Appraisal of irrigation land suitability of semi-arid climatic zone of Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Planning how to use the land resources that are available for irrigation is crucial for reducing the problem of food security. Analytical hierarchy process methodologies were used to undertake an analysis of the appropriateness of land using the GIS approach. Each parameter's weight was assessed using a 6 × 6 pairwise comparison matrix because six parameters, including slope, distance to the nearest road, land use land cover, population density, soil texture and rainfall deficit, are taken into account. After all, the weighted overlay approach of the GIS application was used to create the ultimate land suitability map for irrigation. Using the natural break classification approach, the final map was divided into land suitability classes. Of the entire region, 12.9% fell into the highly suitable (S1) class, 85.14% fell into the moderately suitable (S2) class, and 2.57% fell into the least suitable (S3) class. The finding of the study will play a significant role in performing irrigation taking into account the input parameters and ultimately defining suitable land classes and lands that may be used in accordance with current irrigation technology. HIGHLIGHTS The study focuses on the importance of planning land use for irrigation to address food security challenges.; AHP and GIS methodologies were employed for land appropriateness analysis.; The final map was categorized into three classes: highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), and least suitable (S3), i.e., 12.9, 85.14, and 2.57%, respectively, of the entire study area.;

Keywords

• ahp
• gis
• irrigation
• land suitability
• weighted overlay