Determining Major Orchard (Pistachio, Olive, Vineyard) Areas in Gaziantep Province using Remote Sensing Techniques
Ediz Unal, Ali Mermer, Hakan Mete Dogan
Central Research Institute for Field Crops (CRIFC), GIS and RS Department
Address: Gayret Mah. Gulderen Sok. Ziraat Loj. No: 3, Yenimahalle, 06070 Ankara/TURKEY
edizunal@yahoo.com, amermer@hotmail.com, hmdogan@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
Land use and land cover characteristics of an area supply important information for decision-makers in many disciplines. One of
these areas is agriculture that obtains the benefits of these kinds of spatial information in order to plan future production effectively
and efficiently. On the other hand, collecting, compiling, managing, analyzing, and displaying the field data are cumbersome duties
without spatial understanding. In this study, remote sensing was employed to evaluate spatial data of Gaziantep which is one of the
most important provinces of Turkey considering the agricultural activities and its contribution to national economy. Pistachio, grape,
olive, maize and cotton constitute the main production areas in Gaziantep. Consequently, land use map that shows spatial
distribution and amount of area in different activities is very important for agricultural planners, importers, and exporters in this
province. Depending on the request and funding of the Governorship of Gaziantep Province, this project was developed and applied
by the Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Department (GISRSD) of Central Research Institute for Field Crops
(CRIFC) between the years 2000 and 2001. Land use maps for main agricultural activities were produced by using coordinated field
data and LANDSAT-7 ETM images. The satellite images belong to two different periods have been evaluated with the ground truth
data collected by Global Positioning System (GPS). Field data were collected for three main groups which are (1) agriculture (field
and orchard), (2) forest-pasture, and (3) non-agricultural. The area statistics obtained from the image classification have been given
on county base in this paper.
Key Words: Agriculture, Geographic Information Systems, Land Use, Pistachio, Remote Sensing,
1. Introduction agriculture in the economical structure of city can not be
ignored.
The location of Gaziantep province can be defined as 30° 28'
and 30° O1' longtitude, and 36° 38' and 37" 32' north latitude. When compared with past years, it can be seen that the
Gaziantep is located at the place where Mediterranean and agricultural share in national income is decreasing gradually.
Southeastern Anatolia meet. Majority of the land of Gaziantep Despite of this, it is obvious that agriculture will maintain its
takes part in southeastern Anatolia. Gaziantep has an area that important role in meeting the nutrition requirements of the
covers 6216 square kilometers. The mean altitude is 850 meters increasing population.
above sea level but it ranges between 250 and 1250 meters.
Approximately 52% of the total area covered by mountains and Determination of the quantity and dispersion of current
27% of total area is plains. The mountains in the area are the agricultural areas will play an important role in better planning
extension of the southeastern Toros range. The mountains of all kinds of agricultural activities. The collection of statistical
surrounding the western portion of the province line up nicely data which belong to agricultural areas of Turkey has been
and separate Gaziantep province from the Hatay- conducted by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs.
Kahramanmaras depression. Gaziantep has been located in the These studies are generally being done according to the
transition zone of Mediterranean and Continental climates. declarations of farmers because of the absence of the cadastral
While the north part of city is displaying the impacts of records. For this reason, there are sometimes great differences
continental climate, the south parts have the characteristics between statistics and real situations.
Mediterranean climate. Generally summers are hot and arid,
winters are mild and rainy. Also, the existence of the olive trees At present, developing technology with remote sensing
in south part of city denotes that the Mediterranean climate has techniques has been extended into various areas including
its impact in some certain zones. The annual average agriculture. Remote sensing technique is simply based on the
temperature is 14,4° C and average rain amount is around 500 perceiving of the electromagnetic energy from earth surface by
kg/m”. These geographical and climatic properties of the city the sensors at satellites and then its evaluation in computer
allow a great variety in agricultural products. A great deal of environment. Consequently, lots of information about the
garden products, cereals and industrial plants have been physical structure of earth surface can be easily obtained and
produced in the city. According to type of soil and climatic updated. The usage of remote sensing in agriculture sector has
attributes, some plants such as pea nuts, olive and vineyard found a wide working area. In collecting data, usage of remote
have been forming the coverage areas in some certain zones. sensing techniques in addition to traditional methods can
provide more accuracy and speed.
Gaziantep, located on a wide and fertile plain cultivated with
extensive olive groves and vineyards, produces a variety of The accurate information about agricultural areas and
agricultural crops. It is especially known throughout Turkey for agricultural production is essential for Ministry of Agriculture
its excellent pistachios. Consequently, the importance of and Rural Affairs as well as decision makers in other sectors.
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