Abstract
Evaluation of biophysical variables is usually a prerequisite in land suitability analysis for sustainable agricultural production. In Bangladesh, agriculture is the mainstay of national economy and rice is the major food but the production is very low. In particular the rice production of Bangladesh does not meet the demands due to its rapidly growing population. The aim of this study is to determine physical land suitability for rice crop using remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) techniques and to compare present land use vs. potential land use. Integration of remote sensing and GIS is a new approach in Bangladesh because it has not been utilized to solve problems related to agricultural topics, such as in the case of identifying suitable areas for specific crops. The study was carried out in Haripur Upazila (sub district) of Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh. Relevant biophysical variables of soil and topography were considered for suitability analysis. All data were stored in GIS and the criterion/factor maps were generated. For Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE), Pairwise Comparison Matrix known as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied and the suitable areas for rice crop were identified. To generate present land use/cover map, Terra/ASTER 2003/03/22 satellite image was classified by maximum likelihood classification method. Finally, we overlaid the land use/cover map with the suitability map for rice production to identify differences and similarities between the present and potential land use. The results of this research identified in the study area, 37% of current paddy fields were under highly suitable areas and 25% of that was under moderately suitable areas. 35% of current paddy fields were under marginally suitable areas. This research provided information at local level that could be used by farmers to select cropping pattern and suitability.
