Abstract:
Ethiopia's national economic development is significantly influenced by agriculture. From
the zone level to the national level, agricultural land-use intensification and extensification
appear to be necessary to meet the growing population's demand for food and other
agricultural products. However, the extent, distribution, or level of the land's agricultural
potential have not been well explored and documented. Like other parts of the country, the
agricultural land suitability of South Gondar was not studied. Hence, it is urgently
necessary to match crop requirements with resources that are currently available through
land suitability analysis in South Gondar zone in order to maintain the productivity of
agricultural land. This study aimed to address land suitability analysis by using
geographical information system-based multi-criteria approach in South Gondar zone.
Worldwide data sources, literature reviews, and on-site investigations, were used to
evaluate the suitability of agricultural land in South Gondar zone. Seven criteria were
identified and the criteria were preprocessed as raster layers on a GIS platform, and the
weights of the raster layers were calculated for appropriateness using the analytic
hierarchy approach (AHP). A weighted overlay analysis was used to classify the
agricultural land as highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable and not
suitable. According to the analysis results, 26% of the land coverage of the zone was found
to be highly suitable for agriculture. The moderately suitable and the marginally suitable
lands were 70% and 4% respectively.
Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, Multi Criteria Analysis, South Gondar, Suitability,
Weighted Overlay Analysis.