Geospatial analysis for developing agriculture of marshlands to support regional food security in the era of pandemic Covid-19 in HST Regency, Kalimantan Selatan

Abstract

Hulu Sungai Tengah (HST) Regency has a very large marshland in the South Kalimantan Province. Since 2019 HST is promoted to be a model for Indonesian local foods and agricultural development program, known as SERASI Program. SERASI stands for “Selamatkan Rawa dan Sejahterakan Petani” (or in English “save marshland and bring prosper to farmers”) that aimed to exploit marshland which was not productive yet. The SERASI will convert a non-productive caved swamp areas to a productive rice fields which able to support regional food security sustainably. In order to able define the suitable marshland area for SERASI Program in HST Regency precisely in the era of pandemic Covid-19, this research had been carried out by applying geospatial analyses method using Sentinel Satellite Imageries acquisitioned from two different epochs, i.e. of 20th February 2019 and of 20th February 2020. GPS coordinates collected from the field were used for ground truthing imagery data. The results of geospatial analysis have provided evident that paddy fields in caved marshland area is increased that means the SERASI Program is successful. From interviews’ data collected from 14 villages shows that the program of SERASI is accepted by local farmers and also local government. From image combination analysis concluded that the area of caved rice fields is suitable for developing agriculture in marshlands.