Land suitability analysis and evaluation for production of fruit trees using gis technology: A case study at Thua Thien Hue

This study aimed to analyse and evaluate the land suitability for certain fruit trees in Thuy Bang commune using GIS techniques in combination with a multi-criteria approach. At first, the databases for GIS analyses had to be developed. The data were obtained through scientific literature review, expert opinions, interviews, and professional officers.
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Land suitability analysis and evaluation for production of fruit trees using gis technology: A case study at Thua Thien HueJOURNAL OF SCIENCE, Hue University, Vol. 67, No. 4A, 2011LAND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION FOR PRODUCTIONOF FRUIT TREES USING GIS TECHNOLOGYA case study at Thua Thien HueHuynh Van ChuongCollege of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue UniversityAbstract. This study aimed to analyse and evaluate the land suitability for certain fruit treesin Thuy Bang commune using GIS techniques in combination with a multi-criteriaapproach. At first, the databases for GIS analyses had to be developed. The data wereobtained through scientific literature review, expert opinions, interviews, and professionalofficers. The suitability assessment in the studied area has been done in two ways: physicalsuitability evaluation and social-economic, environmental suitability evaluation. Integrationof GIS and multi-criteria approach for land suitability analysis could be a usefulmethodology for further research in Vietnam. This approach makes it possible to selectsuitable land use types and crops for each administrative unit at community level.Keywords: Multi-criteria land suitability, fruit trees, GIS, Central Vietnam.1IntroductionThere are different factors influencing the productivity of fruit trees, including cultivars,cultivation technology and the growing conditions, but first of all information has to becollected about:- appropriate farming system and evaluation of land suitability,- appropriate and advanced cultivation methods,- use of growth regulator in order to stabilise the productivity in stress situationLand suitability evaluation and agricultural land use planning are very necessaryand are the basic information for right decision making afterward [2]. In order toachieve high yield and high quality of fruit trees, it is very important to select theappropriate farming system [1] and to estimate the suitable land for certain crops [3],[4].The constraints are mainly due to the lack of suitable land for the crop. In thisregard, land suitability analysis and evaluation using GIS is very important in order todetermine the appropriate land for various fruit trees.The principles of sustainable development make land suitability analysis become13increasingly complex due to consideration of different requirements/criteria. It includesconsideration of not only inherent capacity of a land unit to support a specific land usefor a long period of time without deterioration, but also the socio-economic andenvironmental conditions. In many situations, it is extremely difficult to assign relativeweights to the different criteria involved in making a decision on the suitability of landmapping unit for a land-use type. Therefore it is necessary to adopt a technique thatallows an estimation of the weights. One such technique is the Analytical HierarchyProcess (AHP) [6], [7]. As land suitability analysis requires handling both spatial andattribute data in many data layers, GIS can be used to combine biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics for land evaluation and multi-criteria evaluation tool can bedeveloped to support the decision maker in the trade-off among different stakeholders’interests. Thus, an integration of GIS and AHP into a multi-criteria land suitabilityanalysis is expected to produce promising results in this research.2Study areaThis study has chosen Thuy Bang commune in Thua Thien Hue province, centralVietnam locating at 107°33’E-107°37’E and 16°20’N-16°26’N. Situated in the climatezone of hills and plains of Thua Thien Hue province, it is influenced by the commoneffects of tropical monsoon climatic belt with two distinct seasons. The annual averagetemperate is 240C-250C. The average annual rainfall is about 2,555mm but is irregularlydistributed. The rainy season is from September to January and accounting for 70% oftotal annual rainfall [5].Administratively, there are 13 villages with 1,603 households and 7,766inhabitants; its density is 338people/km2. There are 3,579 people in working age, ofwhich the male labour accounts for approximately 48% and female labour 52%. As anexceptional agricultural commune, home-craft industry and services have not yetdeveloped. Of the natural area only a small part can be used for agriculture becausemost of the land is sloping and has very low fertility.3Materials and methods3.1Data collectionSpatial data sourcesThe main spatial data sources (maps) needed for this study include:(1) Sheets of soil map with scale 1:10,000 [8];(2) Sheets of topography map with scale 1:10,000;(3) Current land use maps in year 2005 with scale 1:10,000;(4) Existing land use planning maps for the period of 2000-2010;14(5) Infrastructural accessibility maps with scale 1: 10,000.(6) Other existing spatial databases;Attribute data sourcesThe main attribute data sources needed for this study include the dataaccompanying the spatial data above and the non spatial data:(1) The data of location, climate;(2) The last census of physical and social-economic infrastructures;(3) The last census of agricultural production and fruit production sector;(4) Ecological requirements of selected fruit trees.Some available materials used for research are data on climate, geology, terrain,vegetation cover, infrastructure, socio-economy, and information about fruit trees of thearea gathered from research organizations, central and local specialized organizations,agricultural expansion development centre, statistics, university libraries and provinciallibraries, such as information on resource and environment, agriculture and ruraldevelopment. Collected materials include annual reports, five-year summation reports,agricultural projects and research, statistical figures from communal to provincial level,and some map documents reviewing research problems gath ...