Using Some of Hierarchical Approach of Cluster Analysis for Classification of Agricultural Lands by Area and the Amount of Production for some Agricultural Crops in the Iraqi Governorates for the Years (2005) and (2010)

Abstract

This paper aims to study the problem of classification of agricultural lands for all governorates except Kurdistan Region according to their validity for vegetable growing for the years (2005) and (2010) and due to the importance of these two years on the Iraqi agricultural reality where the year (2005) comes after the collapse in the Iraqi agricultural sector due to the political and economic vacuum after the year (2003), while the year (2010) represent the beginning of the advancement of this sector through the development of production policies and plans for five and long term by the Ministry of Agriculture, This paper also seeks to predict the production quantities of vegetable crops for the ten years following (2010). Hierarchical methods of cluster analysis were used in data analysis and adoption in land classification based on clusters extracted from the analysis, cluster analysis is one of the multivariate statistical methods cluster analysis has many features and characteristics that facilitate the process of classification and aggregation, forming clusters whose characteristics are similar to those of other clusters, as well as its ability to display cluster results on the basis of tree plans showing the steps of clustering from the first stage to the final stage, we found that the lands of Nineveh and the governorates of the central region such as the Babylon, Wasit and Karbala are the best agricultural lands after classification, and also that the increase in production was weak.