Biotech Studies 2010, Vol 19, Num, 1-2     (Pages: 001-010)

Assessment of Topography Effects on Identification of Hazelnut Orchards in Giresun Province by Remote Sensing and Determination of Suitability for Alternative Crops

Ediz ÜNAL 1 ,Metin AYDOĞDU 1 ,Nihal CEYLAN 1 ,Arzu SEZER 2 ,Nedim ÖZENÇ 2 ,Ömür DUYAR 2

1 Tarla Bitkileri Merkez Araştırma Enstitüsü
2 Giresun Fındık Araştırma Enstitüsü
- In the frame of Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP) financed by World Bank, a regulation numbered 5495 and concerning the planning of the hazelnut production and determining of planting areas and supporting the farmers who make a choice of alternative crop farming instead of hazelnut farming was put in to practice in 2003. According to this regulation, a total of 16.000 ha hazelnut growing areas located below 750 m altitude and categorized as first and second class of agricultural land and third class agricultural land having less than 6% slope should be abandoned for alternative crops. The followings are aimed in this study: Determination of hazelnut growing areas by using supervised classification method and of topography effects on classification, Determination of more suitable areas for alternative crop farming, developing a new tool for automatic segmentation of hazelnut parcels. The results indicate that, 71% of the study area, which is 14.600 ha, is covered by hazelnut. The area of orchards in project region is found 1500 ha, whose elevation and slope is 750 m and 6% respectively. When evaluated, in terms of ARIP project, there is no agricultural area available for alternative cropping. The average accuracy of supervised classification method used for determining hazelnut growing areas is found 79.41%. In terms of topography, the accuracy of classification method is affected by aspect and slope. Classification accuracy is found 86.67% and 82.35% in north and South aspects respectively. The highest classification accuracy, in terms of slope, is found for the areas which have slope of more than 30 percent. Keywords : Hazelnut, geographic information system, remote sensing, topography, alternative crops