Land Suitability Classes Research Articles

Evaluasi Lahan Fisik dan Ekonomi Komoditas Pertanian Utama Transmigran di Lahan Marjinal Kering Masam Rantau Pandan SP-4, Provinsi Jambi

Most of the land used for transmigration resettlement activities outside of Java Island is marginal land that requires highproduction inputs and susceptible to degradation. One of the need to be taken into consideration in the choice of location is land suitability. The objective of this study is to determine the land suitability of agricultural transmigration area with a case study of Transmigration Settlement Unit (UPT) of RantauPandan SP-4, Jambi Province, for cultivation of food crops, vegetables and perennial crops and analyse the level of biophysical and economical feasibility of several commodities. The actual land suitability assessment for the three agricultural commodities indicate the dominance land suitability classes of S3 (marginally suitable) with terrain, nutrient retention and nutrients available become dominant limiting factors. Economic land suitability analysis indicate that the biggest gross margin is rubber, while the smallest is rice. Results of analysis are used to determine the spatial land use recommendations on transmigration location. Results of analysis are not always in line with the transmigration pattern of land allocation. Nonetheless, these results suggested to be applied, for considerations of land conservation as well as farmers' welfare.

Design of a GIS and multi-criteria based land evaluation procedure for sustainable land-use planning at the regional level

Designof comprehensive, standardized land evaluation tools is challenged by constraints of scale, data availability, validity, and mathematical translation and combination of diagnostic indicators. This study aims to design a GIS-based multi-criteria land suitability analysis that integrates agro-ecological aptitude, environmental impact and socio-economic feasibility criteria in a step-wise procedure combining recent advances in indicator selection, evaluation and weighing – exploiting information from various data sources – with functional mathematical combination procedures. The procedure involves: (1) selection of diagnostic land characteristics, (2) design of the corresponding evaluation criteria and consequent scoring of the diagnostic characteristics, (3) arithmetic combination of the scored characteristics into partial performance indices for agro-ecological aptitude, environmental impact and socio-economic feasibility, and (4) classification of the performance indices into aptitude, impact, and feasibility classes and determination of the overall land suitability class of the proposed land use. The tool’s performance and applicability proved successful in a case study, identifying expansion zones for rubber in Quang Tri province, Vietnam. Local expert knowledge, relevant literature sources, factor-yield relationships and the discriminating power of different land characteristics within the given environment were successfully integrated to select, score and weigh diagnostic land characteristics. Explicit distinction between factors and constraints depending on the fuzziness of their spatial patterns, and between limiting and non-limiting factors depending on their impact and interaction, furthermore allowed to apply the most relevant arithmetic combination procedures.

Land evaluation for major crops in the Indo-Gangetic plains and black soil regions using Fuzzy model.

Land evaluation is carried out to assess the suitability of land for a specific use. Land evaluation procedures focus increasingly on the use of quantitative procedures to enhance the qualitative interpretation of land resource surveys. Conventional Boolean retrieval of soil survey data and logical models for assessing land suitability, treat both spatial units and attribute value ranges as exactly specifiable quantities. They ignore the continuous nature of soil and landscape variation and uncertainties in measurement, which may result in the failure to correctly classify sites that just fail to match strictly defined requirements. The objective of this article is to apply fuzzy model to land suitability evaluation for major crops in the 15 benchmark sites of the Indo- Gangetic Plains (IGP) and 17 benchmark sites of the black soil regions (BSR). Minimum datasets of land characteristics considered relevant to rice and wheat in the IGP and cotton and soybean in the BSR were identified to enhance pragmatic value of land evaluation. The use of fuzzy model is intuitive, robust and helpful for land suitability evaluation and classification, especially in applications in which subtle differences in land characteristics are of a major interest, such as development of threshold values of land characteristics.

