"A GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF AGRICULTURAL LANDUSE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN JIROFT WATERSHED, IRAN"

Transcription

1 ABSTRACT "A GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF AGRICULTURAL LANDUSE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN JIROFT WATERSHED, IRAN" Submitted to University of Pune For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Submitted by Ahmad Pahlavanravi Research Student Department of Geography University of Pune, Pune (India) Under the Supervision of Professor. B. C. Vaidya Department of Geography University of Pune, Pune (India) April-2007

2 1.1 INTRODUCTION Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors in Iran. It contributes twenty percent of national income (GDP) involving 23.4 percent of total employment, 80 per cent of domestic food requirements and more than one-third of non-oil exports. Agriculture is also major occupation employing 70 percent of total population in rural areas and is still continue as main source of livelihood of human being inspite of growing industrialization and urbanization. Agriculture is an outcome of the combination of both physical and socio-economic factors. The significance of agriculture is therefore indeed unique and wide ranging. Iran has always pursued food security by providing adequate and safe food for all, as a major priority. In this respect, the Third Five Year Development Plain has given priority on the improvement of food security through enhancing domestic production. Even then, the process of agricultural growth has not been properly channelized due to imbalance allocation of resources, unavailability of basic infrastructure and uneven and uncertain rainfall. The present investigation has an attempt to study the agriculture landuse and planning of Jiroft watershed in Kerman Province. The region has not been so far studied from agriculture landuse planning point of view. This treatise further makes an indepth study of both general and agricultural landuse in Jiroft watershed and identifies related problems for better landuse study and planning. 1.2 STUDY AREA Jiroft watershed is situated in south central part in Kerman province extends from ' 9 to ' 30 north latitudes and '32 to '5 east longitudes covering square kilometers area. Population density of Jiroft watershed is 16.4 persons per square kilometer (1996 Census). Administratively, this watershed has divided into 21 rural districts and it is consisting of 1236 revenue villages and two urban settlements. The region falls under scarcity rainfall zone and experiences typically mediterranean climate. Seventy two percent of rainfall receives in winter (from December to April).The summer (from June to September) to is hot 1

3 and has dryness it receives one per cent of total rainfall. Rainfall ranges from 157mm in central and south parts and more than 350 mm in the north parts in study region. Mediterranean cyclone generally commences in December and receives highest rainfall in January (79.3 mm) and lowest in July (less than 1 mm). The highest temperature is observed in July ( centigrades) and lowest in January(7 0 C centigrades) in Jiroft Station. Jiroft watershed by applying Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been divided into four physiographical zones, namely, highland, moderate highland, piedmont and alluvial fans and alluvial plain which have different physical characteristics such as rainfall, temperature, soil, and land use/land cover patterns. The highland consists of mountainous and hilly area. Cliffs in the highland zone on all sides of the watershed are very steep (>30 percent), slope is towards central and south. Geological formation of Jiroft watershed is complex in both stratigraphically and structurally. The rocks range in age probably from Paleozoic to recent time (Holocene). There are five major soil types, namely, lithosols, calcareous and sierozem soils in moderate elevation zone, coarse textured colluvial and regosols soils in piedmont and alluvial fans, fine textured alluvial soil and slonchak and solonetz in Jiroft plain in central and south-central parts occupying 42.5 percent, 30.2 percent, 22.5 percent, 2.3 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. The Lithosols soil has confined to north east and southeast parts, calcareous and sierozem soils lying in west part, coarse textured colluvial and regosols soil lie in central part in Jiroft plain and in Esfandagheh plain in west part, which play a vital role in feeding of groundwater in study region, fine textured Alluvial soils laying in central part and slonchak and solonetz has spreaded in southcentral part in Jiroft watershed. The data regarding general and agricultural landuse were collected for ten years( to ).The general landuse consist of five categories namely, net sown area, forest cover, pasture, fallow land, and land not available for cultivation. Different landuse categories have different fluctuation some of them have increased in study period (Net sown area, land not available for cultivation) and area of others have decreased(pasture, 2

