GIS Defines Durum Wheat Areas in Algeria

Journal of Agriculture and environment for international development, Vol. 96, o.
3/4, 2002
Delli G., Sarfatti P., Bazzani F. : "Application of GIS for agro-climatological characterisation of northern Algeria to define
durum wheat production areas"
Application of GIS for agro-climatological characterisation of northern Algeria to

define durum wheat production areas.
Delli G., Sarfatti P., Bazzani F.
Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare, via A. Cocchi 4, 50131 Florence, Italy

Cadi A.
Institut Technique des Grandes Cultures, BP 16, El-Harrach, Alger, Algeria
Abstract
A Geographical Information System on natural resources for northern Algeria was developed in
order to: i) characterise the area of interest according to agro-climatic criteria and define
potentially suitable areas for durum wheat cultivation; ii) provide research institutions and
decision makers with a new tool for sustainable management of natural resources.
Several information layers concerning topography, climate, landform, soil and land use / land
cover were set up, using existing cartographic and tabular information. Selection of areas
suitable for durum wheat cropping was carried out through multiple querying and data
segmentation. The outputs generated , both in tabular and map format, have been evaluated
as an useful tool for research institutions and decision makers for sustainable agricultural and
rural development.
Keywords: Geographical information systems, Algeria, agricultural potential, durum wheat
1. Introduction
A comprehensive knowledge of natural resources, their characteristics and spatial distribution
is crucial in order to develop land use policies based on the concepts of sustainable agricultural
and rural development.
In this perspective, development of Geographical Information Systems as tools to aid decision
making processes in land use planning is nowadays a quite common approach. Wilson J.P.
(1999) offer a comprehensive compendium about projects related to GIS for environmental
and agricultural applications.
A great amount of models, sometimes very sophisticated, for agro-ecological zoning, land
evaluation or potential yields estimation has been developed in the last years. Unfortunately,
most of them rely on the availability of environmental or climatic data which are, in most
cases, hardly available in developing countries.
Valorisation of the existing information through its use as input data into simpler, even if quite
less accurate, models is sometimes a necessity in order to get what is often missing in
development-oriented GIS projects, i.e. the direct involvement of GIS analysis results in
decision making processes.
In the framework of the Algerian-Italian co-operation project for durum wheat improvement,
the development of a Geographical Information System was aimed to provide the Algerian
Ministry of Agriculture with useful tools for strengthening its capacities in planning
management of natural resources.
From the methodological point of view, the objective was to progress beyond the simple
collection and integration of the various available data and to attain an effective utilisation of
GIS tools in order to provide answers to specific land use planning issues, through the
development of procedures and processing methodologies based on available data.
This study presents the integration and processing of a wide set of heterogeneous data about
natural resources into a Geographical Information System for the selection of areas potentially
suitable for durum wheat cropping, by: i) data mining, input, and processing; ii) database
multiple querying.
Resulting areas were then used as basis for the implementation of the subsequent project
activities for improving the national system of durum wheat production.
Journal of Agriculture and environment for international development, Vol. 96, o. 3/4, 2002
2. Materials and methods
2.1 Procedure
The procedure followed in building up the Geographic Information System consisted of four
main phases:
1) Data mining: this phase was mainly devoted to the inventory and collection of existing
cartographic and tabular data. Algerian national agencies and research institutes revealed to
be good sources of environmental data; rather, the main constraint to their utilisation was
often the lack of ancillary information (metadata).
2) Data input: details about this phase are reported in par. 2.4
3) Processing: this phase involved mainly the processing of climatic data, of Digital Elevation
Model, and of NDVI data.
4) Output: in the output phase a series of derived thematic maps through layers crossing,
reclassing and querying was produced. Also, guidelines and metadata management tools were
developed in order to ensure the sustainability and durability of the database.
2.2 General GIS structure

The Geographic Information System has been built upon a series of different layers,
representing various themes. Most of information layers are represented as raster images
having the same size, projection and geographic extent. The associated attributes information
is stored in different formats (byte, integer or real) depending on data type and sources.
Vector format was used for data input from the digitising table and was kept for a few layers
relevant to the topographic base.
The adopted spatial resolution of each layer was 1x1 km size, being such size considered a
good compromise between the scale or the resolution of the various data sources and the
goals of the study.
The cartographic projection used was the Lambert Conformal Conic, i.e. the projection used by
the Institut National de Cartographie et Télédétection (INCT) for the production of official
topographic and thematic maps.
Details about the main spatial parameters of the GIS are shown in Table 1
2.3 Data sources

