Modeling Earth Systems and Environment

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-018-0478-1

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Quantitative land evaluation based on fuzzy-multi-criteria spatial

model for sustainable land-use planning
Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman1 · Adel Shalaby1 · E. F. Essa2

Received: 6 February 2018 / Accepted: 23 May 2018

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
Evaluating land according to its suitability and soil mapping is an important contribution for agricultural land use planning.
Therefore FAO system was used to produce suitability sub classes for horticultural and field crops. Land capability map
was produced at a scale of 1:10,000 using soil information according to USDA criteria. All attributed insight analysis were
ranked according to them priority and performed with analysis criteria to provide the spatial extent of soil suitability and
capability. Also a new dimension was added in the spatial model to determine capability index for soil suitability to differ-
ent irrigation methods. The overall accuracy of used spatial model is 89% and the validation was carried out through field
work. The significance of the created model for mapping is being at a detailed survey level. The landforms were mapped
using SRTM combined with sentinel satellite image of the studied area. Accordingly landforms were represented by 33 soil
profiles collected in 2015. Another 32 auger profile samples were dug to identify the boundaries among landform units. The
capability units were produced in association with geomorphology units. The study shows that 662.4 km2 (33%), 715.9 km2
(35.6%), 85.8 km2 (4.3%), 25.4 km2 (1.3%), 490.6 km2 (24.4%) and 30.0 km2 (1.5%) of the area were categorized in II, III,
IV, and V, VI (sand dunes and quarries (and VII (Rock outcrops) land classes respectively. The produced suitability sub-
classes demonstrates that the land use must be planned for according to identified land capability classes (LCC) to maximize
agricultural productivity and sustain the land resources for future generations.

Keywords  Land capability · Land forms · Soil data · Spatial analysis · Land use planning

Introduction land evaluation (QLE) for soil site suitability. Land suit-
ability (LS) has been used to assess suitability subclasses
Proper productivity and its sustainability require appropri- for different crops and hence, help in generating cropping
ate management of land resources. To develop a sustain- pattern. LE is following a scientific procedure used to assess
able management plan requires identifying a specific factor land constraints and its potential for agricultural purposes
for agricultural production using a selected land evaluation (Rossiter 1996; FAO 2007). LE is a useful tool to identify a
system. Spatial modeling provides a good platform for inte- specific part of land for specific crops to attain highest pos-
gration of multi-criteria factors to obtain a single product. sible yield (Elsheikh 2015). LE is the process stablished to
Land is a limited valuable resource; therefore a wise man- predict land performance over time depending on particular
agement should be strictly applyed for the maximum avails kinds of uses (Van Diepen et al. 1991; Rossiter 1996; FAO
(Panhalkar 2011; Panhalkar et al. 2014; AbdelRahman et al. 2007). These estimated predictions are the guide used in the
2017). FAO land evaluation (LE) procedure and USDA land strategic land use decision making (Mohammd et al. 2011).
capability classification (LCC) were utilized for quantitative Therefore, soil resource inventories are the primarily tra-
ditional bases for LE, obtained through soil surveys. Land
forms and features are affecting soils and influence their geo-
* Mohamed A. E. AbdelRahman morphic evolution (Schaetzl and Anderson 2005). Detailed
maekaoud@gmail.com; maekaoud@narss.sci.eg soil properties in association with land forms units are
1 initially used mainly to match the requirement of different
National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences,
Cairo, Egypt crop production systems i.e.(crops, fertilization, rotations,
2
National Research Center, Dokki, Egypt

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 Modeling Earth Systems and Environment