4 forest, fallow land). Total net sown area was hectares in Orange, date, wheat, potato, and cucumber, are major crops in Jiroft watershed. Irrigation is only the way for rising crop production per unit area. HaliliRud, and Shur rivers, deep wells, ducts(ghanat) and springs are the main sources of water in the study region. Extensive cropping pattern is possible in Jiroft plain throughout the year because of greenhouse production systems, assured irrigation facilities and due to well distributed of ground water availability during crop season. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The present research work has been attempted to make an indepth and comprehensive study of agriculture landuse, its planning and development of Jiroft watershed by evaluating following objectives: 1) Examining the physical background. 2) Studying the general and agricultural landuse. 3) Identifying crop combination and diversification regions. 4) Establishing the relationship between landuse and environmental variables. 5) Suggesting remedial measures for better agricultural landuse planning and development for Jiroft watershed 1.4 DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY The present study was based on primary and secondary sources. The published sources, namely, Iranian Statistical Center, Ministry of Jahad-e- Agriculture, Soil and Water Research Institute, Agricultural Services Centers of Jiroft watershed, Iranian Meteorological Organization, Agricultural Jahad-e- Organization of Jiroft watershed, National Gazetteer of Kerman province, Iranian Remote Sensing Center, Iranian Surveying Organization, Iranian Geographical Organization, General Office of Natural Resources of Kerman province, Department of Irrigation, Ground water Survey and Development of Jiroft city. The crops data which collected for 21 rural district from to 3

5 have used in temporal landuse study in study region. Crops data for spatial landuse pattern is related to The biophysical parameters were obtained from different maps or digital database containing information on soil condition, relief, vegetation, climate and personal fieldwork. The collected data could be implemented in Geographical Information System (GIS) and related technologies (e.g., remote sensing, global position system) have proven to be a valuable tool in land use planning activities. GIS Technique, Remote sensing data and aerial photographs have been used for mapping of Digital Elevation Model, slope, drainage, geology, landuse/land cover maps. Global Position System (GPS) is applied in intensive filed work of sample villages. For delineating crop region, crop ranking, crop combination and crop diversification methods have been employed in present study. Rafiullah's crop combination technique was applied to compute crop combination regions and Gibb's Martins Index was applied to show diversification of crops. Enyedi's and Bhatia s methods were chosen to compute crop productivity for Jiroft watershed. Finally compared these two methods. The data obtained for five leading crops were used to delineate the crop productivity Finally the spatial distribution of productivity for every crop was computed, mapped, and interpreted for study region. Further landuse pattern was studied for selected variables by applying correlation coefficient, multiple regression and Factor Analysis techniques. Twenty three variables are carefully selected to assess the relationship for correlation coefficient in study area. Lastly problems of landuse have been identified and suggestions were given for better planning and development of agriculture landuse in Jiroft watershed. Primary data have obtained of these six sample villages have collected personally through questionnaires. The questionnaires cover aspects like crop landuse, farmer s education, income from various sources and problems regarding agriculture and allied sectors. The spatial and temporal aspects of general and agricultural landuse were studied indepthly for selected sample villages. The village level data regarding landuse and agricultural landuse were converted into percentage 4

6 and shown in maps of concerned villages. Suitable diagrams and graphs have depicted for showing landuse pattern. Further, the data obtained regarding six sample villages was used to delineate the crop productivity for entire Jiroft watershed. 1.5 ARRANGEMENT OF THE TEXT The proposed study has been arranged into eleven chapters. The opening chapter put fourths objectives of study, data base and methodology, arrangement of text, limitations and problems of study area. The chapter second has attempted to present the review of literature and researches on landuse and land-cover patterns. The third chapter has tried to present the physical setting in Jiroft watershed with respect to location, physiography, climate, drainage, geology, soil, and natural vegetation. Fourth chapter is related to the socio-economic profile i.e. population and occupational structure, transportation linkages, market centers, land holding and irrigation. The chapter fifth has unfolded the spatio-temporal analysis of general landuse study, volume of change from 1993 to 2002 for the net sown area, land not available for cultivation, fallow land, pasture and forest covers in Jiroft watershed. The chapter sixth has investigated the agricultural landuse pattern of fifteen selected crops with spatio-temporal variations in study area. The chapter seventh has studied crop regions by applying techniques like crop ranking, crop combination and crop diversification. The chapter eight has studied the crop productivity of Jiroft watershed on the basis of productivity values obtained for sample villages. The chapter ninth has computed the relationship between selected landuse and environmental variables. This chapter has further studied by applying correlation coefficient, multiple regression and Factor Analysis. The chapter tenth of this thesis epitomized the intensive and detailed study of general landuse and agricultural landuse of six selected sample villages, namely, Dosari, Dask, Sadabad, Mohammadabad Ferdows, and Aliabad by the purposive stratified random sampling technique and finally to find out the problems and its solution for better planning due to physiography, climatic conditions, soil 5

7 types, irrigation and transportation facilities, existing cropping patterns and population density four regions namely, south-central, central, west and north and eastern have been identified in Jiroft watershed. The chapter eleven summarizes the summary and findings. The suggestions for better planning and development was further made for Jiroft watershed. The summery and major findings of Jiroft watershed are as below : Jiroft watershed consists of plain and mountainous parts in Kerman province of Iran. The north, east and west parts of study area have mountainous sloping towards central and south parts (Jiroft plain). Slopes range from five per cent in central to more than forty per cent in north and east parts ( Bar-e-Asman and Jabal-e-Barez mountains). Jiroft watershed has five major soil types, namely, lithosols in highland zone, calcareous and sierozem soils in moderate elevation zone, coarse textured colluvial and regosols soils in piedmonts and alluvial fans, fine textured alluvial soils and slonchak and solonetz in Jiroft plain in central and south-central parts occupying 42.5 percent, 30.2 percent, 22.5 percent, 2.3 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. The study region is served by national road (main paved road) runs north-south direction within the study area linking major county roads and other rural district roads. The length of national road is kilometers linking other cities likes Bam, Baft, Rabar and Sirjan in Kerman province. Drift road linked villages to Jiroft and AnbarAbad cities with 1280 kilometers length. There are two permanent market centres, namely, Jiroft national and local markets which provide market services to this region. Population density within region shows uneven distribution. Central and south-central parts shows higher density (49 persons) because of urbanization, industrialization and where transport linkages are developed. Low density areas are confined to the north, west and east parts in mountainous areas. Net sown area of Jiroft watershed was recorded hectares in 1993 which has increased upto hectares in The net sown area increased by 1.2 per cent due to increasing irrigation facilities and more water 6

8 availability. Fallow land shows decreasing trend (0.9 per cent) as increasing land under cultivation. Jiroft watershed had hectares area under forest in 1993 which was hectares in It has indicated slight decline of 1.7 percent in study area. Jiroft watershed was witness 10.1 per cent increase for land not available for cultivation and 8.6 percent decreases for pastures from 1993 to Leading crops are, namely, orange, date, wheat, potato, walnut, tomato, onion, and cucumber. Orange is dominating crop occupying percent to net sown area in Jiroft watershed. This crop is concentrated in central and south-central parts. Date occupies second position on 16.2 percent area confining to Jiroft plain in south and south parts in irrigated area. Wheat concentrates in west and north and southwest parts in study area occupying 12.5 percent to net sown area on calcareous, lithosols and regosols soils. Potato, tomato, cucumber and onion are cash crops have cultivated in winter and summer seasons on 5177, 3887, 4174 and 3238 hectares respectively. These crops area spreaded all over the region on deep and fine textured alluvial soil. Walnut is winter crop is grown on calcareous and lithosols in highland zone in north part of the region. Barley, corn, and alfalfa as fodder crops have cultivated on 3.76, 2.68 and 3.05 per cent to net sown area respectively. Watermelon and vegetables as summer crops are cultivated on 1411 and 1071 hectares on fine textured alluvial soil in central part in Jiroft watershed. Crop ranking reveals relative strength of crop percent at rural district level. Among fifteen crops, orange, date, lemon, walnut, wheat and potato are first ranking crops. orange has highest coverage in eight rural districts on 25.5 percent area followed by date in five districts on percent. Lemon crop has cultivated in three districts. Walnut and wheat crops have cultivated in two rural districts on and 29.3 percent area respectively. Potato has cultivated in one district accounting 1.3 percent area. Rafiullah's method of crop combination has identified three major crop combination regions in Jiroft watershed. Monoculture has observed in sixteen rural districts and occupied 67 per cent of total area. Date, orange, lemon, walnut and wheat crops 7