The GIS has been set up utilising data from different sources:
- Algerian Ministry of Agriculture: Agricultural statistics;
- Agence Nationale des Ressources Hydrauliques (ANRH): Rainfall map and Northern Algeria
Soil Map (1:500.000 scale);
- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO): “Digital Soil Map of the World” (1989);
- IAO / ITGC: Land Systems Map of Tiaret Region (1:200.000 scale) and relative reports;
- Institut National de Cartographie et Télédétection (INCT): Topographic maps (1:500.000
scale) and administrative boundaries;
- Office National de la Météorologie (ONM): Historical series of climatic data
- United States Geological Survey (USGS), “AFRICA DATA Dissemination Service”: NDVI
NOAA/ AVHRR historical image series
- United States Geological Survey, EROS Data Centre: Global Digital Elevation Model
(GTOPO30)
2.4 Data input

Different methods have been used for data input, according to the different data sources and
relative format:
a) Digitising: topographic, climatic and soil maps were digitised as separate layers, each
containing one single type of spatial objects represented as points, lines or polygons, according
to information type. Attributes of spatial objects were stored in the table associated to each
information layer. When appropriate, vector layers were transformed to raster format.
b) Free raster data downloading, windowing and correction: Normalised Difference Vegetation
Index (NDVI) historical series and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were downloaded from the
World Wide Web (see Data Sources above). The region of interest was selected, geometrically
corrected and resampled in order to cover the area of interest.
c) Multiple regressions: spatialisation of dekadal1 mean temperature from meteorological
stations was performed by computing linear regressions with altitude and latitude. Obtained
regression equations were then applied to the whole study area. Such approach is discussed in
details in par. 3.2.
d) Linear interpolation: used in order to model line data of average annual rainfall (isopleths).
The interpolation method was the simple Kriging.
3. Results
Many different types data layers, both vectorial and raster, have been stored into the GIS,
creating a multi-purpose environmental database that can be enriched, updated, queried and
exploited for various applications related to natural resources management.
The most important layers and those directly involved in the procedure of selection of
potentially suitable areas for durum wheat cropping will be described.
3.1 Topographic base

A series of layers was obtained from topographic maps (1:500.000 scale) in order to get basic
information layers useful for thematic maps preparation.
Also, such layers increased significantly the possibilities of database querying, through the use
of distance operators and logical operators, in order to answer specific questions relevant to
land use planning.
Topographic base layers are listed below; for each layer, the objects type is specified:
boundaries of the study area 1 polygon

roads network (national and secondary roads) poly-lines
hydro-graphic network (permanent and seasonal water courses) poly-lines
water bodies (reservoirs, chotts and sebkhas) polygons
administrative boundaries (at wilayata level) polygons
main urban centres points
3.2 Climate
Temperature
Historical series of climatic data were provided by the National Meteorological Office (ONM).
Data for 48 meteorological stations widespread all over the study area (see figure 1) included
the following parameters on a dekadal basis:
- minimum temperature (°C)
- maximum temperature (°C)
- rainfall (mm)
- days of frost
Historical data series covered the period 1975 – 1997, but many stations showed a significant
lack of data for one or more years; in practice, only 21 stations held data for ten or more
years.
Dekadal minimum and maximum temperature data for 21 selected stations were used to set
up regression equations with other parameters in order to estimate, for each dekad, mean
temperatures all over the study area. Four different parameters (station altitude, longitude,
latitude and distance from the sea) were tested as environmental variables in multiple
regression analysis (see Table 2).
While the role played by altitude and latitude in determining dekadal average temperature is
intuitive, longitude and distance from sea were included in the independent variables list
because of the general climatic characteristics of northern Algeria; as a matter of fact, the
1
dekad = 10 days
climate of the study area passes from a Mediterranean one near the coastline to a continental,
sub-saharian one inland. Shape and orientation of the coastline are such that latitude itself
cannot correctly explain the effect of the sea on temperature regimes. Previous climatic studies
in that region (IAO – ITGC, 1994) show the importance of such variables in estimating average
temperatures.
Figure 1 – ONM meteorological stations (stations selected for subsequent processing are shown in black)
Multivariate analysis with the above mentioned variables revealed that only latitude and
altitude are significantly correlated with mean dekadal temperature, regardless of the dekad
considered (see Table 3).
A series of 36 different regression equations (one for each dekad) were then computed, with
the following general structure:
Tmn = a × Altitude + b × Latitude + c

