Land suitability evaluation for agronomic crops in Khost Province of Afghanistan | |
| Author | Wali, Emal |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AS-14-01 |
| Subject(s) | Land capability for agriculture--Afghanistan Land capability for agriculture--Evaluation |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Agricultural Systems and Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The aim of this research was to develop an agricultural system for agronomic crops namely rice, maize, wheat and saffron that is economically profitable, environmentally safe and socially acceptable at Khost Province of Afghanistan. The objectives were set out to find highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), marginally suitable (S3) and not suitable (N)locations for those agronomic crops using geo-information technology and to study the influence of various physical and socio-economic factors on agronomic crops. The methodology is divided into three main phases: data collection and database creation, physical and socio-economics land suitability evaluation and hierarchical organization and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP)application. For further analysis of physical factors, a special purpose soil survey was conducted where 53 soil samples were collected from different areas of Khost Province. The required laboratory tests for measuring soil pH, salinity level, organic matter contents, and N, P, K and texture classes’ identification were performed in Shaikh Zayed University and Kabul University laboratories and the results were placed in a database. To measure the importance of individual limiting factors both for physical and socio-economics suitability, the AHP was performed based on the ideas of 80 experts for physical suitability from Afghanistan and Thailand and 60 experts and 100 farmer’s ideas for socio-economics suitability evaluation only from Afghanistan. A map of 15 soil sub-groups that were recognized in this research, soil texture, pH, salinity, organic matter, N, P, K and fertility maps from the primary data of soil survey and maps of land use types from three land sate images captured in 1998, 2001 and 2013weregeneratedand used in further analysis of this research. Additionally, maps of rainfall, wind speed, relative humidity and mean temperature of the growing season from the secondary data obtained from NASA organization were generated and used in further analysis of this research. And map of irrigation developed by FAO was also digitized and projected and was used in this research The relative importance of the socio-economic factors was calculated for30land mapping units and applied on a vector map having 30 land mapping units. For the final suitability maps generation, the map of socio-economic suitability and physical suitability were combined. Lastly, a land use map was joined with the final suitability maps to indicate only those areas which are currently not used for other purposes. Finally four individual maps for rice, maize, wheat and saffron showing places that are economically profitable, socially acceptable and environmentally safe were generated upon completion of this research study. This study can be used as a model of land suitability evaluation in all other provinces of Afghanistan, so that consequently, the land areas around the country would be used as economically profitable, environmentally viable and socially acceptable. |
| Year | 2014 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Aquatic Systems(AS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Datta, Avishek; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad;Wattanaporn Meskuntavon; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship;Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE);Afghanistan Partnership Project; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2014 |