9 entered in monoculture. Two crop combinations in study region has confined in west, north, central and south-central parts on four districts covering 31.7 per cent. Whereas only one rural districts (1.3 per cent) has found three crop combination namely, potato, orange and date in central part. Gibb's Martin's Index of crop diversification has been applied to compute the degree of competition of crops. In Jiroft watershed has found low, high and moderate diversification. High crop diversification has found in central, southern, and southeastern parts covering (60.88 percent) cropped area. The moderate crop diversification has appeared on percent area in central, north, and western parts. The low crop diversification has confined in two rural districts on 3.96 percent of cropped area. This diversification has indicated less competition among cultivated crops in Jiroft watershed on coarse textured lithosols soil with sever erosion along Shur river. Due to Enyedi s and Bhatia s crop Indexes the productivity of orange is highest (103.5 and ) in central, east and southern parts. Where as lowest productivity ( and 81.08) is recorded in west part. Both methods shows that the productivity decreases towards north and west due to low soil fertility, and hilly terrain. This region dose not shows development of transportation network and irrigation facility. In central south and southeastern parts, the highest productivity in date has found due to warm climate, plain terrain, population density and development of transportation promotes date productivity in this region, whereas north, west and east respectively have low productivity of date due to climate, soil, hilly terrain and poor development of transportation network. Highest productivity of wheat (120.4 and ) has observed in the west due to favorable climate coarse textured alluvial and colluvial soils it is generally grown over alluvial and lithosols soils with plain terrain and irrigation facility There is decreasing trend of wheat productivity from west to north and south central parts. Lowest productivity is recorded in east part (79.75 and 82.26) due to hilly terrain and unproductive soil. Potato is one of the winter cash crop, cultivated in the open field. Potato indicates highest productivity in south central part ( and 91.67) in the belt of fertile alluvium soil, transportation and ground water 8

10 irrigation facility. The productivity of potato decreasing towards west and east parts due to low productivity soil in hilly terrain less population density, lack of irrigation and transportation facilities. Unlike potato, onion is winter cash crop taken in the south-central part of Jiroft watershed. The productivity decreases to east part due to hilly terrain and unfertile soil where transportation is not properly developed. Central and southwestern parts indicates highest productivity of onion i.e and due to fine alluvial soil, irrigation facility and development of good transportation network. The local and national markets are situated in Jiroft city which is close to this onion cultivating belt. Quantitative techniques have used to uncover the relationship between crop landuse and environmental variables in Jiroft watershed. Twenty three variables are carefully selected to assess the relationship for correlation coefficient in the study area. The area under orange display moderate positive correlation with average slope (0.466) which indicates the areas with gentle slopes are only selected for orange orchards. Orange shows moderate negative correlation with area under wheat (-0.466), potato (-0.258), tomato ( ), cucumber(-0.354) and date (-0.303). The spatial distribution of potato is closely associated with the area under fallow land (0.769). Area under potato has negative correlation with average slope (-0.290). The areal extent of cucumber shows positive correlation with tomato (0.832) date (0.589) net sown area (0.714) mean annual temperature (0.681) population density (0.561) and yield of date (0.592).The spatial distribution of walnut is largely associated with agriculture density (0.627), mean annual rainfall (0.797), average slope (0.550) and forest (0.532). The area under date exhibit strong positive correlation with yield of date (0.81), mean annual temperature (0.717) and net sown area (0.623), cucumber (0.589) and tomato (0.646). The net sown area exhibit positive correlation with tomato (0.759), cucumber (0.714), date (0.623) population density (0.878), follow land (0.495), mean annual temperature (0.68) and yield of date (0.649). The multiple regression reveals the relationship with strong correlated variables. The variable net sown area has given high multiple correlation 9