TECNOLOGIA DA GEOINFORMAÇÃO APLICADA NO MAPEAMENTO DAS TERRAS À MECANIZAÇÃO AGRÍCOLA

This study aimed to map the lands of Paraiba state aimed at planning and environmental management. With SPRING 5.2.5 program was generated map of slope from altimetry data and using the key of interpretation for assessing the degree of restriction mechanization were classified parameters of soils and generated maps of texture, depth effective, stoniness, drainage and slope. The suitability map mechanization of land was obtained by crossing thematic maps using the language of LEGAL subprogram. The results showed that the classes of land suitability, mechanization had the following percentage distribution: Very High, with 0.44%, High with 2.06%, Moderate with 14.23%, Lower with 58.27%, Restricted with 23.63%, Inept with 0.88% and Special with 0.49%.

Combination of fuzzy and AHP methods to assess land suitability for barley: case study of semi arid lands in the southwest of Iran.

Land suitability analysis, commonly known as land evaluation, is considered an interface between land resourcesurvey and land use planning and management. Land evaluation be carried out to estimate the suitability of land fora specific use such as arable farming or irrigated agriculture. There are several established techniques for generatingland suitability evaluation. This research was carried out to evaluate the capability of a combined fuzzy AHP methodfor land suitability evaluation for barley crops in the southwest of Iran, and to compare the results with the standardmethod of the FAO framework. Eight soil parameters were chosen for cropland suitability analysis and thematicmaps were developed with Kriging method for each of these parameters. Different fuzzy membership functionsobtained from the literature were employed and weights for each parameter were calculated according to AHP.Landscape and soil requirements for barley were determined based on the FAO method. Finally, land suitabilityclasses were provided for each land unit. Comparing the results with expert judgments shows that the fuzzy AHPmethod has a higher accuracy than the standard FAO method. Further development of the fuzzy AHP method wouldbe advantageous for improving the accuracy of land suitability analysis.

GIS-based assessment of land suitability for alfalfa cultivation: a case study in the dry continental steppes of northern China

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is the most valuable perennial forage grass in northern China. We selected 12 ecological criteria and 4 socioeconomic criteria to calculate the suitability of land for alfalfa cultivation in the Xilingol League of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. We combined ecological suitability assessment with fuzzy analysis to standardize the criteria. We used the analytical hierarchy process to determine the weight of these criteria, and used multi-criterion decision analysis (MCDA) to aggregate the criteria. We then calculated the suitability score for each evaluation unit. The suitability was divided into highly, moderately, and marginally suitable, or unsuitable, using the geoprocessing module of ArcGIS 9.3 according to the FAO land suitability classification. We found that highly suitable areas covered 10,799.84 km2, accounting for 5.3% of the total area, and unsuitable areas covered 99,235.87 km2, accounting for 48.9% of the total area. Combining the fuzzy analysis method with the theory of ecological suitability and the MCDA method to evaluate the suitability of land for alfalfa cultivation provided insights that can guide decisionmakers and farmers to make more practical and scientific decisions.

Bayesian Network Application to Land Suitability Classification in the Sewage Sludge Amendment of Agricultural Soils

ABSTRACT Sewage sludge (SS) amendment of agricultural soils has recently become an issue of great interest because improvements in wastewater treatment systems have increased production of this type of waste. This practice is known to benefit soil and crops. However, the potential contamination of the environmental matrices has been rarely assessed because suitable models and data regarding the diffuse contamination of SS in agricultural fields are limited. By using land classification tools, we can evaluate the suitability of each soil parcel, the nature of the local soil, and the landscape parameters, and thus take more confident decisions regarding the management of this waste. In this study, we describe the development of a land classification tool to determine whether SS is suitable for organically amending a given agricultural soil. Bayesian networks (BNs) were used to assess the suitability of agricultural soils located in Catalonia (northeastern Spain). The case study includes a description of the area and the procedure used to develop the BN model. The results of this evaluation are presented in innovative ways, with spatial representation of the probability results to give a broader understanding of the classification problem.