where Tmn = Mean temperature for dekad n (in °C)
a and b = coefficients
c = constant
It is interesting to note the dramatic drop in R2 values and, conversely, the strong rise in
standard error values starting from dekad 13 (mid May) up to dekad 27 (end September), i.e.
for the whole summer period, where other factors rather than altitude or latitude, such as
significant changes in wind regimes, are most likely involved in determining minimal and
maximal temperatures in this area.
Crop calendar for durum wheat in the area of interest starts after the beginning of rainy
season (November - December) and lasts about middle June.
For that period, R2 varies in the range 0.085 (3rd dekad of may) – 0.963 (3rd dekad of
December), with a mean value of 0.815.
Rainfall
The rainfall layer was built through the interpolation of isopleths from the “Rainfall Map of
Northern Algeria, 1:500.000 scale” produced by ANRH using a data set represented by about
450 rain stations covering an observation period of about 60 years.
Isopleths interpolation was performed using the inverse root distance weighted average. Figure
2 shows the location of rain stations together with the result of isopleths interpolation (average
annual rainfall in mm.).
Figure 2 – ANRH Rain stations network and average annual rainfall
3.3 Soils
Two different soil maps were available:
a) FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World; Digital Version 3.5, March 1995: such information was
simply imported in vector format, reprojected and windowed according to the boundaries of
the study area.
b) "Carte des Sols de l'Algérie”, 1:500.000 scale compiled by J.H. Durand in 1954: such map
was digitised, reprojected and windowed. Map legend (see Table 4) includes 24 different soil
classes according to the French soil classification system.
According to the latter map, the dominant soils in the study area are calcic soils (about 26 %
of the total surface), followed by calcaric soils (20 %). More than half (55 %) of agricultural
areas are located on calcaric soils, while about 16 % are located on alluvial soils.
3.4 Agriculture
Agricultural statistics from 1988 to 1997 at wilaya (regional) level were provided by the
Ministry of Agriculture. Data were input in a table and linked to administrative boundaries
layer. Data are mainly referred to cereals cropping and include sown and harvested areas2 and
productions for durum and soft wheat, barley and oats.
According to agricultural statistics of Algerian Ministry of Agriculture, winter wheat and barley
account for about 80% of total cereal cropped areas.
3.5 Landform
Information about landforms was obtained through acquisition and processing of the USGS
GTOPO30 Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Original DEM was in geographical coordinates and its
resolution was 30 arc-seconds, i.e. approximately 1 km x 1 km
DEM processing and computation of various indices for topographic features extraction and
morphological analysis has been widely investigated (see Fels and Matson, 1996 and Nogami,
1995) and several methods have been proposed for watersheds analysis (see Jenson and
Domingue, 1988).
2
Each year a certain percentage of the sown areas is lost due climatic constraints and/or pathogens
In the present work, the aim was to broadly characterise landform at sub-regional level using a
low resolution DEM.
While acquisition involved simply transformation in Lambert Conformal Conic projection and
windowing, DEM was utilised to classify the study area into homogeneous mapping units
according to their prevailing landform characteristics. The procedure involved the following
steps:
a) Slope calculation
Deriving slope values from a DEM is a widespread technique and the relevant Slope Model
algorithms are implemented in almost every raster GIS software. The resulting information
layer gives slope values in % at each pixel location according to the maximal difference in
altitude found between the considered pixel and the 8 surrounding pixels in the minimal 3x3
