Agricultural Land Suitability Research Articles

Impacts of climate change on agricultural water management: a review

This study provides an overview on the impacts of climate change on agricultural water management, including agricultural water requirement, water availability and water quality, and the transition of those impacts to crop yield, agricultural land suitability and livestock production systems, considering both long‐term trends of climate and extreme climatic events. A synthesis of findings from local, regional, and global studies guides this article's discussion of scientifically based information, implications for managing the risk of water scarcity and food insecurity, and future research. Negative and positive climate change impacts occurring at the local scale may counteract each other at the global scale (e.g., those on irrigation requirement and arable land availability); the impacts from the various factors can be counter‐balanced too (e.g.,CO2and water deficit impact on crop yield). Meanwhile, the shocks at the local and regional levels have been or will be caused by water quantity and quality problems and are pressing concerns for decision making. Although uncertainty in climate change predictions remains a critical issue for decision making, certain knowledge about the impact on crop production has been obtained from historical data. Finally, future research needs to focus on gaining a more detailed understanding of climate change (especially extreme events), climate change impacts, both natural and social response mechanisms, and adaptation measures of agricultural water management. More focus should be laid on improving impact assessment via the various methods such as retrospective analysis, monitoring, prediction, and strategic risk management. Moreover, planned adaptations in agricultural water management will be needed to facilitate more consistent and more effective responses to climate change, with consideration of the linkage with nonagricultural water uses.WIREs Water2015, 2:439–455. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1089This article is categorized under:Engineering Water > Planning WaterScience of Water > Water and Environmental Change

Agricultural Intensification in Africa: A Regional Analysis

This study assesses the patterns of agricultural intensification in 40 African countries looking at the role fertilizer plays in the process. We propose a set of indicators that uses information on available agricultural land and land suitability to measure intensity of land use in agricultural production. Results show that half of the countries in our sample, those with low population density, have followed a land-abundant intensification path with growth driven by new land incorporated to crop production and increased cropping intensity through the reduction of fallow periods and increased double cropping.

Geology, Household Formation Rules and the Demand for Sons in Vietnam

This paper examines relationship between the suitability of land for plough agriculture and the relative value of male and female children in Vietnam. It is hypothesized that a link between geology and son preference operates primarily through household formation rules, which are partially a consequence of the suitability of land for plough agriculture. A quasi-natural experiment measures the causal impact of the sex of a woman’s first-born child on fertility and under-5 mortality of first-borns. Geography fully accounts for the large observed differences across household types in the impact of male first-borns on, respectively, rural women’s fertility under-five child mortality.

Soil informatics for agricultural land suitability assessment in Seoni district, Madhya Pradesh, India

The soil informatics for agromanagement at district level is a valuable tool for making environmentally suitable land use systems and assessing fertility constraints for crop production in tribal dominated Seoni district, Madhya Pradesh, India. The methodology combining soil survey with geographic information system and standard land evaluation procedures were adopted to evaluate suitability of soil units for locally suitable crops. The physiography - soil map with thirty soil mapping units (series association) was generated over fourteen distinct basaltic and granitic landforms through reconnaissance soil survey. The arability and suitability analysis showed that fifty six per cent of arable land is suitable for eleven land use zones. In arable lands, twenty four per cent of basaltic clay soils in northern plateaus were evaluated as suitable for citrus, sorghum and soybean cropping systems with fertility constraints of low available nitrogen , phosphorus and zinc while 15.3 per cent of granitic soils in southern zone for sorghum and cotton systems having limitations of stoniness, low water holding capacity, low status of available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.

Building Local Capacities in Natural Resources Management for Food Security in the Highlands of Northern Thailand

The objectives were to assess vulnerability context of the Karen community and to enhance community-based natural resource management in relation to agricultural systems and food security. We facilitated key informant and focus group discussions, and conducted household interviews. In the study area of Mae Khanad watershed, the Karen's traditional rice based farming livelihoods were threatened by demographic change and movement, accelerating environment degradation, declining access to suitable agricultural land, and increasing restricted use of forest resources. A few households experienced rice deficits from 3 to 7 months. Despite the income disparity between the lowland and upland-highland villages, the bonding relationships between the northern Thai and the Karen communities enabled an effective management of communal irrigation systems, and mutual understanding between the local conservation officials and the Karen communities helped lessened in land use disputes, and paved way for promising co-management of natural resources. A tentative step-wise procedure for utilizing natural resources was proposed. Unfortunately the local administrative organization was less active and less supportive about community's collective action in natural resource management.

