Agricultural land suitability analysis of Southern Punjab, Pakistan using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study area map of Multan division.

Table 1. List of all datasets and their sources.

No	Types of data	Source
1.	Elevation	IFSAR (DEM)
2.	Slope	IFSAR (DEM)
3.	Satellite image (LULC)	Landsat 8 classification
4.	Temperature	NASA
5.	Rainfall	NASA
6.	Soil texture	IFSAR (DEM)
7.	Soil pH	Generated from IFSAR DEM
8.	Altitude	Generated from IFSAR DEM

Figure 2. Flow chart of detail methodology.

Figure 3. Map of soil texture, soil pH, elevation and altitude in Multan division.

Table 2. Description and weights of soil texture, soil pH, elevation and altitude in Multan division.

No	Factors	Criteria	Sub-criteria	Description	Weights
1	Lithological	Soil texture	Clay loam	Highly suitable	0.14
			Silty clay	Moderately suitable
			Sandy loam	Low suitable
			Clay sand	Not suitable
2	Lithological	Soil pH	< 7	Highly suitable	0.12
			7–7.5	Moderately suitable
			–8	Low suitable
			>8	Not suitable
3	Topographic	Elevation (Ft)	<300	Highly suitable	0.11
			300–400	Moderately suitable
			400–500	Low suitable
			>500	Not suitable
4	Topographic	Altitude (Ft)	<500	Highly suitable	0.05
			500–1000	Moderately suitable
			1000–1500	Low suitable
			>1500	Not suitable

Figure 4. Map of temperature, rainfall, slope and LULC in Multan region.

Table 3. Description and weights of temperature, rainfall, slope and LULC in Multan region.

No	Factors	Criteria	Sub-criteria	Description	Weights
1	Climatic data	Temperature	<27	Highly suitable	0.15
			27–27.5	Moderately suitable
			27.5–28	Low suitable
			>28	Not suitable
2	Climatic data	Rainfall	<100	Highly suitable	0.13
			100–125	Moderately suitable
			125–150	Low suitable
			>150	Not suitable
3	Topographic	Slope	< 15	Highly suitable	0.08
			15–30	Moderately suitable
			30–45	Low suitable
			>45	Not suitable
4	Environmental	LULC	Vegetation	Highly suitable	0.22
			Bare soil	Moderately suitable
			Water bodies	Low suitable
			Build-up	Not suitable

Table 4. Area distribution of LULC in Multan region.

No	LULC classes	Area (ha)	Area (%)
1	Vegetation area	1,530,629.88	85.75
2	Bare soil	42,587	2.38
3	Water bodies	23,919.65	1.34
4	Build-ap area	187,949.66	10.53
Total		1,785,086.19	100

Figure 5. Map of agriculture land suitability in study area.

Table 5. Area distribution for agriculture land suitability in Multan region.

No	Suitability classes	Area (ha)	Area (%)
1	High suitable	765,106.73	42.86
2	Moderate suitable	473,827.24	26.54
3	Marginal suitable	285,655.16	16
4	Less suitable	145,054.01	8.13
5	Not suitable	115,443.05	6.47
Total		1,785,086.19	100

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.