kernel.
Of course, reliability of such slopes model is highly dependent on the spatial resolution of the
DEM used as input; given the resolution of the DEM, the calculated slope values should be
taken carefully, especially in zones with complex morphology such as hilly areas.
b) Local Altitude Variability Index (LAVI) calculation
An alternative way of describing landform was explored, based on the assumption that a
synthetic expression of local morphology can be given by the degree of variation of altitude
values in the 3x3 kernel: low variability will represent flat or smooth hilly areas, while
increasing variability values will be expression of increasing energy relief.
In practice, using DEM as input, the standard deviation of altitude values in the 3x3 kernel was
calculated for each pixel according to the formula:
ds =
∑ (Yi − µ ) 2
N
where Yi = altitude in m. for pixel i
µ = average altitude of all the pixels in the kernel
N = number of pixels
The resulting information layer show a great range of values, coming from values near zero for
flat areas on the high plateaux up to 300 or more on Atlas mountain chains. This layer shows a
certain degree of correlation with the Slopes model formerly discussed but such correlation is
not as high as it could be expected (see Figure 3), suggesting that LAVI carries a certain
amount of information which is not held in the Slope Model.
Figure 3 – Scatterplot of Local Altitude Variability Index (x-axis) against Slope Model (y-axis)
c) Classification
As first explorative examination, an unsupervised classification of the area based on the cluster
analysis algorithm was performed using as input the three layers above discussed, i.e. DEM,
Slope Model and LAVI.
This unsupervised classification gave as output an image with 16 classes, the first one being
used for the external area (sea). For the remaining 15 classes, statistics for each input layer
were calculated and arranged in tabular form for subsequent analysis (see Table 5)
d) Intepretation
Interpreting the meaning, in morphological terms, of each class generated by the automatic
classification is crucial in order to transform this layer, through class merging and description,
into an useful descriptor of landform characteristics of different environments.
Classes interpretation was based on a two steps procedure:
- statistics for each cluster (see Table 5) were analysed in order to detect similarities between
classes; also, spatial distribution of each cluster was assessed and compared with other
information sources such as topographic maps. This type of analysis allowed to draw up a first
set of hypotheses about morphological meaning of different classes.
- These hypotheses were then tested over the sub-area (about 30.000 Km2) represented by
the wilayate of Mostaganem, Relizane, Tissemsilt and Tiaret, i.e. the territory covered by the
“Land Units Map of Tiaret Region, 1:200.000 scale” (IAO-ITGC, 1994). The legend of this “Land
Units Map” contains detailed information about geology, geomorphology, soils, land use and
land cover and represents an extremely valuable information source being the area covered by
the map encompassing almost all agro-ecological environments of northern Algeria.
Using such document as ground truth, visual comparison between results of the automatic
classification and corresponding land units allowed verification of hypotheses. Similar classes
were then merged accordingly; also, some corrections in altitude thresholds between classes
were introduced in order to fit with the bio-climatological description of Algerian environment
made by Baldy (1974). The final result is represented by a new information layer where the
study area has been subdivided into 8 landform classes. Table 6 reports the list of original
clusters for each morphological class as well as main statistical parameters and surfaces. The
landforms classification is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 – Landforms classification
3.6 Land use / land cover