GIS based agricultural land availability assessment for the establishment of short rotation woody crops in Latvia

This study provides a country level estimate of geographically available agricultural land area which has been out of production for more than two years and has not been converted into forest or urban area, and is suitable for short rotation woody crop (SRWC) production to meet EU 2020 renewable energy targets in Latvia. Geographic information system (GIS) was used to estimate the total amount and location of agricultural land suitable for SRWC. Several criteria of restrictions were applied in the assessment process, such as agricultural land use status, soil and slope restrictions, designated territories of protection, minimum size of agricultural land within each tax parcel and minimum tax parcel distance from the roads. A total estimated amount of agricultural land that meets the minimum criteria is 261,710 ha. Most (42%) of the suitable agricultural land for SRWC is in the range from 10 to 50 ha. The greatest proportion (29%) of that land is located in the Latgale region. If only 5% (13,085 ha) of the estimated agricultural land were used for SRWC with yields of 7–10 Mgdry ha−1 yr−1, it could produce 485,475–693,532 MWh of biomass energy annually, which is roughly 412,653–589,502 MWh of delivered energy if the heating systems are 85% energy efficient. It would result in 13–18% of the total heat energy produced by heating plants in Latvia in 2012.

Aptidão Agrícola das Terras Aplicadas em Pequenos Estabelecimentos Rurais do Sudoeste Amazônico

The objective of this study was to evaluate algorithm for capability land use according to the new criteria for technological level. Seventy-nine units of land use have been randomly samples, distributed in three regions of southwestern Amazon, in fifteen farms. In each unit of land use soil samples taken in depth 0-25 cm, 25-60 cm and 60-100 cm, and then, sent to the laboratory to determine the levels of calcium, magnesium and aluminum, potential acidity, clay, sand and silt total, particles density and organic carbon and the remaining phosphorus value. Observations on the rockiness, stoniness, presence of variegated coloration and restricted drainage indicators, slope and position landscape position and annual rainfall average in the region where annotated. These indicators were interpreted by algorithm for the interpretation of land use capacity at the farm level. The algorithms detected variations in agricultural potential, not detectable in studies based on soil survey conducted at scales lower that 1:100,000. Indicating that the technological level conceptualization allowed evaluating differences in agricultural land suitability rightly, even for non-agricultural uses systems. KeyWords : Land Use; Territorial Planning; Environmental Evaluation.

The Implementation of Geographic Information System for Agricultural Commodities Data Inventory and Land Condition Information in Kudus Regency

ABSTRACT Indonesia as an agricultural country needs to ensure the provision of sustainable agricultural land as the main source of income for the majority of its people by fostering the implementation of the principles of efficiency, sustainability, and self-reliance as well as environmentally sound in agricultural land-use. On the other hand, the high population growth of the country (1.4 to 1.5% per year) as well as the economic and industrial development resulted in the degradation and conversion of agricultural lands that hamper the carrying capacity nationally in maintaining independence and food security.Based on this background, system and methodology developed land suitability mapping using spatial and temporal approach. The goals to be achieved is, first of agricultural land suitability analysis is based on the type of agricultural commodities and climate information, both the alignment evaluation of agricultural land use and spatial planning of the area, the third degradation analysis and mapping of agricultural areas based on data for 1990-2010, the four evaluation Spatial Plan (Spatial), and fifth strategies and policies appropriate to the land use for sustainable agriculture and backup. The methods used in this study include descriptive survey, analysis of spatial and temporal data using statistics G*. Range of values used for the classification of documents using agroecological zone guidelines. Keywords : modeling, mapping, spatial, temporal, G * statistic.

