REMOTE SENSING AND GIS APPLICATION IN AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONING IN YEMEN MOUNTAINS

摘要

Sustainable agricultural development requires a systematic effort towards the planning of land use activities in the most appropriate way, apart from several other institutional and policy programme initiatives. Agro-ecological zoning (AEZ) is one of the most important approaches for agricultural developmental planning because survival and failure of particular land use or farming system in a given region heavily relies on careful assessment of agro-climatic resources. This approach is used to categorize agro-climatically uniform geographical areas for agricultural developmental planning and other interventions. Modern tools such as satellite remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) have been providing newer dimensions to effectively monitor and manage land resources in an integrated manner for agro-ecological characterization. The application of AEZ is limited by lack of geospatial data, particularly in mountainous areas. This paper tries to demonstrate incorporation of new tools to extend applicability of AEZ in mountainous areas like Yemen Mountains, Yemen.