Assessment of Agricultural Sustainability of Bahariya Oasis using Geo-informatics techniques

Abstract

Globally, Food security is considered one of the most issues for humanity due to rapid population growth thus sustainable natural resources assessment is required. Well assessment and management of soil can aid in achieving food security. Agriculture sector in Egypt is facing some obstacles related to sustainability. These include scarce land and water resources, degradation of environment and high rate of population growth. This study focuses on evaluating of agricultural sustainability development in Bahariya oasis, western desert of Egypt. Maps of physiographic and soils were produced using analysis of multispectral Sentinal-2 image with spatial resolution 10 m dropped over digital elevation model (DEM), A shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) 1-arc-second v.30 DEM. Fifty soil profiles were dug to represent geomorphological units within study area. Soil productivity, environmental security, environmental protection, economic viability, and social acceptability of proposed management options were calculated within the study's landscapes using the Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management (FESLM). The results revealed that the investigated area classified into lands that are marginally below the requirement of sustainability with an area of 534.34 km 2 and the rest of study area are not meet sustainability requirements. The sustainability challenges in the investigated area are associated with productivity, economic viability and social acceptability. This research suggests some practices to achieve sustainable development in the study area for instance practicing farmers on modern ways of well management and soil conservation, increase level of health and school care, facilitation of loans for farmers and increasing markets number. outputs from this study can provide decision makers with valuable data that help them to ensure achieving of sustainable management within study area.