Monitoring and predicting the influences of land use/land cover change on cropland characteristics and drought severity using remote sensing techniques

The Federal University of Technology at Akure (FUTA) in Nigeria is experiencing ongoing development that is leading to the replacement of agricultural and forestry land cover types. This study aimed to assess and predict changes in land use/land cover (LULC) types and their impact on crop characteristics in 17 plots of FUTA from 1991 to 2031. Crop characteristics were evaluated using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), vegetation condition index (VCI), watershed delineation, and spectral characteristics using Landsat imageries. The land change modeler in TerraSet software was used to predict future LULC scenarios. Results showed an increase in built-up areas (15%) and bare land areas (14%), but a reduction of…