Multitemporal land use change mapping in Bulungihit Village, Merbau Sub-District, North Labuhanbatu District 1988-2023

Abstract Oil palm is a highly profitable cash crop in all regions of Indonesia with suitable land suitability. The offer of high financial returns from oil palm plantations is the main factor that encourages farmers in Labuhanbatu to convert Rice fields to oil palm. One of the case study villages is Bulungihit Village which was a well-known rice production center in North Sumatra in the 1960s. This research aims to analyze the changes in the use of Rice fields to oil palm in Bulungihit Village in 1988-2023 using remote sensing methods and Geographic Information Systems. This research uses a comparative approach with interview and documentation study methods. The data analysis used image interpretation and GIS using ENVI 5.3 and Arcgis 10.8 to analyze land use based on supervised classification method and SHP polygon area. After the results of the supervised classification, the validation process is carried out with ground check. The results showed that land use in Bulungihit Village is allocated for Rice fields, oil palm, and settlements/open land. In 1988, land use in Bulungihit Village was dominated by Rice fields with an area of 436.203 ha. However, this land use experienced high land conversion. At its peak in 1997-2004, there was a massive land conversion that caused the use of Rice fields to drastically decrease until it completely changed function. Therefore, from 2004-2023, Bulungihit Village no longer has Rice fields. While oil palm land experienced a significant increase in area from 1988 of 190.82 ha to 645.045 ha in 2023.