LAND SUITABILITY FOR RICE CROP FARMING IN KWARA STATE USING GIS-BASED MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS
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Date
2022-03-23
Journal Title
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Publisher
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, ScCyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.
Abstract
This study employs GIS-based multi-criteria decision approach to identify suitable areas for
cultivating rice crop in Kwara State, Nigeria, using essential climatic, soil, terrain and
environmental variables selected based on FAO framework for land evaluation. Weights
indicating the relative importance of each variable was determined using Analytical
Hierarchical Process (AHP). The criteria, their weights and constraints were integrated in GIS
environment to produce suitability map, classified into five levels of suitability (Very highly
suitable, highly suitable, moderately suitable, low suitable and not suitable) using weighted
overlay operation. The result indicates that 9.7% (343803.75 ha) of the total land area is
unsuitable for cultivating rice while 14.6% (516169.46 ha) is classified as low suitable area.
The moderately suitable, highly suitable and very highly suitable classes occupy 30.8%
(1091145.20 ha), 40.56% (1436504.55 ha) and 4.4% (154408.94 ha), respectively. Quantitative
assessment of the work yields overall accuracy (area under the ROC curve) of 0.97 (97%).
Based on the findings of this study, we recommend that the state land use planning agency
review zoning mechanism, incorporates grassroots participatory land use planning policy and
evaluate suitable land for other essential crops by incorporating GIS in order to sufficiently
allocate lands for optimal utilization.
Description
Keywords
Remote sensing, food security, agriculture, AHP, Nigeria, land use planning
Citation
A. Babalola, M. O. Idrees, R. K. Aniyikaye, H. A. Ahmadu, and O. A. Ipadeola (2021). Land suitability for Rice crop farming in Kwara state using GIS-Based multi-criteria decision analysis. Journal of Agricultural, food and environmental sciences, Vol 75, No.1. pp. 32 – 47