Information of land use / land cover was derived by historical series of low resolution NDVI
data (GAC, Global Area Coverage Data Set, USGS, 1997). Average values over the period 1982
– 1993 of AVHRR NDVI data for Africa were downloaded and geometrically corrected. Data
were resampled, without any interpolation, to be represented at the 1x1 km resolution.
The transformed layers were used as input in a semi-automatic classification procedure in
order to subdivide the study area into broad agro-ecological classes described in terms of
prevailing land use / land cover.
Details about methodology used for such work and results are the subject of a separate paper
(see Delli et al., 2002), but it is worth to remember here that NDVI classes description was
performed through analysis of mean NDVI time profile for each output class and their
comparison with reference NDVI profiles for known land use / land cover types.
Reference NDVI profiles were built through: a) selection of a small sample of test sites for each
land use / land cover category; b) computation of their average NDVI value and c) plotting of
average NDVI values over time.
Final NDVI classification categorised the study area into 11 classes which are described in
Table 7
3.7 Selection of potentially suitable areas for durum wheat cropping

A selection of areas suitable for durum wheat was carried out.
The segmentation procedure was accomplished in two steps:
a) exclusion of areas with major constraints for durum wheat cropping.
Selection criteria were the following:
Resource Information layer Areas excluded Classes excluded

involved
Soil Soil Map (Durand) All soils with salinity or Classes 11, 12, 13
sodium problems and 21, 22, 23
Soil Soil Map (Durand) Rocky areas Class 14
Land use Soil Map (Durand) Urban areas Class 24
Water Topographic Base Water bodies (chotts3, -

sebkhas4, reservoirs, etc.)
Landform Landform Mountainous areas Classes 6 and 7
classification map
Climate Average rainfall map Drought prone areas with -
average annual rainfall <
350 mm/yr
The resulting area, shown in figure 5, has a total surface of 51.326 Km2.
b) Selection of areas with a vegetation index profile compatible with durum wheat cycle.
Within areas selected using the former procedure, information coming from NDVI classification
was used in order to exclude those areas where agro-climatic conditions can be considered
incompatible with durum wheat cropping. This was done by discarding those classes where the
mean NDVI profile over the year did not fit with the reference NDVI profile for winter cereals.
In particular, only those NDVI classes where NDVI profile was below reference profile for
winter cereals (i.e. where NDVI values were lower than those of reference test sites) were
excluded. Areas belonging to such classes are considered areas where growing period is too
short to allow successful durum wheat cropping or where such crop is excessively subject to
drought risks.
In practice, NDVI classes left out were class 1, 2, 4, and 7 (see Table 7 for their description).
The application of this further criterion brought potentially suitable areas to a surface of about
37.718 Km2.
3
Salt lake or marsh, usually seasonal
4
Endoreic basin filled up with evaporitic sediments and seasonally flooded
Resulting areas of the two steps multiple query are shown in figures 5 and 6, while Table 8
shows their distribution for administrative units (only wilayata included in the study area are
comprised in this Table).
Figure 5 – Areas with no major constraints for durum wheat
Figure 6 – Areas with no major constraints and a vegetation index profile compatible with that
of durum wheat.
4. Discussion
The GIS developed in the framework of the IAO-ITGC project was originally designed to
provide the Ministry of Agriculture with tools exploitable for natural resources management
purposes at national level; its greatest advantage is represented by the ability to integrate
heterogeneous data from different sources and in various formats, and to make such
information easy to be accessed, queried and processed. In this context, the procedure
described in this paper for selection of potentially suitable areas for durum wheat cropping is
no more than an example of implementation of multiple queries showing which are the
possibilities of exploitation of such a geographical database.
The database covers most part of Algerian country interested by rainfed agriculture and stores
already available data for the whole area considered. The adopted resolution is the result of a
compromise between the scale of available input data and the need to enable users to perform
environmental analysis at national level, even in sectors other than durum wheat cropping,
which was project-specific.
In this perspective, even considering the heterogeneity of potential users, during GIS set-up
and development particular attention was paid to metadata production, i.e. in the
documentation of each information layer and of procedures used for data processing. The
discussion of technical aspects of metadata creation and management is beyond the goal of
this paper, but it is worth to underline the key role played by this component in ensuring the
durability of GIS and the future possibilities both for its development and for data
dissemination and transfer among different users.
The first step of the definition of durum wheat potentially suitable areas was performed
through application of general selection criteria on the basis of the available information layers.
In particular, the average rainfall threshold of 350 mm/yr. was chosen taking into account the
high interannual variability of rainfall as well as other climatic factors such as wind and air
humidity; such factors, even if available only for a few ONM meteorological stations but not as
a spatial information layer all over the study area, are known to contribute positively in raising
the potential evapotranspiration, especially on high plateaux in the southern part of the study
area.
Interannual variability is also an important factor in determining cereal crops success in such
environment; it’s worth to mention that, according to statistical analysis of rainfall data made
by ANRH (Ministère de l’Equipement – ANRH, 1993) for the preparation of the rainfall map, an
average rainfall value of 350 mm/yr. corresponds to a rainfall of 270 mm/yr. in dry years
(return period: 5 years).
Therefore, areas where annual rainfall is below this limit have to be considered as zones where
drought risk is particularly high; in the perspective of a sustainable use of natural resources,
the environmental fragility of such areas should suggest very careful land use policies in order
to preserve them from irreversible degradation.
In the framework of the project activities, areas selected with the procedure described have
been utilised as masks applied to all the subsequent phases of extrapolation of experimental
results to northern Algeria. Thematic maps with varieties recommendations and computation
of relevant surfaces (Annicchiarico et al., 2002a) were done on the basis of zones shown in
figure 5, while those for definition of sub-regions for breeding (Annicchiarico et al. 2002b) and
for estimation of yield potentials (Annicchiarico et al. 2002c) are referred to zones shown in
figure 6.
Increasing information layers resolution and enriching the geographical database with further
environmental data will lead to finer territory classification results.. In particular the following
kinds of data set are judged as critical ones in order to enhance the procedure of selection of
potentially suitable areas:
- soil properties, such as depth, texture and drainage (which goes far beyond the spatial
resolution of the present study)
- temporal series of NDVI data with better spatial resolution and better georeferencing.
- historical series of daily or dekadal rainfall data for an appropriate amount of rain stations
homogeneously distributed all over the study area.
References
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TABLES
Table 1: Main GIS spatial parameters

