Application of Remotely Sensed Imagery and Socioeconomic Surveys to Map Crop Choices in the Bekaa Valley (Lebanon)

Arnaud Caiserman, Dominique Dumas, Karine Bennafla, Ghaleb Faour and Farshad Amiraslani
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Arnaud Caiserman: Research Centre of Geography and Planning, University of Jean Moulin Lyon 3, 7 Chevreul Street, 69007 Lyon, France
Dominique Dumas: Research Centre of Geography and Planning, University of Jean Moulin Lyon 3, 7 Chevreul Street, 69007 Lyon, France
Karine Bennafla: Centre for Economic, Judicial, and Social Study and Documentation, Cairo 11519, Egypt
Ghaleb Faour: National Centre of Remote Sensing, Beirut 1107 2260, Lebanon
Farshad Amiraslani: Department of RS&GIS, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran 1417853933, Iran

Agriculture, 2019, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Based on remotely sensed imagery and socioeconomic data, this research analyzes the reasons why farmers choose one crop over another in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. This study mapped the area of the cultivated crop in 2017 with Sentinel-2 images. An accurate and new method was developed to extract the field boundaries from the evolution of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) profile throughout the season. We collected 386 GPS locations for fields that are used for crop cultivation, from which the NDVI profile was extracted. The 386 reference fields were separated into two groups: reference locations and test locations. The Euclidean distance (ED) was calculated between these two groups, and the classification was strongly correlated to the known crop type in the field (overall accuracy: 90%). Our study area cultivated wheat (32%), spring potatoes (25%), spring vegetables (27%), orchards (11%), vineyards (7%), and alfalfa (<1%). Socioeconomic surveys showed that farmers favored these crops over others on account of their profitability. Nonetheless, the surveys highlighted a paradox: despite the lack of a political frame for agriculture in Lebanon, farmers’ crop choices strongly depend on a few existing policies.

Keywords: crop-mapping; Lebanon; crop choice; surveys; Sentinel-2; remote sensing; normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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