Evaluasi Kesesuaian Lahan Pada Tanah Entisol Di Kecamatan Lintong Nihuta Kabupaten Humbang Hasundutan Untuk Tanaman Kopi Arabika (Coffea Arabica)

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the study was to find out the land suitability classes in Lintong Nihuta regency ofHumbang Hasundutan for coffee (Coffea arabica). 5 SPT (set of land) is determined by pursuant tomap of land, ground type, map of inclination of slope and map of place height yielded fromtopography map with the scale 1 : 50000, is later conducted by overlay. Assessment of landsuitability pursuant to staff criterion center the research of land of Bogor year 1983 with the limitmethod of pursuant to Djaenuddin et al. 2003. The result of analysis showed the unity of all thesample has appropriate class of land potential at SPT (set of land) 1, 2, and 4 is N (rc), class ofland potential at SPT (set of land) 3 and 5 is S3(wa,rc).

Application of a multicriteria decision-making approach for rice land suitability analysis in Turkey

The main objective of this study was to implement a spatial model with a multicriteria assessment approach for rice (Oryza sativa L.) land suitability by using geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The land mapping units resulting from the overlay of the selected theme layers had unique land quality information on which land suitability was based. The selected theme layers of rice include topographic factor (slope), soil physical factors (soil depth, soil texture, drainage, stoniness, hydraulic conductivity), and soil chemical factors (pH, electrical conductivity, CaCO3, soil fertility). These theme layers were collected from existing information. Spatial information of soil physical and soil chemical factors were formulated using a soil map database. Each land characteristic was also considered as a thematic layer in the GIS. In addition, each land quality layer associated with attributed data was digitally encoded in a GIS database. After combining these layers, a resultant map was produced. A land suitability rating model applied to the resultant polygonal layer provided the suitability classes for rice cultivation. Results showed that 79% of the study area was highly or moderately suitable for rice cultivation, whereas 21% of the area was unsuitable for rice cultivation due to soil and topographic conditions. The model was also validated with field studies. According to statistical analysis, there was a significant positive relationship between land suitability classes and grain yields. Grain yield was significantly affected by land suitability class at the level of P < 0.001. As for LSD0.05 test results, the highest yield values of the 12 rice species studied were 7899 ha kg–1 (cv. Halil Bey), 7605 ha kg–1 (cv. Osmancik-97), and 7510 ha kg–1 (cv. Duragan) in the 'highly suitable' class, whereas the lowest yield values were found to be 4764 ha kg–1 (cv. Aromatik), 4403 ha kg–1 (cv. Koral), and 4320 ha kg–1 (cv. Gonen) in the 'marginally suitable' class. This study also confirms the ability of GIS to integrate spatial and attributed data and offer a quick and reliable method of land suitability assessment with high accuracy.

The Development of Papuan Farmers Economy Based Onthe Potentials of Land Resources, Ecology And Cultures In Keerom Regency

This research analyses potential of land resources, village ecology, and culture of Papuan farmers in making use of land resources in Keerom regency, for the development of Papuan farmers’ economy. The class of land suitability was found through the study of document Studies for Agriculture Technology Papua Province, office of agriculture, and also the office of forestry and plantation of Keerom regency. The mapping of commodities was found through the analysis of the map and field survey with the approach of landform and the analysis of geomorphology, and the identificatin of ecology potentials. The culture of papuan farmers was found trhough Focused Group Discussion (FGD) and direct contact with the villagers. The result shows that the class of land suitability for the mapping of commodities of crops, horticulture and plantation,are spread in the districts of Arso, Arso Timur and Waris. Keerom Papuan farmers have not maximally used the farming land because they are still depending on the natural resources. The use of technological tools by papuan farmers is still low. Papuans also do not have capitals for the next planting season, compared with non Papuan farmers. Social capital is so strong that have negative impacts to the income.

