Application of Geo-informatics for Urban Agricultural Practices: A Case of Debre Markos, Ethiopia

Urban planning with spatial distribution of land uses in a systematic manner with smart growth structures and strategies as guiding principles is being increasingly accepted. In this effort, urban agriculture has been gaining focus especially as the peri-urban is losing its traditional value as the green belt supporting urban needs of perishable foods. Further, to ensure that the urban settlements have more lung spaces and carbon absorption centres, urban forestry is considered integral to urban planning and sustainable urbanization. Thus individuals and organizations are given weightage to urban agriculture and urban forestry in many forms. In order to deliver this exercise as more precise and forecastable, the use of geo-informatics technologies has been embraced and is gaining momentum. This paper is an effort to identify suitable locations in Debre Markos town for urban farming and forestry alike, using geo-informatics technologies. A survey of the land use and land cover enabled the identification of open spaces and remote sensing data helped assess the suitability of these spaces for different land uses especially urban agriculture. Such generated databases can be used by farmers and town administration for further analysis and planning. This methodology has great potential for replication through adaptation to other cities for various purposes.