Geophysical Evaluation of Agricultural Potential of Orlu and Environs Using Landsat Imagery

Abstract

The scarcity of food afflicting third-world countries, particularly Nigeria, case study Orlu zone, Imo State, Nigeria, is intolerable, given the high rate of environmental degradation in the form of erosions, nation’s poor economic state, insecurity, and extremely low per capita income of citizens, motivated this research. This research is tailored to a possible approach to combating the threat of food insecurity via geophysical investigation of agricultural potential areas and as well help in managing food insecurity ravaging the area, particularly in this post-COVID lockdown era. In this research, a geophysical approach—Landsat imagery and interpretation—was used to identify areas with high agricultural yielding potentials and how to exploit them for bumper agricultural harvests to sustain livelihood and alleviate the food crisis and food inflation ravaging the zone. Within the study area, the following data were collected: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) map, lineament map and drainage pattern map. They were interpreted, and areas with high agricultural yield potentials were mapped. Band ratios (3/4, 4/2, 3/1, 5/4) were generated to reduce the effects of shadowing and as well improve the features present. The NDVI values that indicate soil viability, generated within the study area range from –0.22 to 0.51.