11 value of for the area under study. In this regression set variables like, tomato. Cucumber, date, population density, fallow land, pasture, slope, mean annual temperature are included. Multiple regression analysis shows only net sown area has high degree of association with date. The variable area under tomato has given high multiple correlation value for the study watershed. In this regression set variables like, cucumber, date, net sown area, forest, population density, slope, mean annual temperature, mean annual rainfall and yield of date were included. The area under potato has given high multiple correlation value of for the study region. In this regression set variables like, net sown area, fallow land and population density were included. In the present study, Factor Analysis, a quantitative technique has been employed to search for common variances with that of other variables in the analysis. Twentyone observations and eighteen variables (21x18) were computed. The first two Factors (Factor-I & II) are geographically plotted to show concentration of interrelated variables in Jiroft watershed. Accordingly Four Factors have identified. Factor-I. This Factor traces about 38.5 percent variances in the study area and has closer to tomato and it shared loading is Factor-II This Factor account 20.1 percent of variance in present study. This Factor shows high loading on mean annual temperature having loading. Factor-III This new factors accounts 11.6 percent of explained variance and this has high loading on two variables, namely, area under wheat and yield of wheat having and loading respectively. Factor-IV. This factor account for 8.8 percents of explained variances and is closer to yield of orange. These six sample villages are, namely, SadAbad, Dossari, Aliabd, Ferdows, MohammadAbad and Dask. Among these villages Dosari is the famous because of area, net sown area, crops and total population. Dosari village has highest geographical area as compared other villages covering hectares whereas lowest total geographical area was found at Dask village hectares which is situated in east parts. Orange, date, wheat, potato and tomato are the major crops of these villages which occupied

12 per cent of total nets sown area. Orange has first rank because of net sown area ( hectares ) followed bay date (786.9 hectares). Highest net sown area of orange (525 hectares) is found in SadAbad village in south-central part. Fertile soil and developed irrigation system are positive points for increasing the area under cultivation of orange in this village. Highest area under cultivation of Date is identified in Dosari village in lowland area whereas lowest area of this crop is seen in highland zone, namely, MohamadAbad, Dask, Ferdows in north, east and west parts respectively resulting of cold and unfavour climatic conditions. Wheat occupied highest net sown area in Dosari in south-central (288.3 hectares) which followed by Ferdows village (212.7 hectares) in west per cent of Potato, tomato and cucumber as vegetable crops are cultivated Dosari, sadabad and AliAbad villages in south and south-east parts in Jiroft watershed. Groundwater ( Deep well, spring, ducts) is the main resource of irrigation of these villages in summer and winter season as well. Coarse shallow soil, land not available for cultivation, lack of suitable transportation network, local markets, low labour force and scarcity of water availability are the major problems of Dask, MohammadAbad and Ferdown villages in highland area. Highest population density is found in Aliabad in south central part with persons per square kilometer whereas population density of Ferdows is 22.6 persons per square kilometers in west part. The problems have been identified in sample villages in highland region is lack of irrigation, transportation, and marketing facilities, scarcity of areable land, low population density and shortage of labours and credit facility. Whereas in lowland region in central part mostly farmers faced with cost of labours, insufficient of credit facility, lack of marketing and uncertain market price, lack of greenhouse equipment and agricultural implements. Accordingly to find out the problems and its solution for better planning due to physiography, climatic conditions, soil types, irrigation and transportation facilities, existing cropping patterns and population density four region have been identified in Jiroft watershed, namely, south-central, central, west, and north-east regions. South-central region extends along the HalilRud river on deep fertile alluvial soils covering 11

