Open Access Original Research Article

Land use Dynamic and Soil Fertility in the Orodara Municipality, Burkina Faso

Kékélé Adama , Palé Sié, Sanogo Fatimata, Somé Yélézouomin Stéphane Corentin

Asian Journal of Geographical Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 1-13
DOI: 10.9734/ajgr/2022/v5i4151

To respond to the degradation of natural resources and the installation of an imbalance between production and consumption needs, the populations of Orodara have adopted an association of fruit arboriculture and cereal growing on the same plot. These changes have favoured the development of a specific agrarian landscape of the fruit agroforestry type. This study questions the evolution of soil fertility in the face of land use dynamics in Orodara. The exploitation of Landsat satellite images of multi-dates (1991 to 2018) made it possible to obtain information on land use. Fertility data were obtained from the analysis of the organic matter, the sum of exchangeable bases as well as the hydrogen potential (pH) of soils from 1997 to 2019. The analysis of our results shows a production system dominated by fruit growing in association with cereal growing. Two units of agricultural occupation were divided in 1991 between annual crops (56%) and permanent crops (4%). Between 2002 and 2018, a third unit developed from the association of the first two, occupying 39% of the total area in 2018, compared to 19 and 13% respectively occupied by annual and permanent crops. This dynamic affects the evolution of soil fertility. From 1997 to 2019, fertility decreased by 23% from the average rate and increased by 22% from the low fertility rate. Contrary to the increase in vegetation cover, the level of soil fertility declines, compromising the sustainability of agricultural production in the municipality of Orodara.

Open Access Original Research Article

Historical Tradition and Socio-cultural Transformation of the Malakar Community in Rural Bengal, India

Kousik Das Malakar, Supriya Roy

Asian Journal of Geographical Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 14-24
DOI: 10.9734/ajgr/2022/v5i4167

Handicraft plays a very important role in representing the culture and traditions of any community. Indian handicrafts are highly eco-friendly, labour intensive, unorganized household sector, with huge potential for employment generation and foreign exchange earnings and practised extensively in the rural areas. Based on this background and field observations, this study aims to investigate the historical tradition, society, and livelihood transformation of the Malakar community in rural Bengal. This study made use of data gathered through field interviews and phone calls in rural Bengal. And data were calculated in both quantitative and qualitative ways. Key findings show that sholapith is a culturally significant eco-friendly craft that is part of the Hindu Community's historical heritage. And it will be the future scope of huge uses of any ceremony’s decoration and it fulfils the lives, livelihood, and societal identity of the 'Malakar' community. Socio-economically, the maker of the craft was not suitably developed in the aspects of income and other social things. According to this study, the Malakar community's cultural identity has been transformed and will decline in the future due to the transformation of traditional livelihoods. So, the historical-cultural community of Malakar and their inherited cultural works need to be developed and brought to more people's attention.

Open Access Original Research Article

Regional Disparities in the Level of Economic Development in Nashik District: A Geographical Analysis

Dhanraj Kalu Ahire , N. B. Bachhav

Asian Journal of Geographical Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 25-29
DOI: 10.9734/ajgr/2022/v5i4168

The present investigation was studying the regional disparities in level of economic development of Nashik district a geographical analysis. It was based on secondary data collected from different government organizations and in government reports. The data covered 2021-22. All the sectors of economic development indicators, cropping intensity, irrigation intensity, area under crops, electricity usage, working population, road distances, percentage of BPL family, were considered for this study. The Z score method was applied in analysing the measurement of economic development. The studied regional diversity which was found in economic development in the study region. High development was found in Nashik, Malegoan, Niphad and Baglan.tahsil while moderate economic development was recorded in Chandwad, Dindori, Sinnar and Yeola tahsils. Surgana, Kalwan, Deola, Nandgoan, Peint, Triembak and Igatpuri tahsil have recorded the lowest economic development. In comparison to other regions, Thus, physical features like topography, soil, rainfall, forest cover and manmade features like concentration of tribal population, percentage working population, crop and irrigation intensity were affected by uneven economic development in this study region. The present paper gave the geographical analysis of economic development in Nashik district during the period of 2021-22.

