Land Suitability Mapping for Optimum Soybean Production in Konshisha Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Land suitability mapping is a pre-requisite for optimum crop production and sustainable use of the land to provide food security. Soya bean is one of the most valuable food and cash crops produced in Konshisha LGA, Benue State, Nigeria. However, the production is constrained by low yield. Thus, the aim of this study is to map land suitable for optimum and sustainable soya bean production in the study area. As an effort toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of eradicating hunger by 2030. Multi spectral satellite imageries from Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager, Climate Research Unit (CRU), National Aeronautical Space Agency’s (NASA) Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and ORLN DAAC soil data were collected using remote sensing and GIS techniques for Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE). GIS analysis and Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) were carried out. Result of the multi criteria evaluation shows that climate, slope, land use land cover, and available phosphorus are favorable factors, while soil organic carbon, pH and drainage are limiting factors. The result of the overall suitability mapping shows that 30.4% of the land is highly suitable (S1), 69.5% moderately suitable (S2), and 0.1% marginally suitable (S3) for soya bean production in the study area. Based on the findings, the study concluded that low soil organic carbon, pH and poor soil drainage are the main land limiting factors for optimum soya bean production. Therefore, the study recommends application of mixed organic and inorganic fertilizers, agricultural lime, composite manure, agro-forestry, crop rotation, creation of open deep drains and channelization as supplement of the limiting factors for optimum soya bean production in the study area.