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GIS-based multi-criteria land suitability analysis for sustainable agriculture in the northeast area of Tadla plain (Morocco)

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Abstract

Assessment of soil suitability for sustainable intensive agriculture is an appropriate tool to select the land suitable for agricultural production with the least economic and environmental costs. This study was conducted to evaluate the agricultural soil quality in the northeast area of Tadla plain (Morocco) using geographic information system (GIS) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Six soil quality indicators, i.e., pH, organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, texture, salinity and slope were considered and performed in 60 subsurface soil samples. AHP method was utilized to identify the weight of each indicator from the pairwise comparison matrix. The weighted sum overlay analysis was then used to generate the soil quality map in a GIS environment, by overlaying both indicator weights and sub-indicator weights. The studied area was classified into four soil quality categories, i.e., poor, medium, good, and excellent, the percentage of each category is 1.12, 20.98, 61.07 and 16.83%, respectively. The results indicated that 1.12% of the study area has poor suitability for sustainable intensive agriculture due to their unsuitable texture and low salinity, while about 77% of cultivated soils are adapted to agricultural production. The above results could be useful for the management of agricultural activity.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thanks to our colleague from the University of South Dakota, Abdelali Barakat, for his editing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoRessources and Environment Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Béni-Mellal, Morocco

    Widad Ennaji, Ahmed Barakat, Mohamed El Baghdadi, Hakima Oumenskou, Mohamed Aadraoui, Lalla Aicha Karroum & Abdessamad Hilali

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  1. Widad Ennaji
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  2. Ahmed Barakat
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  3. Mohamed El Baghdadi
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  4. Hakima Oumenskou
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  5. Mohamed Aadraoui
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  6. Lalla Aicha Karroum
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  7. Abdessamad Hilali
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Barakat.

Additional information

Communicated by Navin Juyal.

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Ennaji, W., Barakat, A., El Baghdadi, M. et al. GIS-based multi-criteria land suitability analysis for sustainable agriculture in the northeast area of Tadla plain (Morocco). J Earth Syst Sci 127, 79 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-0980-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-0980-x

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