Urbanization and agricultural land loss in India: Comparing satellite estimates with census data

We examine the impacts of urbanization on agricultural land loss in India from 2001 to 2010. We combined a hierarchical classification approach with econometric time series analysis to reconstruct land-cover change histories using time series MODIS 250 m VI images composited at 16-day intervals and night time lights (NTL) data. We compared estimates of agricultural land loss using satellite data with agricultural census data. Our analysis highlights six key results. First, agricultural land loss is occurring around smaller cities more than around bigger cities. Second, from 2001 to 2010, each state lost less than 1% of its total geographical area due to agriculture to urban expansion. Third, the northeastern states experienced the least amount of agricultural land loss. Fourth, agricultural land loss is largely in states and districts which have a larger number of operational or approved SEZs. Fifth, urban conversion of agricultural land is concentrated in a few districts and states with high rates of economic growth. Sixth, agricultural land loss is predominantly in states with higher agricultural land suitability compared to other states. Although the total area of agricultural land lost to urban expansion has been relatively low, our results show that since 2006, the amount of agricultural land converted has been increasing steadily. Given that the preponderance of India's urban population growth has yet to occur, the results suggest an increase in the conversion of agricultural land going into the future.

Land Degradation and Natural Environment in the Western Anatolia

The study area is located in the lower part of the Aegean region which is part of the Western Anatolia. The area has appropriate natural environmental conditions (such as climate, topography, soil, water, natural harbor, transportation facilities, etc.). Due to the suitable conditions, there are intensive population and variety economic activities. The settlement started in 2,000 BC with Lydian, Ionians (Ephesus, Miletus, Pergamum, etc.) and continued with Roman, Seljuk and Ottomans. These can be seen in the several places in the research area. Due to the suitable land for agriculture, water sources and forest land, transportation facilities (land and sea transport availability), western Anatolia has been seen continuously under the human pressure.Depending on the increased requirements, settlement areas in the agricultural lands and agricultural activities in the forest land have developed.

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.

Agriculture Land Suitability Evaluator (ALSE): A decision and planning support tool for tropical and subtropical crops

Agricultural land suitability evaluation for crop production is a process that requires specialized geo-environmental information and the expertise of a computer scientist to analyze and interpret the information. This paper presents ALSE, an intelligent system for assessing land suitability for different types of crops in tropical and subtropical regions (e.g. mango, banana, papaya, citrus, and guava) based on geo-environmental factors that automates the process of evaluation and illustrates the results on an attribute table. Its main features include support of GIS capabilities on the digital map of an area with the FAO-SYS framework model with some necessary modifications to suit the local environmental conditions for land evaluation, and the support of expert knowledge through on spatial tools to derive criteria weights with their relative importance. A dynamic program for calculation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a weighting matrix is provided. Expertise and knowledge help ensure that ALSE databases represent realistic, practicable and functional systems. It is useful for decision makers to determine the quality of land for agricultural uses and is intended as a decision and planning support. Responsibility for any decisions based partly or wholly on the output of ALSE rests with the decision maker. ALSE ensures that the results are interpreted correctly within the relevant context, and contributes by maximizing land-use planning and decision support.

Improvement of land suitability assessment for agriculture—application in Algeria

The weighted sum already incorporated into a geographical information system (GIS) makes it possible to identify the best lands useful for sustainable agriculture. However, it does not allow for the inclusion of the decision makers’ preferences so that a choice can be made when there are conflicts between decision makers. Because of their spatial aggregation functions, multicriteria decision analysis methods can facilitate decision making in situations where several solutions are available, various criteria have to be taken into account, and decision makers disagree about one point or another. Combinations between ArcGIS and multicriteria analysis methods in this case Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realite (ELECTRE TRI) and a version of the weighted sum method simple additive weighting, applicable to the vector data model, have been established. The parameters and the classification system of Food and Agriculture Organization are used in this work. This approach has been tested on the area of Mleta in Algeria. Land suitability maps for durum wheat have been produced. Through the comparison between results obtained by these two methods and those available in a classical method, based on manual overlay procedures, it appears that optimistic procedure of the ELECTRE TRI method is better suited to the problem of land suitability for agriculture.

