In order to contribute with information for the management and planning of land use in the main farming areas of the Major Metropolitan Area (GAM), an investigation was conducted between March 2008 and October 2009, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to characterize current land use. The study used aerial images of the Charter Mission project, taken between February and March 2005, which allowed identification of the expanse and distribution of the major crop-growing areas existing in the GAM. To identify these areas, the method of remote recognition was used, which consists of recognizing the appearance of a particular crop in aerial images, which then allows locating all areas with similar appearance and thus achieve an adecuate differentiation from other crops and uses. The geographic information was processed using the computer program ArgGIS 9.2, through which a 1:12.500 scale base map was obtained. The map, with the distribution of crop areas, was overlapped with geographic information that has been previously developed by different institutions of the country, which allowed characterizing the agricultural activity of GAM. The results show that farming covers about 24% of the total area of GAM, with predominance of vegetables, coffee and Saran-net protected vegetables, coffee and ornamental plants production. Vegetables are the most important crop in area, covering 52% of the agricultural area of GAM, followed by coffee with 44%, while production of ornamentals under Saran-net represents only about 4%. Analyzing the changes occurred in the agricultural activity of GAM in the last 28 years, coffee production area decreased by 3569 ha, which amounts to 17% of the 22 545 ha identified in 1983.

Remote recognition; changes in land use; Major Metropolitan Area; Geographic Information Systems (GIS); agriculture