Ensuring food security using geospatial technology

Food security has been an ongoing concern of governments and international organizations. This study aims at ensuring food security using geospatial technology to find suitable sites for building food industry plants. In this respect, geospatial technology including remote sensing, geospatial information system, and global positioning system was implemented to identify suitable sites for the construction of food industry plants in Qaemshahr County, Iran and an up-to-date and efficient geodatabase for this purpose was prepared. Since rice and citrus are the main products of the study area, to ensure food security and income for the people of the region, suitable site selection to build food industry plants to sort, package, store, convert, and process rice and citrus is very important. On the other hand, because Ghaemshahr is the main hub of rice and citrus production in the country as well as export, food security at the national level can also be ensured. To support the achieved result of selected sites for food industry plants, several analyses were carried out. The resulting suitability map was reclassified based on proximity to raw food materials as well as main roads and cities. Consequently, among the obtained suitable sites, the most suitable places based on these factors were identified. In addition, a comparative analysis was performed between the selected sites and the existing industrial zones in the study area. The findings of this study are useful to ensure food security in the region and country. The study also demonstrated the effectiveness of geospatial technology for this purpose.