Qualitative Land Suitability Evaluation for Main Irrigated Crops in the Shahrekord Plain, Iran: A Geostatistical Approach Compared with Conventional Method

The purity of soil map units and their quality for various uses like land suitability evaluation are always questioned. The main objective of this study was to compare the precision of qualitative land suitability classification based on geostatistical and conventional soil mapping methods for main irrigated crops in the Shahrekord Plain, Central Iran. A regular grid sampling method consisting 104 sample points was designed and soil samples were collected. Ordinary kriged maps were achieved for all studied soil attributes after physico-chemical analyses. Afterward, to combine kriged maps and ecological requirements of the studied crops, a script was designed in ILWIS 3.4 software and consequently, kriged qualitative land suitability maps were generated. Conventional qualitative land suitability was also mapped based on the representative pedon analysis in each soil map unit. Finally, comparison of the conventional and kriged maps was carried out using the statistical method, error matrix. The results showed that the overall accuracies of wheat, sugar beet, potato and alfalfa maps were 39.8%, 24.3%, 18.7% and 18.6% at subclass category, respectively, whereas these values increased to 80.9%, 82.3%, 23.7% and 82.3% at class level, respectively. Hence, it can be stated that thanks to the relative facility of conventional soil survey compared with geostatistical methods, this method can be expressed as a preferable way for handling a usual land suitability evaluation design; but using soil map units as land suitability delineations may lead to unsatisfactory results in estimation of quantity and type of existing limitations.

Qualitative Land Suitability Evaluation for the Growth of Rice and Off-seasons Crops as Rice Based Cropping System on Paddy Fields of Central Guilan, Iran

Land suitability evaluation analysis is a necessecary to achieve optimum management and utilization of the available land resources for sustainable agricultural crops production. One of the most serious and urgent constraint in lowland paddy fields of Iran is to improve agricultural land management and cropping patterns either to increase the agricultural production with proper land use resources or to get more income from out of season plant as a second crops.Therefore, the objective of this study was to find the most suitable off-season crops after rice. Qualitative Land Suitability (QLS) classification of fifteen first and second agricultural crops in the paddy fields of the Guilan plain in Iranunder RBCS that covers an area of 40567 ha was carried out. By using the semi-detailed method of soil classification, 24 soil unites at 11 soil series in five different physiographic units were indentified (river alluvial plains (5 series), low lands (2 series), river banks (2 series) and coastal plains and sand dunes (2 series)). Land and climate characteristics of each crop with its requirements were also determined and rated based upon Parametric and simple limitation method proposed by Sys et al. [1]. The obtained indexes indicated that land suitability classes varied from S2 (moderately suitable) to N (Not suitable). The highest land suitability class for crops are: S2 for Rice, Spinach, Beans, Radish, Garlic, Shall cress, Clover, Lettuce, Rape seed, Bean (vulgaris and faba cultivars) and S3 for Wheat, Carrot, Barley, Triticale, and Rice (Ratoon). The most important limiting factors are: climate (low temperature and high rainfall at vegetative and reproductive growth stages), drainage (shallow water table depth), soil (texture) and fertility (low organic carbon content, pH) (alone or in combination) respectively, those influence adversely on the land suitability classes, especially climatic and drainage limitation, because of growing season in autumn and winter Verification of the factors and their relative significance is very important for decision on land suitability.Keywords: Land Suitability, Paddy Fields, Rice, Second Crops.

Evaluasi Kesesuaian Lahan Untuk Tanaman Apel Di Desa Sihiongkecamatan Bonatua Lunasi Kabupaten Toba Samosir

The objective of this research is to evaluate the land suitability for Apple Trees at Sihiong Village, Bonatua Lunasi Subdistrict, Toba Samosir District. The results of this study showed that 11 soil map units found based on the map of soil and the map of topography, and than it makes to overlay. The evaluation of land suitability classes based on the criteria given by Resesarch Center,IPB Bogor 1983 and the evaluation method is limitation method based on FAO 1976. The results of this research showed that the highest actual of land suitability classes is land mapping unit two (S3 nr,eh) and the highest potential of land suitability classes is land mapping unit 1,3,5,7,8,10,11 (S1) Keywords: land suitability evaluation,apples, sihiong village

