Assessment of Physical Suitability of Soils for Vegetable Production in the Libga Irrigation Scheme, Northern Region, Ghana Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process and Weighted Overlay Analysis

Abstract

Assessing the suitability of soils for agricultural production is critical in promoting sustainable agriculture. Knowledge gained from soil suitability analysis provides the sound basis for making informed decisions about soil management and crop selection in a given area. In view of this, this study was carried out to assess the physical suitability of soils in the Libga Irrigation Scheme for the sustainable cultivation of jute mallow (Corchorus olitorius), tomato (Solanum lycoperscum L.) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea var capitata). Soil samples were collected at 0–30 cm and 30–60 cm depths from 50 geo-referenced points located at the nodes of a 100 m × 100 m regular grid. Particle size distribution, bulk density, total porosity, field capacity, permanent wilting point, available water capacity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, electrical conductivity and pH were determined following standard laboratory protocols at the AGSSIP Laboratory of the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala campus, Ghana. Weighting of soil properties was achieved through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Soil suitability maps for the selected crops were produced using weighted overlay analysis in ArcGIS (10.5). The results showed that generally about 44.3 ha (76.4 %), 44.7 ha (82.2 %) and 55.7 ha (96.0 %) of the irrigation field are moderately suitable for jute mallow, tomato and cabbage production respectively. The major limiting factors for the crops were high BD and acidity levels. The AHP proved to be a very useful tool for the incorporation of farmers’ views into decision making about the suitability of soils for crop production.

Spatial Clustering-Based Gas Station Location Determination

“…Weighted overlay analysis is a technique usually applied in geographic information systems to select a suitable system for a particular use (Zakaria et al, 2022). According to Papadopoulou and Hatzichristos (2019), it requires the analysis of many different factors in raster layers with varying scales of value and relative importance.…”

Sustainable Commercial Sod Production of Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda Grass) in Ghana: Assessing Growth, Visual, and Physical Quality

“…The experiment was conducted at the College of Agriculture Education, Akenten Appiah Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Mampong Campus, from September 2020 to March 2021. The research site is in the savannah transitional zone of Ghana, with an altitude of 457 meters above sea level, and experiences annual rainfall between 1094 mm and 1200 mm, along with mean daily and monthly temperatures of 30.5°C and 32.0°C, respectively [14]. The soil at the site is classified as Ochrosol, formed from Voltaian sandstone, with a pH ranging from 6.0 to 6.5.…”

Extrapolation suitability index for sustainable vegetable cultivation in Babati district, Tanzania

“…Most studies on mapping the suitability of vegetables primarily utilized the top-down multi-criteria decision-making approaches that are subject to expert opinions (e.g., Widiatmaka, 2016;Rahmawaty et al, 2020Rahmawaty et al, , 2021Mugiyo et al, 2021;Zakaria et al, 2022). In these studies, the geospatial layers were first classified into suitability groups based on literature or expert knowledge.…”

“…Mostafiz et al (2021) applied a fuzzy membership method to map suitability of vegetables between different seasons in Bangladesh. Other studies had applied a top-down multi-criteria decision making to map suitability of vegetables without on-farm trial data (Mugo et al, 2016;Mostafiz et al, 2021;Rahmawaty et al, 2021;Yuniarti et al, 2022;Zakaria et al, 2022). Although multiple agencies in Tanzania promote sustainable vegetable farming at scale, detailed maps on the suitability of improved cultivars and related improved agronomic practices are lacking.…”