LAND EVALUATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME AREAS OF DAKHLA OASIS, EGYPT

Dakhla Oasis represents one of the high priority regions for future development in Egypt. It is one of the major depressions in the western desert of Egypt. Dakhla oasis is located in the South Western Desert of Egypt between longitudes 28°15' - 29° 40' E and latitudes 25° 00' - 26° 00' N. Study area covers about120000 feddan and it is one of the main challenging regions for sustainable development. Thesoils were classified as Typic Haplargids, Typic Torriorthents, Typic Torripasamments, Typic Haplotorrerts and Vertic Torriorthents.Land capability assessment was done to define the suitable areas for agricultural production using Storie Index. Results indicate that more than 28080 feddan are good capable (grade 2) and about 91000 feddan are fair capable (grade 3) for agriculture production. Land Use Suitability Evaluation Tool (LUSET) was used to compare the soil characteristics and quality needed for 16 different types of crops. The results from the land suitability analysis indicated that, more than 84000 feddan are moderately suitable for wheat and sorghum; whereas 88560 feddan are highly suitable for barley; 93600 feddan are moderately suitable for alfaalfa, olive and groundnut; 59280 feddan are highly suitable for cotton; 71000 feddan are moderately suitable for mango and 51600 feddan are moderately suitable for potato. In the current study, we have used remote sensing and soil data in combination with GIS tools, for sustainable land use (SLU) analysis in El-Dakhla area. The SLU was established based on various factors such as: land capability and suitability, crop water requirement, economic return from water and financial return from land and water. The SLU was build based on two alternatives; (a) the most SLU in terms of irrigation water requirements are Barely and sorghum or groundnut against olive (as the irrigation requirements for these crops are low). (b) the most sustainable land use in terms of economic net return are wheat and potato or cotton against mango or  alfaalfa (as the net return for this crops is high).