Spatio-temporal patterns of urban agriculture from landsat data in Eldoret City, Kenya

Abstract

Urban agriculture plays a key role in enhancing food and nutrition security while supporting the sustainability and resilience of rapidly growing cities such as Eldoret. Despite a population of approximately 500,000, Eldoret’s agricultural activities remain fragmented and poorly integrated into urban planning. Evidence from field observations suggest that the existing urban development plans are rarely implemented fully. This study aimed to map urban agricultural patterns and assess changes in land use and land cover over for the past two decades using Landsat imagery from 2003, 2015 and 2024. Four major land use/land cover types were identified: forest land, built-up land, bare land and cropland. Between 2003 and 2024, forest land declined from 3,757 to 1,294 hectares, bare land decreased from 8,621 to 4,171 hectares, while built-up land increased from 594 to 1,554 hectares and cropland expanded significantly from 1,989 to 7,929 hectares. During the 2003–2015 period, forest and bare land reduced to 1,353 and 5,187 hectares respectively, while built-up land and cropland grew to 948 and 7,440 hectares respectively. These spatial changes are distributed across the city, reflecting a growing role for urban agriculture. The findings provide a foundation for policymakers and planners to develop more inclusive, resilient, and food-secure urban strategies