Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011
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SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 Technical Dossier AGRICULTURE CHANGE ASSESMENT 2006 – 2010/2011 Yemen – Sa’ada Governorate Agriculture change assessment was carried out by comparison of imagery from 2006 (situation in normal year without fighting) and 2010/2011 (situation after the 6 th war). Extent of agriculture land and changes of managed / cultivated agriculture land were identified for western part of Sa’ada governorate. GMES Emergency Response Service SAFER Activation No. SFR20110118_2 © GISAT 2011 - 1 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. 218802. - 2 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................4 2 AREA OF INTEREST..............................................................................................................5 3 SATELLITE DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION...........................................................9 3.1 BASELINE SATELLITE DATA .................................................................................................9 3.2 ANCILLARY SATELLITE DATA .............................................................................................10 3.3 ANCILLARY DATA .............................................................................................................10 3.4 PROCESSING STEPS .........................................................................................................11 4 RESULTS ..............................................................................................................................13 4.1 OVERVIEW FOR THE SA’ADA GOVERNORATE - AGRICULTURE LAND STATUS .......................13 4.2 OVERVIEW FOR THE SA’ADA GOVERNORATE - MANAGED AGRICULTURE LAND CHANGE ....16 4.3 AL DHAHER DISTRICT .......................................................................................................19 4.4 AS SAFRA DISTRICT ..........................................................................................................23 4.5 GHAMR DISTRICT ............................................................................................................27 4.6 HAYDAN DISTRICT ...........................................................................................................31 4.7 MAJZ DISTRICT ................................................................................................................35 4.8 RAZEH DISTRICT ..............................................................................................................39 4.9 SAHAR DISTRICT ..............................................................................................................43 4.10 SAQAYN DISTRICT .........................................................................................................47 4.11 SHADA’A DISTRICT ........................................................................................................51 5 ANNEX................................................................................................................................55 5.1 VECTOR PRODUCTS ..........................................................................................................55 5.2 MAP PRODUCTS ..............................................................................................................57 5.3 BASELINE SATELLITE DATA ................................................................................................59 6 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................61 - 3 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 1 INTRODUCTION Since early 2004, the militant reBels Al-Houthi are in armed conflict with the Yemeni army and government- Backed triBal fighters in Yemen’s governorate Sa’ada. Up to now, six rounds of armed conflicts took place whereas the 6th and latest one lasted from August 2009 until FeBruary 2010. 2004: First outBreak 2005: Second outBreak 2007: Third outBreak 2008: Fourth outBreak 2009-2010: Fifth outBreak 2010: Sixth outBreak Year 2006 could Be considered as normal year without fighting with respect to the conflict time scale indicated aBove. Humanitarian community requires a state of play of the agriculture recovery after the 6th war in Yemen in the whole Sa'ada Governorate in order to visualize the impact of the war on livelihood and to plan contingency. Satellite imagery was utilized to analyze the coverage of agriculture land and cultivation activities (e.g. sowing ) comparing the Baseline of a normal year (2006) and after the 6th war (August 2009 - FeBruary 2010) according to the agriculture calendar. - 4 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 2 AREA OF INTEREST The area of interest is the Sa’ada governorate in north-western Yemen. Fig. 2.1: Area of interest (AOI) overview After preliminary agriculture mask analysis the area of interest was reduced to cover 13 of 15 Sa’ada districts where more than 95% of district’s araBle land is situated and where fighting was the most intensive in recent years. According to [1] districts Al-Hashwah and Kitaf wa Al-Boqe’e are under control of triBes that are not involved into conflict among Al-Huthis and government forces. Forms of agriculture activities, size and shape of fields and crops Being cultivated in the Sa’ada governorate depend on various factors. These include Both natural ones, such as: distance from the sea affecting rainfall, orography - altitude, slope and exposition; and human related factors, such as: irrigation, consumption demand, access to markets, armed conflict etc. Both aforementioned variaBle factors together with geographic and temporal distriBution of rainfall affect harvesting cycle respective to each crop and vegetative phase of natural vegetation. In terms of natural conditions the Sa’ada governorate represents variaBle area with rough mountainous western part, central plateau with relatively high altitude and desert east. Rainfall is distriButed very unevenly – the highest in the western mountains with annual precipitation 500 – 800 mm, declines reasonaBly towards east and nort-east with 200 – 300 mm in area of Sa’ada capital city and the lowest in the easternmost part of the province receiving less than 100 mm rainfall annually. Figure 2.2 present the Basic division (livelihood zones) of the Sa’ada governorate taking in account aBove mentioned factors and examples of variaBility of agriculture land. - 5 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 Source: Image chips courtesy of Google Fig. 2.2: Definite AOI, orography and crop zonality of Sa’ada governorate - 6 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 Sa’ada Governorate – Administrative Districts Num Altitude District of Num of Sub Area Min Max Range Mean Code* Name cities* villages* villages* [km2] [m] [m] [m] [m] 2201 Baqim 1 64 179 1156 1318 2747 1429 2047 2202 Qatabir 1 40 270 188 1410 2699 1289 2079 2203 Monabbih 1 58 1027 432 454 2723 2269 1326 2204 Ghamr 0 62 112 175 568 2557 1989 1512 2205 Razeh 2 150 874 233 328 2694 2366 1421 2206 Shada'a 0 38 231 67 270 1327 1057 601 2207 Al-Dhaher 1 31 503 197 242 1117 875 515 2208 Haydan 1 88 690 569 454 2662 2208 1671 2209 Saqayn 1 279 297 534 690 2811 2121 2216 2210 Majz 2 51 284 922 1049 2874 1825 2100 2211 Sahar 1 117 343 742 1460 2627 1167 1963 2212 As-Safra 0 95 304 1607 1548 2308 760 1866 2213 Al-Hashwah 0 45 136 427 1388 2365 977 1733 Kitaf wa Al- 2214 Boqe’e 1 87 351 5192 1075 2325 1250 1593 2215 Sa’ada 0 7 29 27 1854 2060 206 1913 Total 12 1212 5630 12466 * According to the final results of 2004 census from "Statistical yearbook 2008, Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation, Republic of Yemen, July 2009" in Saliba, R. (2010): Preliminary Report on affected districts following the Conflict in Sa’ada Governorate. UNHCR Tab. 2.1: Sa’ada governorate - administrative districts According to the [2] the province area Belongs to 2 of 15 livelihood zones of Yemen: Zone 9 and Zone 12 as indicated in the TaBles 2.2 and 2.3. Each zone differs in terms of crops, their harvesting cycle and numBer and length of rainy seasons. Source: Yemen - Livelihood Zones (2010). USAID Tab. 2.2: Zone 9 - Sa’ada Irrigated Wheat, Fruit, Vegetables, Qua and Livestock - 7 - SAFER Activation ID: SFR20110118_2 Technical Dossier © GISAT, June 2011 Source: Yemen - Livelihood Zones (2010). USAID Tab. 2.3: Zone 12 – Western central Highland Coffee, Qat, Sorghum and Livestock Regardless geographic location prevailing mode of agriculture is intensive cultivation. In the east and the north east field pattern is quite distinct compared to sandy Bare soil in vicinity. This is due to arid character of climate and consequent lack of natural vegetation. In relatively more humid areas in the west part of the area, natural vegetation occurs in form of permanent shruBs, groves and thickets Between fields which make identification of cultivated areas consideraBly more difficult. More, during rainy season the land seems to Be covered By low grass there as indicated in the Figure 3. Fig. 2.3: Time series base on MODIS 16-day NDVI composites.