n. of columns: 981
n. of rows: 300
min. X (m): 52104.06
max. X (m): 1033481.06
min. Y (m): 130184.78
max. Y (m): 430717.25
resolution (m): 1001.77
Projection: Lambert Conformal Conic
Ellipsoid: Clarke 1880
Major semi-axis: 6378249.14
Minor semi-axis: 6356514.87
Origin longitude: 2°42’ E
Origin latitude: 36°0’ N
False X : 500135
False Y: 300090
Scale factor: 0.999625544
Standard parallel 1: 34°30' N
Standard parallel 2: 36°40' N
Table 2: list of selected meteorological stations and relevant parameters considered for
estimating average dekadal temperature
Station Altitude Sea Distance Latitude Longitude
(m) (km) (Lambert coord., km) (Lambert coord., km)
Skikda 1 0.000 406.968 874.934
Annaba 1 2.237 404.782 956.464
Dar el beida 28 5.387 380.131 549.344
Bejaia port 2 0.000 386.526 713.703
Constantine 674 71.189 338.894 851.950
Chlef 128 34.376 323.513 377.312
Miliana 737 32.289 334.853 458.257
B. B.arreridj 912 80.153 309.639 677.343
Setif 1028 50.015 323.758 730.148
Mostaganem v 135 5.001 292.039 266.177
Batna 818 128.118 275.158 830.338
Tebessa 821 158.719 249.280 991.824
Oran senia 90 9.222 264.795 201.409
Mascara 532 38.193 259.024 283.178
Beni saf 71 2.001 230.153 130.852
Maghnia 425 31.632 178.538 90.212
Tlemcen aéro. 216 25.462 199.368 121.607
Djelfa 1123 220.819 154.553 550.603
Saida 718 104.769 177.772 267.100
El kheiter 983 182.377 98.498 257.363
Ain sefra 1058 286.034 -54.918 190.698
Table 3: Coefficients of determination, Standard Error values and equation coefficients of

computed multiple regressions
Dekad R2 St err Const. Altitude Latitude Dekad R2 St err Const. Altitude Latitude
(m) (Lambert, (m) (Lambert,
Km) Km)
1 0.908 0.806 13.42 -0.00638 -0.00427 19 0.527 1.114 25.26 0.00197 -0.00389
2 0.920 0.740 12.22 -0.00604 -0.00174 20 0.300 1.258 26.89 0.00048 -0.00583
3 0.932 0.711 13.98 -0.00666 -0.00451 21 0.265 1.169 27.81 0.00033 -0.00517
4 0.914 0.711 14.89 -0.00616 -0.00700 22 0.224 1.111 27.48 0.00047 -0.00388
5 0.926 0.632 14.98 -0.00598 -0.00722 23 0.241 1.050 27.54 -0.00012 -0.00525
6 0.877 0.697 14.38 -0.00494 -0.00544 24 0.285 0.953 27.46 -0.00126 -0.00596
7 0.906 0.631 15.09 -0.00521 -0.00610 25 0.434 0.912 26.61 -0.00211 -0.00646
8 0.880 0.706 15.60 -0.00510 -0.00615 26 0.504 0.769 25.09 -0.00215 -0.00434
9 0.914 0.553 17.28 -0.00493 -0.00779 27 0.715 0.832 23.09 -0.00329 -0.00192
10 0.859 0.654 17.87 -0.00448 -0.00845 28 0.857 0.646 22.28 -0.00401 -0.00282
11 0.853 0.653 18.05 -0.00437 -0.00900 29 0.908 0.580 20.41 -0.00428 -0.00062
12 0.804 0.672 18.41 -0.00378 -0.00766 30 0.930 0.580 19.90 -0.00538 -0.00376
13 0.778 0.583 19.05 -0.00302 -0.00572 31 0.922 0.657 18.63 -0.00563 -0.00316
14 0.401 0.794 19.82 -0.00172 -0.00521 32 0.941 0.619 17.02 -0.00605 -0.00251
15 0.085 0.889 20.66 -0.00050 -0.00274 33 0.937 0.676 15.83 -0.00661 -0.00468
16 0.331 0.961 22.66 -0.00030 -0.00626 34 0.942 0.699 15.08 -0.00709 -0.00422
17 0.447 0.964 24.07 0.00041 -0.00640 35 0.948 0.624 14.23 -0.00652 -0.00285
18 0.361 1.038 23.75 0.00117 -0.00315 36 0.963 0.548 14.34 -0.00693 -0.00392
Table 4: Soil map legend (J.H. Durand, 1954)

