Analysis of the effect of land consolidation projects in terms of land fragmentation and parcel shapes: the case of Konya, Turkey

Abstract

Agricultural land fragmentation and irregularity of parcel shapes are a structural land management problem that prevents the development of modern agriculture. Januszewski (JI) and Simmons (SI) indices are widely used to determine agricultural land parcel fragmentation. Shape index (SHI) and fractal dimension (FD) are also commonly used to evaluate parcel shapes. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the land consolidation project in terms of fragmentation and change of parcel shapes. The purpose of land consolidation projects is to ensure the optimum use of the land and to obtain maximum benefit. The success level of land consolidation projects should be evaluated. Therefore, changes of land parcel fragmentation and parcel shape changes before and after the LC were analyzed using Candir District project data. In addition, the effects of LC project on parcel shape and size, the effect on parcel boundaries, and the effect of change of the distance between parcels on fuel saving and changes due to irrigation were investigated. As a result, according to Januszewski and Simmons indices, the ratio of farm enterprise whose index values were less than 0.40 was 1.17% and 3.7% before the LC, respectively, and decreased to 0.6% and 2.3% after the LC. The obtained values showed that the land parcel fragmentation decreased in Candir District. In addition, the ratio of farm enterprises whose SHI were greater than 1.60, which implies non-uniform geometric parcel shapes, was 6.5% before the LC, but this ratio decreased to 5.8% after the LC. While the ratio of farm enterprises having parcels, which were non-uniform according to FD values, was 1.6% before the LC, this rate decreased to 0.9% after the LC. These results show that JI and SI indexes can be used in land consolidation projects. In addition, SHI and FD indices are generally parameters that can measure how close the parcel shapes are to the smooth geometric shapes, but they do not give successful results in each parcel. Finally, according to the results of the survey conducted with the farmers, the LC provided a significant economic gain to farm enterprise owners in this region.