Assessing the built-up footprint in an agricultural system using multi-temporal remotely sensed data

Zibusiso Dlamini, Clement Adjorlolo and John Odindi

African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2015, vol. 10, issue 2, 14

Abstract: The advent of the new political dispensation in South Africa has seen an exponential growth in the rate of land transformation and encroachment by other land uses into valuable agro-ecological zones. Due to the socio-economic value of the often limited high-potential agricultural land in the country, a reliable determination of encroachment and transformation is necessary for effective monitoring and management of such agro-ecological resources. Using the robust support vector machine classification algorithm, this study adopted multi-temporal, remotely sensed datasets to assess the extent to which the physical development footprint in the uMngeni Local Municipality affected the existing agro-ecological zones from 1993 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2013. The results show a steady increase in built-up areas during the period under investigation. The study demonstrates the value of multi-temporal, remotely sensed datasets and techniques in mapping the vulnerability of existing agricultural land to urbanisation in the study area.

Keywords: Land; Economics/Use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:afjare:208921

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.208921

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