Project name: Determination of areas with natural or other specific constraints with calculations and assessments of the context value of indicators no. 41 “Soil organic matter” and no. 42 “Soil erosion by water” for the programming period 2021-2027
Client: Ministry of Agriculture
Period: 05/2018 – 06/2020
Location: Croatia
Given the obligation of the Managing Authority and the complexity of the project to determine the area, to be ready in time for negotiations with the EC for the new programming period of the Rural Development Programme 2021-2027 (and in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 December 2013 on rural development support from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)), it is necessary to prepare quality and up-to-date data to define constrained areas and calculate new or confirm existing aid amounts.
The general objective of this task is to develop a project to determine areas with natural or other specific constraints with calculations and to determine the context value of indicators no. 41 “Soil organic matter” and no. 42 “Soil erosion by water” for the programming period 2021-2027 using new and more detailed data.
As there are no detailed up-to-date data, especially on agricultural and forest land for the territory of the Republic of Croatia, it was necessary to compile them within this Project. Activities within this project were:
1. Project management
2. Creation of a digital soil map for the purpose of determining areas with constrains at a scale of 1:50,000 with associated attributes
3. Creation of a digital map of agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia at a scale of 1:50,000 (Oikon share – 100%)
4. Creation of a digital map of agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia at a scale of 1:25,000 (Oikon share – 100%)
5. Creation of a digital map of agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia at a scale of 1:5,000 (Oikon share – 100%)
6. Creation of a digital map of forest land in the Republic of Croatia at a scale of 1:50,000 (Oikon share -100%)
7. Updating Mountain areas (Oikon share – 100%)
8. Creation of a digital map of hydro-amelioration drainage systems (Oikon share – 7.5%)
9. Creation of a digital map of areas where terraces have been created (Oikon share – 100%)
10. Determination of areas with natural constraints (Oikon share – 50%)
11. Creation of a digital map of livestock density (Oikon share – 53.5%)
12. Creation of a digital map of tree density in permanent crops (Oikon share – 85%)
13. Calculation of the Standard Output (SO) at the local self-government level (Oikon share – 5.5%)
14. Implementation of “fine-tuning” procedure in areas with natural constraints (Oikon share – 76.5%)
15. Determination of areas with specific constraints – karst and islands (Oikon share – 100%)
16. Creation of an integrated map of areas with natural and other specific constraints (Oikon share – 100%)
17. Proposal of the establishment of a monitoring system of farming activities in the restricted area and beyond
18. Calculation of the amount of aid for areas with natural or other specific constraints in agriculture
19. Determining the value of the context indicator number 41 “Soil organic matter” (Oikon share – 28%)
20. Determining the value of the context indicator number 42, “Soil erosion by water” (Oikon share – 25%).
Description of the activities performed in which Oikon participated.
Production of a digital map of agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia at a scale of 1:50,000, 1:25,000 and 1:5,000 and forest land at a scale of 1:50,000:
a) Development and description of the methodology for mapping agricultural land with the following attributes: state agricultural land, private agricultural land, used agricultural land, unused agricultural land, arable land, pasture, meadow, olive grove, orchard, vineyard, greenhouses/poly-tunnels
b) Development and description of the methodology for calculating the area of individual attributes of agricultural land
c) Establishment of rules for database generalization
d) Creation of a map of agricultural land with associated attributes at the level of local self-government
Updating mountain areas
a) Description of the methodology for mapping the mountain area
b) Creation of a map at the LAU2 level, with attribute database:
– terrain altitude map
– terrain slope map
– altitude and terrain slope combination map
– vertical breakdown with attribute database for the type and degree of constraint including a description of the methodology.
Production of a digital map of hydro-amelioration drainage systems with the following attributes: age of the system of up to 10 years, up to 20 years, up to 30 years, more than 30 years, the system in function, the system out of function
a) Creation of a map of hydro-amelioration drainage systems
Creation of a digital map of areas with terraces
a) Development and description of a methodology for mapping areas with terraces
b) Creation of a map of areas with terraces
Determining areas with natural constraints
a) Development and description of a methodology for mapping natural constraints: terrain slope
b) Development and description of the methodology for calculating the areas with individual natural constraints
c) Production of maps of areas with natural constraints at the level of local self-government
Creation of a digital map of livestock density
a) Description of data preparation methodology
b) Creation of a map of livestock density at the level of local self-government
Creation of a digital map of tree density in permanent crops
a) Development and description of data preparation methodology
b) Creation of a map of tree density at the level of local self-government
Implementation of a “non-tuning” procedure in areas with natural constraints
a) Development and description of the methodology for implementing the “fine-tuning” procedure
b) Creation of a map of areas with natural constraints
Determination of areas with a special restriction – karst and islands
a) Description of the methodology for mapping karst areas
b) Description of the methodology for calculating karst areas
c) Creation of a map of karst areas at the level of local self-government
Creation of an integrated map of areas with natural and other specific constraints
a) Description of the methodology for creation of an integrated map
b) Development of an integrated map at the level of local self-government
Methods used in these activities:
- Collection and preparation of satellite images (Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2) and digital orthophoto for interpretation (spatial equalization of images from different periods)
- Interpretation of images (object segmentation, AI interpretation using Random forest algorithms, photointerpretation)
- Subsequent processing of interpretation results (raster – conversion vector, generalization, topology definition, GIS processing)
- Connection of digital cadastral plan graphic data with the book part of property data and creation of a unique cadastral database at the level of the Republic of Croatia
- Creation of different scale maps
- Development of applications for automatic counting of trees in permanent crops
- Establishment of GIS databases on restrictions in agricultural production
- Preparation of LPIS (Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development) databases on the spatial distribution of different crops for the calculation of “Standard output” in agriculture
The results of the project are:
- Study on restrictions in agricultural production in the Republic of Croatia
- digital map of agricultural land with associated attributes on crops and property
- digital map of forest land
- digital map of the mountain area
- digital map of areas with significant natural constraints
- digital map of areas with specific constraints
- digital integrated map of all constraints
- map of areas with terraces used in agricultural production
- map of tree density in olive groves
- GIS of all necessary thematic data required for the creation of maps with constraints.
The analyses covered the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia.