Species diversity and forage value of herbage in a neglected coconut land proposed for livestock integration

The proposed coconut land is situated in the southern province. belongs to the land suitability class S4which is moderately suitable for coconut. Therefore, managing coconut as rnonoculture is unprofitableand steps have been taken to optimize the land use through livestock integration. Therefore, objectiveof this study was to investigate the species diversity and forage value of understory vegetation in thecoconut land before introducing cattle. Stratified quadrate sampling technique was adopted and 4samples each from 6 paddocks (approx 0.4 ha) were randomly taken. Each stratum contained morethan 80% of edible species while the non edible species found in all strata were common uplandweeds Axonopus affinus (carpet grass), Axonopus compressus (narrow carpet grass) andDesmodium trifolium were dominant prostate grass and legume species found in 0-5 em strataabove ground level. In addition to above species Pueraria phasioloides (Centro) was found to bedominant in 5-15 em strata. Crysopogen ariculatus and Pueraria phasioloides were dominant in15-25 cm strata while Seteria anceps (fox tail grass) found to be dominant above 25 em height. Thecommon non-edible species found in the lower two strata's were Urena lobota, Hemidcsmus indicumand Ocimum tenuiflorum while Lantana camara and Ocimum tenuiflorum were dominant in uppertwo strata's. The dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) content of edible herbage increased frombottom to top layers ranged from 390 gkg' to 480 gkg' and 75 gkg' to 100 gkg' respectively.The results of this study reveal that the species diversity and forage value are in an acceptablestandard to initiate cattle grazing. However, crop and cattle management strategies are important inorder to improve coconut and livestock performance.

Agricultural land use suitability analysis using GIS and AHP technique

The aim of this study was to determine suitable lands for agricultural use in the Yusufeli district of Artvin city (Turkey), where the current agricultural land in the district center and 3 villages will be completely inundated while the land in 22 villages will be partially inundated due to three large dams currently being constructed. The “Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)” method, commonly used in land use suitability analysis, was utilized in this study. In application, the parameters of great soil group, land use capability class, land use capability sub-class, soil depth, slope, aspect, elevation, erosion degree and other soil properties were used. In determining the weights of the parameters, experts’ opinions were consulted, and the agricultural land suitability map generated was divided into 5 categories according to the land suitability classification of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). After deducting the forests, pastures and reservoir areas from the reclassified suitability map, it was estimated that 0.08% of the study area (177.87ha) is highly suitable for agricultural production, while 1.55% (3578.33ha) is moderately suitable and 6.3% (14575.91ha) is marginally suitable for agricultural production. In addition, it was found that the proportion of land that is currently unsuitable for agricultural production is 2.24% (5183.63ha), while the amount of land that is permanently unsuitable is 3.42% (7923.39ha). It was also determined that the following facts were all effective factors in reaching these results: a substantial portion (approximately 85%) of the study area is covered with forests and pastures, the soil depth is inadequate for agricultural production, the slope in the study area is quite high and, accordingly, the erosion degree is high.

Land Evaluation of an Agricultural Landscape in Dingyadi District, Sokoto State, Nigeria

A semi-detailed survey was conducted to evaluate the soils of an agricultural landscape in Dingyadi area of Sokoto State. Three soil mapping units TLL1, TUP2 and TUP3 were identified on the basis of land forms and surface texture. USDA land capability classification, Fertility capability classification and land suitability classification were use for this purpose. The soils were grouped into various Land capability classes as class IVw, IIIse, and IIIes for TLL 1, TUP 2 and TUP3 respectively. In land fertility capability classification (FCC) soil units TLL 1, TUP 2 and TUP3 were classified as LSg, Lde and Sde respectively. The suitability of the soil was assessed for two major crops (Cowpea and pearl millet) grown in the area TUP2 and TUP3 are rated moderately suitable for cowpea and pearl millet (S2s) while TLL 1 was rated currently not suitable (N1Sw) for cowpea and pearl millet because of limitation of wetness. Management practices such as periodic monitoring of soil quality, adding organic manure and guided inorganic fertilizer use have been recommended for improve productivity.

