Analysis of the impacts of crop production on Environment : A case study of Nyeri County.

Abstract

Crop productions in Kenya have been increasing significantly due to an ever increasing human population. In my project therefore I determined the rate of crop production in Nyeri county and their significant environmental impacts. The physical environment interacts with crop production systems through crop growth, management operations and interactions between the crop and non-crop components. Interactions take place mainly through the media of microclimate, soil moisture and soil. Crop production has a particular potential to help check or reverse degradation of soil, forest and pasture resources. An environmental basis for crop production requires detailed information on climate, soils and for pastoral systems, vegetation, together with important basic, but less detailed, information on landforms, hydrology and fauna. An increasing crop production has led to a lot of pressure on existing land and natural resources due to an increased demand on land for production. Consequently, natural resources such as water, soil, air, forest cover and other vegetation cover have been influenced negatively and positively by the productions. I therefore used remote sensing and GIS techniques to analyze and quantify the extent of the crop production on such resources. Since Geographic Information Systems and Satellite Remote Sensing provide the integration platform for spatial analysis of production, extent of environmental impact and multiple solution approaches to the many environmental challenges posed by the crop production. The obtained results of the project was the production of maps showing the extent of production over years from 1987 to 2017. The satellite imageries specifically Landsat 7 TM, Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 helped to analyze the changes in LULC over years and significant changes in natural resources. The drivers of LULC changes that are human factors and external forces such as climatic factors were also quantified and their significant impacts on the environment. The research will therefore help the county government to plan on a sustainable management of crop production in the environment.