ASSESSING LAND SUITABILITY FOR SURFACE IRRIGATION USING GIS AND MCDM IN THE CASE OF DINSHO WOREDA SOUTH EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Surface irrigation improves the productivity of agricultural community in any region. It is
viewed as a basic approach to ensure food security, improve crop productivity, incomes of
smallholder’s farmers, and alleviate poverty by generating of additional income. The objective of
this study was to assess land suitable for surface irrigation using GIS and MCDM. In this study,
nine (9) factors, such as slope, land use land cover, proximities to (roads, and rivers), soil type,
soil drainage, soil depth, soil texture classes and Elevation were considered. The data were
entered and analyzed using the GIS tool and multi-criteria analysis of the Analytical Hierarchy
Process (AHP) to determine the suitable area for surface irrigation in the Dinsho Districts.
Using the Weighted Overlay tool, the values of each dataset were weighted and combined to find
the most suitable location for irrigation using the ArcGIS environment. Finally, the irrigation
suitability of each physical land parameters was classified based on the FAO guideline for land
evaluation in to S1, S2, S3 and N suitability classes independently, where the final existing and
potentially irrigable land was identified by weighting the factors of suitability. The results of the
suitability assessment study revealed that about 3694.27ha (17.97%), 9923.17ha (48.3%),
6320.04ha (30.75%), and 617.19ha (3%) of lands found in the study areas are highly suitable,
moderately suitable, marginally suitable, and unsuitable for surface irrigation, respectively. This
result of the study can serve as baseline information for further study and inputs for decision
makers and farmers should be aware of which area is highly suitable for which types of crops to
improve the potential of farmer’s productivity with knowledge.2