A GIS based land suitability assessment for agricultural planning in Kilte Awulaelo district, Ethiopia

Abstract

Land Suitability refers to the ability of a portion of land to tolerate the production of crops in a sustainable way. Such kind of analysis allows identifying the main limiting factors for the agricultural production and enables decision makers to develop crop managements able to increase the land productivity. Objectives of this study were to develop a GIS based approach for land use suitability assessment which will assist land managers and land use planners to identify areas with physical constraints for a range of nominated land uses. Also to help identify the management requirements that will ensure that a particular land use can be sustained without causing significant onsite or off-site degradation to land quality. Georeferenced Soil survey data and field work observations have been integrated in a GIS based land use suitability assessment for agricultural planning in Kilte Awulaelo District, Ethiopia. A suitability map for each land use was developed to illustrate these suitability degrees and display the spatial representation of soils suitable for agriculture. Results showed that land units which have no limitations cover about 7% of the study area. Total area of land units that are suitable for rainfed, irrigated agriculture and open vegetation growth is around 67% of the study area. The study showed also that GIS based approach is a useful tool in land suitability assessment for agricultural planning.