Assessment of Land Suitability in Perennial Crops using FAHP and GIS in Central Vietnam

Background: Perennial crops including rubber and Thanh Tra grapefruit are highly effective land use that has occupied a large area (nearly 11,000 ha) in Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam. Analyzing land suitability in agricultural production is one of the important tools for determining the effective use of land resources and sustainable development. This study aims to evaluate the land suitability of perennial crops in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam. Methods: The study was conducted in different communes in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam from 2022 to 2023 by collecting secondary and primary data together with soil samples from 45 profiles for analysis and finally application of the fuzzy multi-criteria analysis process (FAHP) tool and geographic information system method (GIS) to evaluate the land suitability. Result: The results indicated that economic criteria played the most important role with weights from 0.068 to 0.343, followed by the social criteria (weights from 0.014 to 0.147) and the environmental criteria (weights from 0.011 to 0.051). With land suitability evaluation, the very high suitability area of rubber and Thanh Tra grapefruit (S1) was 3,144.14 ha and 3,742.29 ha respectively. The FAHP and GIS integrated method is a useful method to assess land suitability for land use of perennial crops based on appropriate assessment of FAO land use requirements.