Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

AN ASSESSMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN CITRUS GENUS USING GIS TECHNIQUES IN RAMSAR, IRAN

A. Ahmad, H. Zabihi, M. Golmohammadi and B. Golein

Abstract

Socio-economic scenarios found an important tool for exploring the long-term consequences of agricultural costs and available response options. This research aims to examine the impact of socio-economic determinants, such as; residential areas and proximity to roads network. Thereby, this paper focuses on challenges of socio-economic conditions design for citrus crop production using geographical information system (GIS). In order to minimize the environmental costs of citrus production, it needs to be significantly evaluated and classified the ecological capability of the environment and its socio-economic conditions and crop management strategies of renewable resources. Furthermore, providing socio-economic conditions would allow the perspective on sustainable agriculture in future planning. The results of study indicate that current citrus orchards are located in suitable regions, however; in some areas it can be incompatible with urban expansion. The analysis revealed that substantial growth of built-up areas in study area resulted significant decrease in the area of citrus orchards. Landuse changes in some areas are inevitable and it is being concerned in terms of ecosystem of study area.