Using Geospatial Techniques to assess the Salinity Impact on Agricultural Landuse: a study on Shyamnagar Upazila, Satkhira

Abstract

The research attempts to know the present extent of salinity and how much agricultural land has reduced gradually during last one decade in the study area. The collected soil samples were analyzed with different laboratory techniques. Plot to plot survey was conducted by using satellite image and ArcGIS10v was used to detect the agricultural land use change and soil salinity zoning map. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by applying different methods like Focus Group Discussion (FGD), checklist, in-depth interview and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and finally these collected data were analyzed and presented. The present studies found that salinity exist in every portion of the study area which has fallen into moderate to highly saline zone categories. The research also found that the agricultural land use in the study area has been reducing gradually due to salinity. The study area has an area of 8018.666 hectare of which 15.1% is agricultural land and it was 24.52% before 10 years. Overall, the agricultural land is decreasing at the rate of 0.942% per year.