Land suitability decision support for assessing land use changes in areas west of Nile Delta, Egypt

The main objective of this study was to discuss the efficiency of agricultural land suitability for assessing land use types in rural areas. In this research, El-Nubariya area west of Nile Delta was selected as a case study site, which considers one of the high priority regions for future development in Egypt. As input, a total of ten representative soil profiles and number of observations points were used for collecting soil samples. Based on the field survey, laboratory analysis, and satellite image interpretation in cooperation with geographic information system (GIS), the physiographic map was executed. Three main landscape units were identified as follow: marine deposits, eolian deposits, and river terraces. The soils were classified mainly as Typic Torripsamments, Typic Paleorthids, and Typic Calciorthids. Land suitability assessment was done to define maps of the suitable areas for agricultural production using MicroLEIS microcomputer program and ALESarid-GIS system as well. According to the crop suitability results, the most suitable crops to grow in the study area were maize, melon, potato, sunflower, onion, garlic, olive, and date palm in the order indicated. Generally, the data on land suitability resulting from the evaluation models indicated that 56.1 % of the area is considered as suitable, 30.8 % is moderately to marginally suitable, and 13.1 % is not suitable. The main limitation factors for land suitability are the excess of salts, shallow soil depth, and inadequate drainage conditions. The output results are presented as georeferenced soil suitability maps using GIS utilities.

Soil Biology Contribution on Agricultural Land Suitability Evaluation of Wet Tropical Megabiodiversity Regions

Indonesia is in the region wet tropical megabiodiversity it would need to complete the system for agricultural land suitability evaluation in accordance with real conditions, thus increasing the value-added resources optimally and sustainable and accountable production investment. Soil organisms as a component of production support can act as an agent of energy and nutrient cycling in the soil, improving soil physical properties, and controlling pests and disease. For that soil, biological parameters that need to be considered in evaluating the suitability of land that already exist include: N-fixing or P-solubilizing bacteria groups that live symbiosis and free-living, the fungi solubilizing P and soil organic matter decomposition groups, BGA fixing and free-living N symbiotic groups, fauna groups are able to conserve soil organic matter and improve soil physical properties. Important steps that need to be done in the evaluation of land cover inventory of soil biological populations and its role on the growth of crops, and evaluate the suitability of the soil biological parameters of the functional value of commodity options.

A self-adapting fuzzy inference system for the evaluation of agricultural land

The inference rules relating land characteristics to suitability class are crucial to the estimation of agricultural land suitability. In fuzzy logic modeling for agricultural land evaluation, the fuzzy inference, based on membership functions and rule aggregation, is constructed with predetermined evaluation criteria, including value ranges for fuzzy linguistic terms, and weights of land variables. However, most existing evaluation criteria systems are built on the basis of expert knowledge and can be highly subjective and contain uncertainty. This study integrates a genetic algorithm with a multi-criteria evaluation based fuzzy inference system (FIS) to construct a self-adapting system that calibrates its evaluation criteria by self-learning from land samples. In the proposed GA-optimized fuzzy inference model, the criteria for land evaluation are encoded into chromosomes, i.e., each chromosome represents a solution for the evaluation criteria system. The performance of the fuzzy inference system on a training set is used as the fitness of an individual chromosome. The genetic algorithm repeatedly modifies a population of chromosomes through selection, crossover and mutation. To reduce the violation of the constraints for chromosomes and the destruction of excellent genes, the subsets in chromosomes are used as the basic units in crossover and mutation. Some transformations are implemented in mutation to ensure that the new individuals are accorded with the constraints in the evaluation criteria. Three-fold cross-validation (3 CV) is employed to prevent overfitting and to evaluate the performance of the model. The optimized evaluation criteria are produced by decoding the final best chromosome. In the application of the model to the case study area, the accuracy of the evaluation criteria system for the training set increased from 72.08% to 93.34%. The results show that the model is both effective and robust.

Reconstructing prehistoric land use change from archeological data: Validation and application of a new model in Yiluo valley, northern China

Estimation of land use during the Holocene is crucial to understand impacts of human activity on climate change in preindustrial period. Until now it is still a key issue to reconstruct amount and spatial distribution of prehistoric land use due to lack of data. Most reconstructions are simply extrapolations of population, cleared land amount per person and land suitability for agriculture. In this study, a new quantitative prehistoric land use model (PLUM) is developed based on semi-quantitative predictive models of archeological sites. The PLUM is driven by environmental and social parameters of archeological sites, which are objective evidences of prehistoric human activity, and produces realistic patterns of land use. After successful validation of the model with modern observed data, the PLUM was applied to reconstruct land use from 8 to 4ka B.P. in Yiluo valley, one of the most important agriculture origin centers in northern China. Results reveal that about 2–9% of land area in the valley was used by human activity from 8 to 4ka B.P., expanding from gentle slopes along the river to hinterlands in middle and lower parts of the valley. The land cover was affected by increasing agricultural land use during the middle Holocene.

