Land Suitability Assessment for Pulse (Green Gram) Production through Remote Sensing, GIS and Multicriteria Analysis in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh

Billal Hossen,Takeshi Mizunoya,Helmut Yabar

doi:10.3390/su132212360

Abstract

The agricultural potential of Bangladesh’s coastal region has been threatened by the impact of climate change. Pulse crops with high nutritional value and low production costs such as green gram constitute an important component of a healthy and accessible diet for the country. In order to optimize the production of this important staple, this research aims to promote climate-smart agriculture by optimizing the identification of the appropriate land. The objective of this research is to investigate, estimate, and identify the suitable land areas for green gram production based on the topography, climate, and soil characteristics in the coastal region of Bangladesh. The methodology of the study included a Geographic Information System (GIS) and the Multicriteria Decision-Making approach: the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Datasets were collected and prepared using Landsat 8 imagery, the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS) data portal and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council. All the datasets were processed into raster images and then reclassified into four classes: Highly Suitable (S1), Moderately Suitable (S2), Marginally Suitable (S3), and Not Suitable. Then, the AHP results were applied to produce a final green gram suitability map with four classes of suitability. The results of the study found that 12% of the coastal area (344,619.5 ha) is highly suitable for green gram production, while the majority of the land area (82.3% of the area) shows moderately suitable (S2) land. The sensitivity analysis results show that 3.3%, 63.4%, 28.0%, and 1.2% of the study area are S1, S2, S3, and NS, respectively. It is also found that the highly suitable land area belongs mostly to the southeastern part of the country. The result of this study can be utilized by policymakers to adopt a proper green gram production strategy, providing special agricultural incentive policies in the highly suitable area as a provision for the increased food production of the country.

Highlights

Bangladesh, due to its geographical location and social circumstances, is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries [1,2,3,4]
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate and determine the suitable land area with four suitability classes: highly, moderately, marginally, and not suitable, through
In order to ensure the food security of the coastal region of Bangladesh, a land evaluation system is required to find out the potential land area for the cultivation of a specific crop

Summary

Introduction

Bangladesh, due to its geographical location and social circumstances, is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries [1,2,3,4]. Various natural disasters, such as intense rainfall, cyclones, flooding, thunderstorms, tornadoes, storm surges, salinity intrusion, and others, have already occurred in this country, and the intensity of these disasters has been rising in coastal Bangladesh [5]. Coastal areas are more vulnerable to disasters than other parts of the world [6]. These will, in turn, have an effect on the long-term viability of coastal food security [9,10,11]

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion