Advancing Rice Agriculture in Nigeria through GIS and AHP

This research focused on evaluating the sutability of land for rice farming within the Kabba/Bunu local government area Nigeria using an integrated approach that combines the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) within a Geographic Information System (GIS). The selection of key factors such as climate soil topography and land use/land cover (LULC) was guided by the FAO''s guidelines and expert recommendations. Through the integration of GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and the application of AHP for prioritizing these factors we developed weighted suitability layers culminating in the creation of a comprehensive map indicating areas optimal for rice cultivation. The land was categorized into five suitability levels: most suitable more suitable suitable less suitable and not suitable. The findings confirm the efficacy of AHP in conducting such analyses provided the correct variables are chosen. Notably approximately 38% of the region primarily in the south was identified as moderately suitable for rice cultivation.