GIS-based multi-criteria land suitability mapping for sorghum production in South-Eastern parts of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

As global population growth continues to escalate, the imperative for sustainable agricultural practices intensifies. In this context, sorghum, as a vital cereal crop, holds considerable promise for ensuring food security and mitigating hunger. This study focuses on sorghum production in Niger State and highlights the crucial role of site suitability analysis in ensuring sustainable crop production amid global population growth. Employing geospatial techniques, the study maps suitable sites for sorghum production by integrating diverse criteria. The Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) for Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) was employed to assign weighted values to soil, topography, land use, geology and water resources. Subsequently, the Weight Overlay (WO) method merges these criteria, yielding a nuanced suitability map. The findings revealed by the landscape distribution show that 36.46% (697,972 hectares) of the total area is highly suitable, 40.09% (766,055 hectares) is moderately suitable, 17.88% (342,026 hectares) is marginally suitable, 1.18% (22,857 hectares) has low suitability, and 4.36% (83,565 hectares) has very low suitability for sorghum production. Gbako, Bida, Mokwa, Katcha, and Wushishi LGA areas stand out as particularly favourable for sorghum production. The study recommends replicating this methodology for assessing other cereal crops, underscoring its adept handling of restriction factors hereby considering the employed criteria for future evaluations of a comprehensive approach to land suitability analysis to foster sustainable agriculture and large-scale farming in suitable areas employing modern technology.