Land Suitability Assessment in the Catchment Area of Four Southwestern Atlantic Coastal Lagoons: Multicriteria and Optimization Modeling

In the present study, a land suitability assessment was conducted in the basin of four Uruguayan coastal lagoons (Southwestern Atlantic) to analyze the productive development while minimizing eutrophication, biodiversity loss and conflicts among different land uses. Suitable land for agriculture, forest, livestock ranching, tourism and conservation sectors were initially established based on a multi-attribute model developed using a geographic information system. Experts were consulted to determine the requirements for each land use sector and the incompatibilities among land use types. The current and potential conflicts among incompatible land use sectors were analyzed by overlapping land suitability maps. We subsequently applied a multi-objective model where land (pixels) with similar suitability was clustered into "land suitability groups", using a two-phase cluster analysis and the Akaike Information Criterion. Finally, a linear programming optimization procedure was applied to allocate land use sectors into land suitable groups, maximizing total suitability and minimizing interference among sectors. Results indicated that current land use overlapped by 4.7% with suitable land of other incompatible sectors. However, the suitable land of incompatible sectors overlapped in 20.3% of the study area, indicating a high potential for the occurrence of future conflict. The highest competition was between agriculture and conservation, followed by forest and agriculture. We explored scenarios where livestock ranching and tourism intensified, and found that interference with conservation and agriculture notably increased. This methodology allowed us to analyze current and potential land use conflicts and to contribute to the strategic planning of the study area.

Integration of MultiCriteria Decision Analysis in GIS to develop land suitability for agriculture: Application to durum wheat cultivation in the region of Mleta in Algeria

Due to constant decrease in farmlands, it is important to identify the best lands useful for sustainable agriculture (productive and profitable agriculture that protects the environment and that is socially equitable). This requirement has resulted in the development of land suitability maps for agriculture by combining several factors of various natures and of differing importance. The integration of MultiCriteria Decision Analysis approaches (MCDA) in a Geographical Information System (GIS) provides a powerful spatial decision support system which offers the opportunity to efficiently produce these land suitability maps. Indeed, GIS is a powerful tool for analyzing spatial data and establishing a process for decision support. Because of their spatial aggregation functions, MCDA methods can facilitate decision making in situations where several solutions are available, various criteria have to be taken into account and decision-makers are in conflict (Dias et al., 2002). The parameters and the classification system used in this work are inspired from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) approach dedicated to a sustainable agriculture. A spatial decision support system has been developed for establishing the land suitability map for agriculture. It incorporates the multicriteria analysis method ELECTRE Tri (ELimitation Et Choix Traduisant la REalité) in a GIS (ArcGIS) within the GIS program package environment. This approach has been tested on the area of Mleta in Algeria. A land suitability map for durum wheat has been produced. Through the obtained results, it appears that ELECTRE Tri method, integrated into ArcGIS 9.2 of ESRI, is better suited to the problem of land suitability for agriculture. The time saving during the development of the land suitability map for the agriculture of the durum wheat was considerable. The coherence of the obtained maps confirms the system effectiveness.

Support system based on GIS and weighted sum method for drawing up of land suitability map for agriculture. Application to durum wheat cultivation in the area of Mleta (Algeria)

Due to constant decrease in farmlands, it is important to identify the best lands for sustainable agriculture (productive and profitable agriculture that protects the environment and that is socially equitable). This requirement has resulted in the development of land suitability maps for agriculture by combining a range of factors. Spatial analysis approaches, based on the concepts of the weighted sum, combined with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) offer the opportunity to efficiently produce these land suitability maps. The functions of the weighted sum make it possible to assign numerical weights, to distinguish between positive and negative criteria and to rank alternatives. A spatial decision support system has been developed for establishing the land suitability map for agriculture. It incorporates a version of the weighted sum method SAW (Simple Additive Weighting), applicable to the vector data model, in ArcGIS within the GIS program package environment. This approach has been tested on the area of Mleta (Algeria) to assess the land suitability for durum wheat agriculture. The parameters and the classification system used in this work are inspired from the FAO. The coherence of results confirms the system effectiveness.