Land suitability classification of some Qalubiya soils

Land suitability classification of some Qalubiya soils

Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation on Land Suitability to Crops: The Case of Anjeni Watershed, Northwest Ethiopia

Soil loss in Ethiopia due to water erosion is a serious economic and environmental problem. Soil and water conservation (SWC) practices provide multiple onsite and offsite benefits. Thus, the present study was carried out to examine the long-term impacts of SWC measures in improving ecosystem services in general and land suitability to crop production in particular. Land suitability classes (LSC) were accounted using the multi-criteria analysis (MCA) on bio-physical variables of the environment. LSC were sorted by combining the FAO framework of land evaluation with GIS tools. Thus, LSC for teff (Eragrostis teff), maize (Zea mays L.), barley (Hordeum vulgaris L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were found S2 and S3 in 1984 and 1997 whereas in 2010, some areas were transformed to S1 classes for wheat and teff. Suitable land allocation for these crops was made and 50% of the watershed is found to be S1 class for wheat while about 40% is in S2 class for all crops. In 1997 barley and teff covered 29.2% and 28.9%, respectively. While in 2010, 19% of the area was covered by teff, 18.9% by maize, 16.9% by barley and 15.6% by wheat. Wheat and maize showed significant spatial expansions that are best indicator crops for the betterment of the land quality or soil improvement.

Land Suitability Assessment for Rice Cultivation Based on GIS Modeling

The main objective of this study was to develop a spatial model for land suitability assessment for rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation using geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The land mapping units, resulting from the overlay of the selected theme layers, have unique land quality information, on which land suitability is based. Results showed that 55.5% of the study area is highly or moderately suitable for rice cultivation, whereas 34% of that area is unsuitable for rice cultivation due to soil and topographic conditions. The model was also validated with field studies. According to the statistical analysis, there was a significant, positive relationship between land suitability classes and grain yields. Grain yield was significantly affected by land suitability class at the level of P < 0.001. The highest grain yield was obtained from rice plots in the S1 class (7287 kg ha-1), followed by S2 (6872 kg ha-1) and S3 (3928 kg ha-1) classes.

Agroecological Zoning and Land Suitability Assessment for Maize (Zea mays L.) Development in Buton Regency, Indonesia

From a regional planning perspective, information on agroecological zones, land characteristics and its suitability for a certain land use type is needed for more efficient land management decisions. The main aim of this paper is to assess land characteristics and to evaluate land suitability for maize cultivation on a regional basis. This research was conducted from August 2012 to February 2013 on 10 locations (sub-districts), in the main land of Buton Island, Indonesia, namely: Batauga, Sampolawa, Lapandewa, Wabula, Pasarwajo, Wolowa, Siontapina, South Lasalimu, Lasalimu, and Kapontori. Three main stages were undertaken in this study: survey, mapping, and evaluation, to assess land suitability for maize development. Land suitability map for maize was developed in GIS, based on such parameters as climate (air temperature, air humidity, and rainfall), soils (texture, pH, C-organics, clay CEC, drainage, and erosion condition), and physiography (topography, landform, and altitude). Land suitability classes were grouped into very suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), marginally suitable (S3), currently not suitable (N1), and permanently not suitable (N2). The results show that due to severe limiting factors, suitable land (class S3) covers only a total area of 509.60 ha, or only 0.64% of the total potential area for development (74,664 ha). This was mainly located in Sampolawa sub-district 405.34 ha (0.54%) and Kapontori 104.26 ha (0.14%). Other locations in general, fall into permanently not suitable class (N2) with a total area of 61,113.08 (81.85%), where the largest area was found in Pasarwajo 12,616.68 (16.90%); and currently not suitable class (N1) covers only 13,042.01 ha (17.47%), where the largest area was in South Lasalimu 6,5459.23 ha (8.32%). This research may be useful as references for efficient spatial decision making in the allocation of maize in the region.