Assessing The Impact Of Land Use Land Cover Change On Crop Production: The Case Of Damot Pullasa Woreda, Wolaita Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Land Use And Land Cover Change Is One Of The Challenges Which Strongly Influence The Process Of Crop Production. Land Use Land Cover Change Analysis Has Been Conducted To Assess Land Use Land Cover Change And Its Impact On Crop Production In Damot Pullasa Woreda,Wolaita Zone, Southwest Ethiopia Between 2008, 2014 And 2020. Landsat Images, Vector Data From Google Earth, Coordinate Points, And Also Secondary Data Such As;-Population Number And Crop Product Amount Of The Woreda Were Used In This Study. Geospatial Technologies Which Are;- Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System, Global Positioning System, And Others Are Used In This Study. Maximum Likelihood Supervised Classification Method Was Used For Land Use Land Cover Change Detection. The Result Of This Research Shows That Cultivated Land Was Continuously Decreased By 18.53% From 2008 To 2014, 22.46% From 2014 To 2020 And 40.99% From 2008 To 2020. Forest Area Was Increased By 30.69% From 2008 To 2014, 7.75% From 2014 To 2020 And 38.44% From 2008 To 2020. And Also, Settlement Area Was Expanded With In The Study Period By 11.44% From 2008 To 2014, 0.6% From 2014 To 2020 And 12.03% From 2008 To 2020. Open Space Was Decreased 23.6% From 2008 To 2014, Increased 14.11% From 2014 To 2020 And 9.48% Decreased From 2008 To 2020. Depending On The Results, This Study Was Concluded As The Increment Of Forest Area And Decrement Of Cultivated Land Were Obtruded And Also Normal Crop Product Amount Was Decreased In Damot Pullasa Woreda By 7.82, 4.51 And 3.14 Hectares In 2008, 2014 And 2020 Respectively. Therefore, The Relevant Decision Must Be Taken By Concerning Governmental Bodies Regarding To Up Scale The Crop Products Amount Through Keeping The Crop Land To Fill The Gap Between A Shortage Of Food And Population Demand In The Woreda.