Open Access Original Research Article

Space-based Mapping and Assessment of a Three-decade Urban Landcover Dynamics towards a Smart Federal Capital City, Abuja, Nigeria

Innocent E. Bello , Umar Bala Usman , Mahmud Abubakar

Asian Journal of Geographical Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 30-43
DOI: 10.9734/ajgr/2022/v5i4169

A general notion from majority of researchers noted that connecting rural-urban services with Information Technology (IT), Internet of Things (IoT), Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making cities smarter. This is because, the global urban population is expected to grow by 63% between 2014 and 2050 – compared to an overall global population growth of 32% during the same period. The Federal Capital City (FCC), Abuja, Nigeria is no exception to urban population growth which requires IT, IoT, ICT and AI technologies if she must be regarded as a Smart City. This study was, therefore, aimed at mapping and assessing a three-decade urban dynamics of the FCC, Abuja, towards ascertaining the suitability of the FCC, Abuja being regarded as a Smart City. Three (3) epochs of Landsat ETM+ data from the US Global Land Cover Facility web platform was analyzed using the maximum likelihood algorithm to process the Remote Sensing images for thirty (30) years time period (2000, 2010, and 2020). The study shows that the urban builtup land cover increased significantly from 72.88 km2 (22.04%) in year 2000 to 145.77km2 (44.09%) in 2020. As the causative alteration of natural vegetation paved the way for urban infrastructure, the study re-affirms a corresponding effects on the decrease in light vegetation cover from 119.85km2 (36.25%) in 2000, to 29.24km2 (8.84%) in 2010, and down to as low as 13.49km2 (4.08%) in 2020. Other land covers also decreased due to population upsurge and physical urban developments. The findings confirm the suitability of the FCC, Abuja as an emerging Smart City as the study further revealed a number of efforts made to digitalized government services through e-governance. The total (overall) accuracy of the supervised classifications of LULC for 2000, 2010, and 2020 images were 97.3%, 99.2% and 99% respectively with corresponding strong positive Kappa statistics of 0.95, 0.99 and 0.97. It is recommended that Smart City initiatives anchored on digital hub tools such as IoT, AI and ICT; Remote Sensing; and GIS Technologies  be deployed in the ongoing and future city-wide development initiatives in order to fast track smart, smooth, effective and efficient service delivery in the FCC, Abuja, Nigeria.

Open Access Mini-review Article

Inclusive and Healthy Urban Environment in the Global South: Definition, Characteristics and Benefits

Boluwaduro C. Adeboyejo , Miracle H. Kure , Akintunde O. Onamade , Oreoluwa O. Gbolade , Sharon E. J. Archibong

Asian Journal of Geographical Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 44-51
DOI: 10.9734/ajgr/2022/v5i4170

The power that develops when communities define their urban planning agendas is now becoming more and more evident, and community-led development may offer long-lasting upgrades to metropolitan areas. A city's social and physical environment can either enable or hinder its residents' well-being and ability to become independent whereas there are still wide gaps between understanding the inclusive urban environment and a healthy environment. There remains an overwhelming reality of alienation of the users from their environment. The term inclusive cities are widely used to refer to the inclusion of marginalized communities – slum dwellers, migrants, minority groups, women or young people – in urban processes. This paper aimed at defining an inclusive and healthy urban environment in the global south, its benefits, and its characteristics to redefine the community. An empirical article review was conducted to establish the concepts.  Findings from the reviews show different indicators of urban environment exclusion and drivers of inclusivity concepts. It is therefore concluded that for urban sustainability, each community should be given priority for an inclusive healthy urban environment. Stakeholders of the global south should therefore provide policies and implement programs for total inclusiveness.