GIS-Based Assessment of Rice Transplanter Requirement in the Southern Delta of Bangladesh

Abstract

Rice production, a crucial activity for food security, is negatively impacted by the Southern Delta of Bangladesh's frequent cyclones, saline intrusion, and water shortage during the dry season. This study was conducted in the areas of Baratia, Khulna; Mundopasa, Barishal; Holdibaria, Patuakhali; and Charwapda, Noakhali, with the goal of precisely forecasting the rice transplanter needs for mechanical rice transplantation. To improve resource planning for mechanical transplanting, the study used advanced geoinformatics approaches to precisely analyze land use and land cover (LULC) using high-resolution Sentinel-2 satellite images with a spatial resolution of 10m × 10m. Crop fields were accurately represented and analyzed using QGIS software for satellite image research. To identify agriculture, fallow land, water bodies, and settlements, LULC maps were created using QGIS's unsupervised classification and multi-band analysis. Using QGIS tools to calculate crop hectarage in both the Aman and Boro seasons, the GIS-based methodology hinted transplanter requirements based on the crop coverage for each study area. The estimated requirements for rice transplanters were as follows: Baratia, Khulna, required 11 transplanters for Aman and 18 for Boro; Mundopasa, Barishal, required 3 for Aman and 1 for Boro; Holdibaria, Patuakhali, required 5 for Aman and 2 for Boro; and Charwapda, Noakhali, required 87 for Aman and 15 for Boro. With Kappa values ranging from 0.69 to 0.77, the study's classification accuracy rates ranged from 76.47% to 83.51%. The results reveal a significant potential for application across larger administrative areas to determine the machinery needs for the effective mechanization of transplanting technology, which plays a crucial role in optimum machine use, entrepreneurship development and sustainable agricultural development in the Southern Delta of Bangladesh. 

SAARC J. Agric., 24(1): 141-166 (2026)