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Academic Research
First post-graduate student completes
Master’s Degree programme
By Itumeleng Mangole
Basuti Bolo Gerty Mathangwane
BIUST post-graduate sponsorship recipient Ms Basuti
Mathangwane, became the first BIUST graduate
after completing her Master‟s Degree programme in
Information Systems under a Research Topic: „Developing
a Geo-spatial Information based Land Quality Evaluation
Model for Rain fed Farming in Botswana‟.
poverty and food products import bill. This can be done
by using advanced technologies used in land evaluation
to match land in terms of its quality. It is expected that
to match agricultural land with its use can improve and
increase production. Models for assessing, evaluating
and matching land quality and suitability are very
scarce, and the information used is mostly analogue and
outdated. Botswana lacks geo-spatial information models
for evaluating land for rain-fed farming. Commenting on
her research, Ms Basuti said her study has developed a
digital geo spatial information model using the current
geo spatial data systems for evaluating land quality for
rain-fed farming suitable for the Botswana environment
and climatic conditions.
She says the study focused on the quality of land for
sorghum grain crop. Sorghum was selected because it
is one of the crops grown most in the country and used
as the country‟s staple food. Ms Basuti contends that
if this approach of matching land use in terms of its
quality can be used, production can be increased. “This
could also improve the economy of the country”. She
said. The aim of Ms Basuti‟s study is to identify possible
land parcels suitable for sorghum crops and comparing
the existing agricultural land use and their suitability.
It aims to develop a geo spatial information model that
evaluates land that is suitable for sorghum crop under
rain fed farming using Geographical Information System
(GIS) and Remote Sensing approach”.
Basuti stated that the research answered questions such
as;
• By which method can land parcels with
homogenous agricultural land quality characteristics for
rain-fed farming be identified?
• What are the suitable evaluation criteria
Basuti‟s research when developed
will provide agricultural geo-spatial
information land quality evaluation
model at local level that could be used
by farmers, Ministry of Agriculture,
“Developing
a Geospatial
Information
to assess the model for the rain fed land
quality?
• What is the best information
system used to develop agricultural
land suitability map?
Agricultural Institutions and other
national, regional and international
stakeholder. “Land evaluation and
suitability analysis is a pre-requisite
to achieving and using available land
based Land Quality
Evaluation Model for
Rain fed Farming
• How much land is identified as
quality land suitable for sorghum rain
fed farming?
The study was carried out in Palapye
and Serowe Agricultural Districts, in the
for sustainable agricultural production. The
evaluation presented in this research
involves multi-criteria of land characteristics
in Botswana” Central District of Botswana. The area
covers nineteen agricultural extension
areas. The area is approximately 1090 000
for a specific agricultural land use.
Botswana is a semi-arid environment with shortage of
fertile land for crop production. The agricultural land
also competes with other land use such as expansions
of towns and villages. One of the biggest challenges in
Botswana is to increase agricultural production to reduce
hectares covered with different soil types and
texture. The soil fertility ranges from shallow to very
fertile soils, and the texture varies from fine to coarse
textured soils. The vegetation is mophane and acacia
species. Sorghum is the most grain crop grown followed
by maize and millet. Other crops grown are melons,
pulses, beans etc. The land use of the area is agriculture

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Academic Research
and distribution of villages.
GIS and Remote Sensing are the new tools available
for land evaluation and for agricultural land resources
planning and management via Information and
Communication Technology (ICT). The land evaluation is
based on the four main factors namely: biophysical, socio-
economic, climate and crop constraints. The 1999 TAHAL
Group general guidelines for soil suitability of Botswana,
spatial data and information were used for assessing the
suitability. The 1981 Sims crop requirements parameters
for Botswana agro- climatological information were
also used. The Remote Sensing data; soil moisture and
rainfall estimate satellite images with 1km resolution
were used to show the status of soil moisture and rainfall
of the study. The existing land use was generated by
interpreting 1: 80 000 scale ortho-photographs and
fieldwork survey geographic coordinates or data picked
by Global Positioning System (GPS) during the survey.
The analysis aimed at producing a map that is suitable
for sorghum. The data was analyzed using ARCGIS 10.2
software. In this study, fuzzy modeling integrated with
GIS computer assisted overlay mapping method was
applied to combine the information from several criteria
to form a single suitability map. The results showed the
land parcels that is suitable, marginal suitable and non-
suitable for sorghum. The land identified as the suitable
land is 368 366 ha (34%) of the area of the study area,
marginal suitable 388 035 ha (36%), non-suitable 299 831
ha (28%) and areas without data 26 398 (2%).
The suitability map was overlaid with the existing land
use to identify areas that are ploughed for sorghum
that are on suitable areas. The results showed that the
present land that is used for sorghum and are on suitable
land is 64 704 ha (18%) of the total suitable land. That
scenario suggests that 82% of land that is suitable for
sorghum is not in use. The marginal suitable land is 42
530 ha (11%) of the marginal land, non-suitable 16 262
ha (5%) of the non-suitable land and areas with no data
14 423ha (54%) of the land with no data.
Basuti who intends to continue with PhD focusing on
Precision Farming using Drones, under a new research to
make correlation analysis between crop yield and land
terrain profile using multispectral satellite imagery and
produce comprehensive reports on traditional farming,
joined BIUST on July 2014 after being offered the
scholarship and a Teaching Assistant job tutoring under
graduate students on Geographical Information Systems
(GIS) and Introduction to Computing and Information
Technology. She joined BIUST to further her studies after
working as Head of the GIS Unit under the Ministry of
Agriculture for some time. She worked on attachment
as a GIS Consultant at Southern African Development
Community (SADC) / European Union (EU) Land and
Water Management Systems Portal and in Demography,
Central Statistical Office of Botswana. Basuti also worked
as a GIS Expert for a period of six months at the Natural
Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich in
UK, working on Models of quelea birds‟ movements and
improved control strategies project.
She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Space and
Atmospheric Science, with the United Nations- African
Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology
Education in English (ARCSSTEE), based on Obafemi
Awolowo University, Nigeria. A Certificate in International
Development Studies for NGO with Capacity Africa
Institute(Nairobi, Kenya); Technician Certificate in
Remote Sensing and Cartography; and Certificate in
Agriculture with Botswana College of Agriculture.
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