THE STATUS OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN EGYPT - THE USE OF MULTITEMPORAL NDVI FEATURES DERIVED FROM LANDSAT TM

Agricultural production in Egypt is limited by soil salinity and by th e encroachment of urban settlements onto previously cultivated lands. In contrast, reclamation efforts in the desert and coastal areas incre ase the amount of land cultivated In this study, field-calibrated, mul titemporal NDVI features derived from 10 Landsat TM images dating from 1984 to 1993 were used to assess the status of agricultural lands in the Nile Delta, and adjacent Western Desert and coastal regions. Four classes central to agricultural planning in the Delta are healthy agri cultural lands, fields of reduced productivity, urban settlements, and urban expansion. The results indicate that 3.74% of agricultural land in the Delta has reduced productivity. This quantity is greater than previously realized, indicating a need to incorporate these lands in r eclamation planning. The amount of land lost to urbanization, defined as the encroachment of an existing urban settlement onto previously pr oductive agricultural lands, is less than anticipated. Only 0.4% of pr oductive agricultural lands were converted to new urban use between 19 84 and 1990. Assessment of reclamation in the Western Desert and coast al areas over six time periods indicates continued high rates of recla mation. Between 1986 and 1993, the amount of cultivated land in these regions increased by 43.3%. The high overall accuracy of the map (95.8 5%) supports the use of multitemporal features in mapping the status o f agricultural lands.