13 an area of hectares (10 per cent to total area). The problems of this region are, Stalinization produced by Overirrigation is the main problem resulting low soil productivity on solonchak and solonetz soils in southern part in this region. Mismatching of standing cropped lands with the determined land suitability classes in 60 per cent of total net sown area. lake of marketing planning and storage systems resulting unreliable price for agricultural productions. Farmers face problems of inadequate supply of fertilizers. Central region consists of piedmonts and alluvial fans covers 35.3 per cent to total area. Shortage of water availability and Irrigation facility and low productivity are tow main problems resulting low agricultural product. This area served inaccessible transportation network. Lake of market centers, shortage of agricultural implements and fertilizers are another problem that restricts setting of agricultural product. North and eastern region (Highland zone). Rugged topography caused scarcity of agricultural land (3.8 per cent to total area). This region is located in remote area from Jiroft and AnbarAbad cities, hence inaccessibility of transport network and lake of central market are another problems which effects on agricultural product. Low population density and lack of labours is found in this area. Undulating of terrain and mall land holding is another problem which has negative effects using machinery in the farms. Western region (Esfandagheh district) is the one of the backward area which falls in scarcity rainfall zone. Agricultural sector in this region suffers from insufficiency of water, soil salinization on arable lands, low population density and lack of labours, inaccessibility of transport network and lake of market centers. Shortage of agricultural implements and fertilizers are another problem that restricts setting of agricultural product. Traditional landuse systems is another problem, in this area. The planning of land use and development for Jiroft watershed should be based on past and existing landuse and arising problems. The studied text has examined thoroughly for Jiroft watershed and has found to some extent needs to re-plan for better landuse. Thus, Jiroft watershed can be well developed by making proper planning of landuse by introducing fallowing suggestions: 12

14 In order to watershed management and prevent soil erosion in steep slopes and cropped lands measures should be taken to increase the soil productivity in area under cultivation. In order to obtain the optimum yield per hectare, irrigation systems will be improved and, by harnessing the available water and regulating its flow through the construction of irrigation networks, control of surface water and constriction of Qanats to increasing water requirement for standing crops and bringing new land under cultivation. In order to solving soil salinity comprehensive investigation is require by the government to conduct a soil survey based on the geopedologic approach in order to determine soil properties and the relevant land qualities spacially in highland zones. Animal husbandry and dairy activities can be extended rather than existing to supplement the agriculture. The facility of bank loan to poor farmers be provided by government to purchase agricultural implement, fertilizer, labour force etc. Training sessions be conducted to farmers to proper use of land seeds, fertilizer, irrigation systems and other agricultural implement. Crop insurance is necessary to encourage farmers to increase area under cultivation. Promoting off-farm income generating activity for the farmers and their relatives. Utilization of possibilities that may be providing by the reclamation of new land, provision of facilities, in particular, Walnut, date, barley and corn to some extent can be replaced by summer crops with considering soil types and irrigation facility within the study region. Two market centers are located in Jiroft city in central part of study area and rest part has found lacking and therefore it is proposed to have 10 market centers in west (Esfandagheh), north(delfard), north-east,(maskun) northwest(sarduyieh), east(amjaz), south(jahadabad), southeast(nargesan), southwest(esmaili), central (Halil) and south-central (AnbarAbad city) parts through out Jiroft watershed in order to collect and distributing agricultural commodities of surrounding region in Jiroft watershed. There is need to construct linking roads to National highway to mobilize agricultural commodities. linking markets roads from field and storages houses for the storage surplus irrigation commodities likes Date, orange, potato, tomato, onion, cucumber and lemon. Marketing Planning for production, consideration 13

15 actual and potential consumption of what may be produce is another recommendation to increasing agricultural product Conclusion Remarks Jiroft watershed falls in scares rainfall zone in Kerman province in Iran. This area has encircled by mountain range and this study area receives less rainfall from millimeters annually. Even then this region is endowed with water as source taken from under ground. This is a main source for irrigating the land for cultivation of the region. It is surprising that this region has more than 90 per cent land under irrigation and produces orange, date, cucumber, tomato, watermelon, vegetable crops, walnuts, onion, melon barely, wheat and potato. The modern irrigation system using green house in the field the crops through out the year. The production of some crops are taken surplus in the region which are locally consumed and supply to surrounding states in Iran and some time in abroad too. Most of the villages have hundred per cent irrigation for cultivation these crops. Thus, this region has supplemented irrigation for landuse properly. Despite less rainfall receiving through out the year region attracts by the planners agriculturists, farmers to look into the landuse of the region. From this point of view, the study of landuse planning and its development is top priority in this present study for better agriculture crop and yields. Thus there is a ample scope for its expansion and intensification by introducing modern irrigation system and other inputs in the fields in Jiroft watershed. (Dr. B.C. Vaidya ) (Ahmad Pahlavanravi ) Guide Ph.D Student Professor in Geography University of Pune 14