Abstract:
Agricultura11and-suitability analysis is a prerequisite to achieve Clltimum utilization of the available land resources for sustainable
agricultural production. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (ARP) technique coupled with Geographic Information System (GIS) can be a
unique tool for land-suitability studies. ARP-GIS technique based on soil nutrient criteria ofsoil texture, pH, organic carbon, electric
conductivity, available nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and zinc was used for land-suitability assessment in Tarkeswar Block,
Hooghly district, West Bengal for growing potato. The study area was classified into suitable land categories based on soil nutrient
levels analysed from 50 randomly-selected plot-based soil samples. Pair-wise comparison matrix-based ranking was computed
considering the importance of each criterion for potato crop in the area. Suitability maps were developed and analysed in ArcGIS
software environment. The total area was classified into ‘highly suitable ’class occupying 61 ha (21%), ‘modemte1y suitable ’class in
195 ha 67%), ‘marginally suitable ’class in 32 ha (11%) and ‘not suitable ’class in 3 ha (1%) land areas. Yield distribution map of potato
crop showed nearly 106 ha (36.5%) area producing higher tuber yield of 20 t.ha-1. The proposed suitability map was validated against
crop yield map where nearly 253 ha (87%) area classified under ‘highly suitable ’to ‘modemte1y suitable ’classes was found to give
better potato yield of 15 tha-1or more. The AHP-GIS technique can be used for crop rotation analysis for multiple seasons for better
crop selection in long run.
