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Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the appropriateness of land in Tungi Farm based in Morogoro District, Tanzania for sunflower production using a Geographic Information System (GIS). To determine appropriate areas for sunflower production, three criteria: soil properties (pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, cation exchange capacity, available phosphorus, potassium, and soil texture), topography (slope and altitude), and climate (temperature and rainfall) were selected from the literature and employed in suitability analysis. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method of the Multi-Criteria Evaluation was used to assign a weight to each criterion as per Saaty’s Table. Cumulative weights for each criterion were used in coming up with output maps using ArcGIS 10.8. Each criterion was reclassified and assigned a weighted value. Organic carbon, total nitrogen, cation exchange capacity, and potassium were found to be adequate. Topography and climate were suitable for the sunflower production. The results from land suitability gave S1 (vastly suitable), S2 (relatively suitable), and S3 (minimally suitable) of about 51% (1022 ha), 34% (671 ha), and 15% (307 ha), respectively. The suitability map in this study could be vital and helpful in management decision options. However, the criteria considered for land suitability evaluation were mainly based on the biophysical environment, and, hence, further studies can be carried out by integrating socioeconomic parameters to improve the suitability results of the study area.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Emmanuely Z. Nungula
Emmanuely Nungula is an MSc student with a passionate research interest in GIS, soil fertility management, and land use planning. Jayne Mugwe and Harun Gitari are dedicated lecturers at Kenyatta University with expertise in Integrated Soil Fertility Management. Boniface Massawe is a GIS and pedologist specialist based at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania. Mahmoud Seleiman is an agronomist from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, whereas Nawab Ali is a Biosystems Engineer based at Michigan State University USA.