Multi-criteria assessment and geostatistical approach for determination of rice growing suitability sites in Gokirmak catchment

Land suitability analysis is a prerequisite to achieving optimum utilization of the available land resources. Lack of knowledge on best combination of factors that suit production of rice has contributed to the low production. The aim of this study were to determine the most suitable areas for rice crop (Oryza sativa) based on some physic-chemical properties of various alluvial soils in the Gokirmak catchment located on the Sinop-Boyabat district in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey. To overcome the management and analysis of large volumes of spatial data for land suitability in this study, the geographic information system, geostatistic techniques and multi-criteria assessment using analytical hierarchy approach approaches were used to solve complex geographical problems and to reach reliable results for rice cultivation. According to results, 65.1 % of the study area has highly (S1) and moderately (S2) suitable whereas, 34.9 % of the study area has marginally suitable coded as S3 for rice cultivation.