Impacts of Urbanization Rate and Land Cover Change on Urban Farm Land: A Case of Wolayta Zone Sodo Zuria Woreda
Bereket Geberselassie Assa
Civil and environmental research
Urban Farm DB summary
A study of Wolayta Zone Sodo Zuria Woreda in southern Ethiopia used GIS and remote sensing to analyze how human intervention affects the agricultural system. It found that urbanization driven by demand for residential land, a 2.66% increase over nine years, has produced food insecurity and raised crop production costs in local markets. Forestland declined at a rate of 0.295% per year, of which 0.09% was converted to residential land. Land use classification from 30 m Landsat 7 imagery was evaluated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process with a consistency ratio of 0.016%, and the study notes that the impact of deforestation on urban agriculture and livelihoods in this part of southern Ethiopia's highlands had not previously been scientifically studied.