Understanding The Agricultural Land Use Transition In Senegal And Its Effects On Agricultural Production

Appropriate agricultural land management is essential for protecting agricultural land morphology and ensuring national food security.In recent years,various questions regarding agricultural land use transition and how to coordinate population growth,urban expansion,and agricultural modernization to ensure food supply have raised huge concerns worldwide.However,it is emphasized that various factors constantly affect agricultural land use.The farmland’s transition process is often non-linear and revolves around two interrelated questions:the physical environment and socio-economic driving factors.Or in Senegal,more than 88%of land remains under costmary management without formal land rights(ANSD).Consequently,the conjunction of weak land policies with other subsequent factors,such as farmer education background,may facilitate the transition of agricultural land to other use.Drawing on a literature review,the combination of several driving factors,namely human and natural factors,presented significant consequences for human well-being and farmland in Senegal.For instance,from 2009 to 2018,urban growth in Thiès region exceeds 7%.In addition,Senegal has initiated several projects,such as the Special Integrated Economic Zone in Thiès region.From the point of view of natural driving factors,Thiès region is confronted with chemical and physical-biological degradation,and rainfall variability continues to influence the agricultural sown area evolution.These driving factors occur when agricultural land and production depreciate significantly.So,how can suitability protecting agricultural land morphology be accomplished in Senegal without significant land policy reform?What is the potential influence of public policy and farmers’response behavior on protecting agricultural land morphology and production?Which new research methods can be implemented to make Senegal’s agricultural land transition process apprehensible?Accordingly,the overarching purpose of the study was to reveal the driving factors of agricultural land use and probe the mechanism of mutual feedback between the spatiotemporal distribution of agricultural land use transition and agricultural function in Senegal through Thiès region as a case study area.It’s one of the smallest regions in Senegal,at about 6669.6 km~2,with 2,162,831 inhabitants in 2020.It represents an essential sector of Senegal’s economy.The main crop types are peanut,maize,millet,sorghum,and cowpea,with 253,784.08 tons corresponding to 266,668.24 hectares in2020.Consequently,agricultural land losses may lead to farm work,production losses,and compromised poverty alleviation.This study makes a holistic analysis that integrates socio-economic,political,climatic,and natural data for exploring the spatial and temporal evolution of the agricultural land use transition process at the regional and local scales.The data comes from multiple sources.The remote sensing data came from the United States Geological Survey(USGS)website with a spatial resolution of 30 meters,and the climatic data from the National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology(ANACIM).Additionally,the National Agency for the Demographic and Statistics of Senegal(ANSD)served as a source for collecting the socio-economic data.Then,the primary data via social survey was organized in October 2022.About 600questionnaires were collected from 11 of the 31 communes in Thiès region.The analysis data processes included the transfer matrix for land use transition,multiple linear regression,and coupling coordination.Arc GIS,ENVI,and Tanagra software were essential for computing the results.The most significant finding shows that a respondent’s characteristics differ from one commune to another.The average age of the respondents was approximately 45.1 years old,and 49.74%were illiterate,while 21.88%had completed primary school.Parallel,37.8%of the respondents had a sown area of less than one hectare.The average family size was approximately nine people per household.The mean chemical fertilizer was about 29.2kilograms per hectare,and the agricultural labor force stood at six people per household.In addition,the characteristics of agricultural equipment were limited to small materials,and technology and mechanization were quasi-nonexistent.Consequently,the combination of these factors reflects directly on the farm production level and agricultural land use.From 2000 to 2020,the agricultural land use transition represented about-588.66 km~2.Grassland was the most critical land use type that contributed to this decline.The intensity of agricultural land use transition was high in Malicounda commune(West),where the net transition of construction land was 11.34%.In this commune,the loss of agricultural land use to construction land was about 20.20 km~2.The spatial and temporal distribution of agricultural land use transition ranged from-4.7%in the Sandiara to 33.22%in the Mont Rolland commune.Twenty of thirty-one communes indicate that agricultural land use is decreasing.The crop production was about 1622.05 kilograms per hectare,corresponding to 443.99 kilograms per person.Or the average agricultural income per capita was 167.18 USD per person.Regarding the eco-environmental aspects that maintain the agricultural land’s function,59.49%of the respondents use fertilizer frequently,and 71.11%practice tillage.These features directly impact agricultural land values,which are-14.9 index values.Or,the population-farmland-grain yield coefficient decreased by-0.06 from 2000 to 2020.The coupling coordination also was severe,and coupling shows about 0.080 between agricultural sown area and factors of production,conversely to 0.02 between agricultural production and its production factors.The significant correlation,the mixed linear regression model showed that rainfall variability,research and development,soil salinization,and land tenure were significant at 1%(p<0.01)with agricultural land change,living security,and ecological functions.Parallelly,transportation facilities(p<0.01)and agricultural investment(p<0.01)were also significantly correlated with agricultural land morphology change,while population growth(p<0.1)was only connected with agricultural land morphology change.In a nutshell,rainfall variability was the most significant variable effect at the same time,the sown land area(p<0.01),agricultural land abandonment(p<0.01),agricultural land per capita(p<0.01),farmer income per capita(p<0.01),and the intensity used of fertilizers(p<0.01).So,rainfall variability was widely known as the core driving factor that impacted agricultural land use and farmers’livelihoods.This innovative study states farmers’perceptions about the causes of agricultural land use transition while highlighting policy shortcomings that may induce a rapid agricultural land transition,stimulate research on sustainable agricultural land use,and improve Senegal’s land use information system.Consequently,the main policy implications are strengthening agricultural land use reforms,promoting awareness of land use policy,agricultural finance,and insurance,and implementing an integrated agricultural production system for combined rainfall and other water supply system.The accomplishment of these policies was among the practical and theoretical contributions of the study.The study’s limitations were the scarcity of documents and statistical data concerning our study area and the remote sensing data acquisition period,which extended between September and November.The social survey revealed that 42.05%of farmers had abandoned agricultural land.Consequently,evaluating agricultural land abandonment’s spatial and temporal patterns will benefit food security and ecological balance.So,future research will specifically focus on the impact of these issues.Ultimately,the agricultural land use challenges facing Thiès region originate from anthropogenic and cultural factors,which natural and climatic factors have more recently compounded,and it requires urgent and long-term solutions.