LAND SUITABILITY EVALUATION OF WHEAT AND MAIZE CROPS USING GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES AT RATNANAGAR MUNICIPALITY, CHITWAN

Rajan Lamichhane, Surabhi Chapagain

DOI: 10.26480/bda.02.2025.100.105

ABSTRACT
The research was conducted at Ratnanagar municipality of Chitwan districts to evaluate the land suitability by integrating the Geographical Information System (GIS) that incorporates the multi-criteria evaluations (MCE) and analytical hierarchical process (AHP). Two crops wheat and maize were selected for analysis. Ten parameters taken for study are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic matter, soil PH, precipitation, temperature, slope, aspect, and elevation. A pair-based comparison was done for all the parameters and they were reclassified as per their weights. Weighted overlay analysis was done in ArcGIS 10.2 software. Elevation, slope, aspect, and organic matter were identified as the most influencing factors for both crops. The study revealed that 1456.01ha (21.70%) was moderately suitable (S2), 5106.92 ha (76.14%) was marginally suitable (S3), 143.25 ha (2.13%) was not suitable (N) and 0.53 ha (0.0079%) was not applicable for wheat crop production. Similarly, 22.184 ha (0.33%) was highly suitable (S1), 2631.60 ha (39.23%) was moderately suitable (S2), 3854.62 ha (57.46%) was marginally suitable (S3) and 199.18 ha (2.96%) was not suitable (N) for maize crop production. The area that is not suitable for wheat and maize cultivation should be allocated for other crop cultivation for optimum use of available soil resources. The findings of the study, reveal that the area of the study site is marginally suitable and crops can be grown with major limitations for sustained productivity.

KEYWORDS
Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Multicriteria evaluation, Geographic Information System (GIS), Pair-wise comparison, Remote sensing