Class Description Class Description
1 Sols insaturés 13 Solonetz
2 Sols calcaires 14 Roche mère
3 Sols calciques 15 Sols à encroûtement
4 Sols alluviaux 16 Sols éoliens d'accumulation
5 Sols alluviaux acides 17 Sols éoliens d'ablation
6 Sols alluviaux basiques 18 Sols dunaires
7 Sols insaturés humifères 19 Sols de marais
8 Sols calcaires humifères 20 Association de sols dunaires et alluviaux
9 Sols podzoliques 21 Association de sols calciques et

Solontchak
10 Sols en équilibre 22 Association de sols calcaires et Solonetz
11 Sols salins 23 Association de sols calcaires et

Solontchaks
12 Solontchaks 24 Aires d'eau et urbaine
Table 5: Statistics for clusters generated by cluster analysis

Altitude Slope Local Altitude Variability
Cluster (m) (%) Index
Avg. min max St. Avg. min max St. Avg. Min max St.
dev. dev. dev.
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0.0
2 760 636 855 63.3 2.67 0 24 2.4 17.3 0 47 11.3
3 964 856 1086 69.1 1.91 0 16 1.6 11.2 0 23 5.6
4 84 0 406 85.3 1.38 0 8 1.3 11.6 0 23 6.4
5 956 636 2194 222.3 9.33 0 43 5.0 65.9 48 94 13.0
6 1187 1087 1974 86.7 3.63 0 25 2.8 22.3 1 47 11.4
7 527 407 635 68.1 2.75 0 22 2.4 16.5 0 47 12.7
8 330 0 635 160.3 11.2 0 38 5.7 87.5 71 118 12.3
9 164 0 406 106.7 5.23 0 24 3.2 41.2 24 70 12.0
10 964 856 1086 65.1 5.23 0 23 3.0 33.7 24 47 6.8
11 399 187 635 131.0 7.69 0 28 4.0 58.8 48 70 6.6
12 440 0 635 147.9 16.6 0 67 8.5 134.8 95 353 30.6
13 1256 856 2232 239.5 15.2 0 66 8.4 110.4 71 342 36.1
14 812 636 1086 119.8 17.7 0 65 9.2 138.6 95 336 34.4
15 204 -39 406 132.9 0.92 0 12 1.1 3.0 0 23 3.4
Table 6: Main statistics of landform classes

