Land suitability analysis for Tabriz County, Iran: a multi-criteria evaluation approach using GIS

In our research we investigated the optimal utilization of land resources for agricultural production in Tabriz County, Iran. A GIS-based Multi Criteria Decision Making land suitability analysis was performed. Hereby, several suitability factors including soils, climatic conditions, and water availability were evaluated, based on expert knowledge from stakeholders at various levels. An Analytical Hierarchical Process was used to rank the various suitability factors and the resulting weights were used to construct the suitability map layers. In doing so, the derived weights were used, and subsequently land suitability maps for irrigated and dry-farm agriculture were created. Finally, a synthesized land suitability map was generated by combining these maps and by comparing the product with current land use SPOT 5 satellite images. The resulting suitability maps indicate the areas, in which the intensity of land use for agriculture should increase, decrease or remain unchanged. Our investigations have revealed that 65676 hectares may be suitable for irrigation and 120872 hectares may be suitable for dry-farm agriculture. This indicates a substantial potential to satisfy the significantly increasing regional demand for agricultural products. The results of our research have been provided to the regional authorities and will be used in strategic land use planning.