Characterizing land cover changes in Agago sub catchment, northern Uganda

The Aswa catchment is one of the most important catchment of the Upper Nile Water Management Zone owing to its vastness, covering most of northern Uganda. Although the pace of land cover change in this catchment is increasingly gaining recognition, there is paucity of information on the underlying drivers. Thus, this study was designed to quantify the patterns and magnitude of the land cover changes in Agago sub catchment. The study analysed Landsat imagery for 2000, 2010 and 2018 to determine land cover change over the years. These satellite images were obtained from earth explorer, http://earth explorer.usgs.gov/. Results showed that grassland dominated the sub catchment. Grasslands increased from 40.37% in 2000 to 47.53% in 2010 and then reduced to 32.25 in 2018. The decline in grassland has been associated with expansion in small scale farming. Small scale farming increased four-fold between 2010 and 2018, possibly due to increase in population, which meant more land has been cleared for agriculture, probably exacerbated by and the government of Uganda’s efforts to promote agriculture in the region.. The results of this study are expected to guide both interventions and policies that promote sustainable land management in the study area.