Impact of Spatiotemporal Land Use Land Cover Change on Land under Maize Production in Likuyani Sub-County, Kakamega County, Kenya

Abstract

Due to its large-scale production of maize seeds, Likuyani Sub-County is regularly known as Kenya's bread basket. The favorable soil and weather conditions are good for agricultural production and, more explicitly, maize, which is Kenya's staple food. Therefore, this study sought to understand the impact of land use land cover changes on land under maize production in Likuyani Sub-County, Kenya, between 1997 and 2017. Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 8 OLI/ TIRS, and Sentinel 2A satellite images for the years 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 were analyzed using pixel-oriented supervised image classification technique to produce LULC maps and detect the associated changes. Analysis of remote sensing data on the six categories revealed that land under maize cultivation was reduced by 8.92%, which translated to an annual reduction rate of 0.45%, while land under buildings increased by 10.87%, an annual rate of 0.54% between 1997 and 2017. Grass/Shrub category cover had an annual decrease rate of 0.31%. Forest and swamps were the least affected during the study period. Through the use of statistical package for social science (SPSS version 25) software, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like percentages, frequencies, and means. Quantitative data were summarized to determine the strength of the connection between the variables; the researcher conducted a regression analysis to establish the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The results were presented in tables, graphs, and pie charts. It was established that land change influenced maize production negatively. Fluctuating market prices (2%), population increase (30%), land subdivision (52%), and introduction of sugarcane farming were the main drivers of land use change. The findings from the research suggest that spatiotemporal land use land cover change had reduced the area of land under maize cultivation, thus negatively impacting the production of maize. The study recommends that there is a need to identify and implement best management practices to sustainably manage land in Likuyani Sub-County. This ought to include all key partners remembering nearby networks for recognizing, planning, and executing supportable methodologies for landing the executives.