Average Average Average Area
Class Cluster altitude slope LAVI (Km2) Description
(m) (%)
1 4 73 1 11 7808 Coastal Plains (0 – 300 m)
2 2, 7 593 3 17 49123 Highlands (300-750 m)
3 3 901 2 13 27320 Highlands (> 750 m)
4 6, 9, 10 854 4 30 42219 Gently sloping hills
5 11 399 8 59 9035 Steep sloping hills
6 5 956 9 66 21752 Steep sloping hills - mountains
7 8, 12, 13, 14 701 15 114 40677 Mountains
8 15 204 1 3 16402 South-western depression
Table 7: Land use /land cover classes obtained from NDVI classification
Class Description Average rainfall Surface
(mm/yr) (Km2)
1 Salty depression (Chott Melrhir); mostly bare soil, only halophytic 161 12404
species in most favourable sites.
2 Sparse shrub, degraded steppic formations, often result of 227 54442
overgrazing.
3 Marginal areas for cereals production (wheat and barley) and 375 22986
pastures; total rainfall is very often below wheat requirements.
4 Steppic vegetation, pastures and marginal agricultural land 304 31207
(mainly barley).
5 Cereals production area (wheat and oat) characterised by short 430 17884
growing period (early drought).
6 Mainly wheat production area; rainfall range: 400-500 mm/yr. 457 9454
7 Open shrubland, thicket and open woodland; mostly hilly or 448 30690
mountainous zones.
8 Wheat production area, growing period longer than class 6. 621 7284
Rainfall range: 500-750 mm/yr.
9 Similar to class 7 but with higher vegetative cover: woodland 584 7043
(mainly Pinus spp.), thicket; mostly mountainous zones.
10 Woodland with high vegetative cover on mountain areas; fruit and 773 9580
vegetable crops on coastal plains; rainfall range: 600-1000
mm/yr.
11 Woodland and forest. Good vegetative cover during the whole 861 9701
summer period; rainfall range: 600 – 1100 mm/yr.
Table 8: Areas with no major constraints for durum wheat (a) and with a vegetation index
profile compatible with that of durum wheat (b) per administrative unit (wilaya).
Wilaya Area (Km2) Wilaya Area (Km2)
a b a b
Ain-Defla 1768 1639 Laghouat 0 0
Ain-Temouchent 1881 1827 Mascara 2992 2174
Alger 744 736 Medea 1053 676
Annaba 704 680 Mila 1220 1199
Batna 658 74 Mostaganem 1614 1164
Bejaia 432 378 Msila 376 0
Biskra 0 0 Oran 1080 873
Blida 649 649 Oum El Bouaghi 3315 2278
Bordj Bou Arreridj 1305 790 Relizane 2193 1807
Bouira 1211 997 Saida 2557 822
Boumerdes 461 456 Setif 2033 1506
Chlef 1275 1125 Sidi Bel Abbes 3905 2046
Constantine 983 983 Skikda 1808 1636
Djelfa 0 0 Souk-Ahras 1798 1709
El Bayadh 0 0 Tebessa 1614 618
El Oued 0 0 Tiaret 4096 3180
El-Tarf 1634 1462 Tipaza 676 512
Guelma 1398 1398 Tissemsilt 454 377
Jijel 496 371 Tizi Ouzou 340 332
Khenchela 606 136 Tlemcen 1996 1109
Total 51326 37719

GIS Defines Durum Wheat Areas in Algeria

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GIS Defines Durum Wheat Areas in Algeria

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Journal of Agriculture and environment for international development, Vol. 96, o.

Application of GIS for agro-climatological characterisation of northern Algeria to

Delli G., Sarfatti P., Bazzani F.

Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare, via A. Cocchi 4, 50131 Florence, Italy

Keywords: Geographical information systems, Algeria, agricultural potential, durum wheat

2. Materials and methods

2.2 General GIS structure

2.3 Data sources

2.4 Data input

3.1 Topographic base

boundaries of the study area 1 polygon

Tmn = a × Altitude + b × Latitude + c

Figure 2 – ANRH Rain stations network and average annual rainfall

Figure 4 – Landforms classification

3.6 Land use / land cover

3.7 Selection of potentially suitable areas for durum wheat cropping

Resource Information layer Areas excluded Classes excluded

Land use Soil Map (Durand) Urban areas Class 24

Water Topographic Base Water bodies (chotts3, -

Figure 5 – Areas with no major constraints for durum wheat

Table 1: Main GIS spatial parameters

Table 3: Coefficients of determination, Standard Error values and equation coefficients of

Table 4: Soil map legend (J.H. Durand, 1954)

1 Sols insaturés 13 Solonetz

2 Sols calcaires 14 Roche mère

3 Sols calciques 15 Sols à encroûtement

4 Sols alluviaux 16 Sols éoliens d'accumulation

5 Sols alluviaux acides 17 Sols éoliens d'ablation

6 Sols alluviaux basiques 18 Sols dunaires

7 Sols insaturés humifères 19 Sols de marais

8 Sols calcaires humifères 20 Association de sols dunaires et alluviaux

9 Sols podzoliques 21 Association de sols calciques et

11 Sols salins 23 Association de sols calcaires et

Table 5: Statistics for clusters generated by cluster analysis

Table 6: Main statistics of landform classes

Total 51326 37719

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