Land Suitability Analysis for Rice Production: A GIS Based Multi-Criteria Decision Approach

Abstract

This study focused on land suitability analysis to identify permissible areas suitable for rice crop production in west central highlands of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The research applied GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Approach. Soil, climatic conditions, and topography were a criteria identified as necessary for the intended application. An Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) was used to rank the various suitability factors and the resulting weights were used to construct the suitability map layers using weighted sum overlay tool in ArcGIS 10.1 platforms. Then, the suitability map for rice crop production in the study area was formed. Accordingly, more than 70% of the total study area were found to be highly and modereately suitable for rice crop production. The relationship between suitability map and current vegetation cover of the study area has also been computed and the result predicts the inverse relationship between the density of vegetation cover and rice land suitability. Overall, the results indicate that the study area has a huge potential for rice production. Therefore, economic levels of agricultural production can be achieved by cultivating rice crop in highly and moderately suitable areas, and practicing diversification of marginally suitable areas to crops other than rice.