Introducing an agricultural land capability framework for land reform beneficiaries

Abstract

This study incorporated remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS), and   geostatistics to assess land capability in two sites acquired through land reform   program. The relationships and interactions between components and parameters that are necessary for analysing the capability of agricultural land were investigated for an effective management system. The parameters taken into consideration were   biophysical environment (soil texture, organic matter content, soil depth etc.), socio-economic and policy. The primary data included climatic data and soil samples obtained at 1 m depth; the secondary data included satellite imagery, topographic map, and  agricultural statistics. The resulting land capability maps showed that the study areas have moderate to very high capability for summer crops. It is concluded that in order for land reform to contribute to sustainable livelihoods for land reform beneficiaries,   agricultural land capability study should be integrated in land reform policy before issuing land to land reform beneficiaries.

Keywords: land reform, land capability, remote sensing, GIS