Reclamation of the war affected agricultural land in east of Ukraine

Abstract

One of the most critical components of Ukrainian economic complex is its agriculture. The development within the industry is generally determined by the current economy’s state which is also impacted by the agricultural indicator. The research aims to study the renewal and reclamation of agricultural lands, which has deteriorated during the military operations especially in the east of Ukraine. Satellite data set was used, which was obtained based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer images and covers the whole Ukraine with a spatial resolution of 232 m. The annual information on inactive and active agricultural land was then used to calculate the frequency of fallow/active land at each pixel level and to translate the subject/action series on neglect trajectories. The factors determining reclamation are related to the suitability of the land for agriculture. Accessibility to major cities was also important because most of the renewal and reclamation occurred closer to population centers, but this influence varied East of Ukraine. These factors suggest that renewal and reclamation patterns were primarily driven by factors related to land productivity, with renewal and reclamation focused on the most promising sites.