIS data provides the opportunity to map large areas in a cost-effective way. With the increasing population in Palestine, demand for agriculture resources has increased promoting farming system (land use) changes whereas water resources are becoming scarce. Geographical information system (GIS) Land sat TM Thematic Mapper data was used as a tool to study the farming system in Al Faria'a basin- Western of the Jordan valley, Palestine. This paper presents GIS as a method of analysing land use components of a farming system. To derive the land use and land cover classes in the study area, satellite images from the years, 1990, 1996, 1999 were analysed with the help of supervised classification approaches based on spectral pattern recognition, and post classification to derive the land use change, GIS analysing method. The GIS analyses were applied with the help of image processing software, Erdas Imagine version 8.4. The analysis demonstrates that most of the changes in land use in Al Faria'a basin between the years 1990-1996 and the years 1996-1999 exist among the vegetation cover, while urban or bare rock did not change much during the last ten-year interval. This change in the vegetation cover could be attributed to social, economical, and political issues. The change in the land use during the years 1996-1999 could also be associated with technical factors such as the time of the image acquiring. Analysis shows an expansion in the vegetation cover. Conversely the water content has been continuously decreasing, which stresses the need to search for alternative water sources in order to support the agriculture in the basin such as low quality water reuse.