DETECTING AND CLASSIFYING IDLE AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN THE SAHEL: A CASE STUDY OF SOUTHERN CHAD

In Chad's southern Sahelian zone, smallholder farmers face ongoing challenges to maintain optimal agricultural productivity, particularly due to soil degradation caused by unsustainable farming practices since the 1990s. A promising strategy for enhancing food security and agricultural output is the identification and characterization of non-cultivated or underutilized lands that could be developed for farming. This study explores the feasibility of using satellite remote sensing technologies to establish an agricultural statistical monitoring system capable of identifying land suitable for rice cultivation.Utilizing SPOT satellite imagery, land cover in the study area was classified into three categories: currently cultivated land (26.53%), potentially cultivable areas suitable for rice (34.77%), and non-cultivated zones (38.70%). Complementary analysis using Landsat images from 2000 and 2013 for the Marba region revealed a notable increase in non-agricultural land—from 55.84% in 2000 to 62.93% in 2013—highlighting both the threat of land abandonment and the opportunity for agricultural expansion.The findings affirm the utility of remote sensing in identifying suitable agricultural zones, supporting informed land use planning and policy-making. This method offers a cost-effective, scalable approach to enhancing agricultural development and food security in the Sahelian context.