Identification of crop suitable land using geospatial techniques and assessment with socio-economic factors—case study from India

Abstract

Crop suitability analyses produce optimal utilisation of existing land resources for sustainable agricultural productivity. This study identified suitable locations for the main crops of West Bengal, India; rice, maize, oilseeds, pulses, wheat, barley, potatoes and vegetables using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). AHP is a multi-decision-criteria approach that requires parameters regarding the crop suitability analysis. Ideal parameters such as slope, elevation, rainfall, soil, land use and land cover (LULC), net sown area, river and road networks, have been selected for the specific study areas. We determined that approximately 55% of lands are under very high to moderate crop suitable zones and some districts in the north and central areas have the maximum amount of highly suitable land as compared to the other districts. The western area showed low suitability due to undulating terrain, rainfall deficiency and infertile soil. The resultant suitability data justified with secondary datasets using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) method showed an 11% error. Our results also correlated the socio-economic factors, agricultural productivity and agricultural labourer, with the crop suitability zones showing a positive relationship of approximately 82% and 72%, respectively. Suitability maps of the study area and their correlations with allied agricultural factors can help decision makers and planners find appropriate zones for crop production.