Urban expansion and loss of agricultural land - a GIS based study of Saharanpur City, India

Abstract

This paper uses remote sensing (aerial photographs and satellite images) combined with field checks and surveys to measure the loss of agricultural land to urban expansion in Saharanpur City between 1988 and 1998. It shows how such techniques allow a detailed mapping of land use changes and includes details of the location of the agricultural land losses, the nature of the land use changes that caused these and the quality of the agricultural land that was lost. The paper also describes which non agricultural land uses were responsible for most of the agricultural land losses and discusses what these findings imply for India and for other nations where urbanization is reducing the supply of high quality agricultural land.