varieties conservation measures, and other land practices) Minya Governorate in Egypt. The uncontrolled use of land
(Bibby et al. 1991; Klingebiel 1991). resources caused degradation of the soil and the overexploi-
This system of the land capability (LC) approach, the tation of groundwater (Hamade 2012). Such new reclaimed
general classes is grouped depending on soils types and areas in Egypt are suffering from long standing water man-
their ability for production in term of agricultural use (Ros- agement problems (Azzam 2016).
siter and Van 1997). The soil map is a remarkable potential The geodatabase of land use/land cover and temperature
complex of scientific nature to solve agriculture problems was generated from data derived from Landsat OLI RS
in practice (Rushemuka et al. 2014). However, its informa- satellite, soil survey and climatic data of the nearest sta-
tion must be explained in an easy way that has meaning to tion then integration analysis of all these data performed in
the end user. This could solve the challenges of using these the geographic information system GIS environment. The
maps to work in a trans-disciplinary fashion (Wielemaker USDA LCC was used to delineate arable and non-arable
et al. 2001; Bui 2004). Those challenges could be solved by lands then non-arable areas were removed from the database
using GIS spatial model. The soil map offers a remarkable using mask analysis to be evaded from LE analysis. All LE
potential to constitute a tool to solve agriculture problems, parameters, viz. soil depth, slope, texture, course fragments,
in practice; however, it remains underutilized because of and erosion under various land units were estimated and
its complex scientific nature (Rushemuka et al. 2014). Soil evaluated to determine suitability subclasses.
scientists have realized the challenges of using these maps The study area “west Minya Governorate” was chosen
to work in a trans-disciplinary fashion (Wielemakeret al. between the old Nile valley and the promising reclamation
2001; Bui 2004). The information of the soil map must be area “west-west Minya” according to the state develop-
explained in an easy way that has meaning to the land own- ment plan. Agricultural expansion in the area is carried out
ers, decision makers and land-use managers. by the local population and some agricultural companies.
The developing countries are nominated by over-exploi- The importance of expanding agricultural investment is to
tation of natural resources, scarcity of inputs like chemi- ensure that the needs of the Egyptian population are met.
cal fertilizers and intensive agriculture (Fresco et al. 1991; The Land Evaluation (LE) is a site assessment system that
Lanen et al. 1992). All of this could lead to over-misuse of helps in making decisions for suitable land use. Combined
normal assets. Analysis of LE for crop suitability is resolv- with climatic parameters and soil characteristics, LE consid-
ing these glitches by giving better land-utilize alternatives to ers site of the land resource, meanwhile each land parcel is
the agriculturists (Martin and Saha 2009). Constant routine weighted with numerically rank based on soil profile loca-
with regards to fixed pattern of single cropping system lead tion. This help to build a technical framework for sustainable
with time to deterioration of soil health, which reduce soil use of the resources. For agriculture, each soil is classified
pliability for preserving productivity (AbdelRahman et al. according to LE into groups rated to its suitability for a spe-
2016). Consequently results in yield decrease, and even cific agricultural use, either field and horticultural crops or
use of mineral composts cannot enhance the productivity both. Then, a relative value is determined for each group.
as required. (Oz and Friedman 2001). Hence LCC and LE The land evaluation is based on data from Soil Survey, soil
analysis for crop suitability is essential under various soil analysis, and environmental parameters. Identifying areas
systems. LE cannot be driven from remote sensing (RS) data of highly suitable for agricultural is a main input to plan a
alone unless the soil and climate data are integrated with reclamation development. Therefore the main objective of
RS data in GIS platform for any specific area. Through RS this study is to create Fuzzy-Multi-Criteria spatial model to
data; various physiographic units and site characteristics are quantitatively assess land evaluation based for sustainable
delineated. However, profiles analyses of physio-chemical land use planning.
and biological characteristics of the soils are essential inputs
for commencing LE. Soil survey data is a major input for
generation of soil map which helps in deriving LE for a Materials and methods
specific crop and cropping system analysis. For this pur-
pose the geographical information system (GIS) is used to Study area
integrate RS data and soil survey information to assess both
of LE and LCC. Profitable agricultural products are not The study area is located between latitudes 27°35ʹ and
being gained merely by intensive mechanization and ferti- 28°47ʹ N and longitudes 30°20ʹ and 30°43ʹ E, at the western
lizer application without the correct land use (Taffa 2002). of River Nile as shown in Fig. 1. It covers around 2010 km2
Therefore LE is needed to develop an optimal decision to in El-Minya Governorate, Egypt. The area bounded by River
support the agricultural development in the study area. Most Nile from the East, the limestone plateau in the West, Beni
of the study area is a recent reclaimed area through the last Suef Governorate from the North and Assiut Governorate
three decades, located adjacent to the old Nile valley in west from the South. The total area of El-Minya Governorate is

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Fig. 1  Location map of the study area

32,279 km2, from which 30,439 km2 is desert lands while of 0.83. Generally, classification result with Kappa value
the rest of the governorate is agricultural lands. between 0.70 and 0.85 is believed to be acceptable (Mon-
serud 1990; Temesgen et al. 2017a, b). Thus, the classified
Remote sensing data and generation of thematic image was in agreement with validated information built in
maps the data set.

Remote sensing data used in this study are Landsat satel- Climate, geomorphological and geological setting
lite (OLI), for land use and land cover mapping, and SRTM
data for generating length and degree of slope from 1 to 3 According to Korany et al. (2006) the area climate is classi-
arc-seconds SRTM data (downloaded from http://www.usgs. fied as arid to semi-arid; rainless, dry. the region is having a
gov). ArcGIS 10.4.1 was used to produce all maps including hot summer while winter is mild. Winter has rare precipita-
land form units. The rating developed by FAO (2007) was tion. In the last 15 years; average rainfall values roved from
used to reclassify different thematic layers using reclassify nearly 23.10–33.20 mm/year, while was 4897.90 mm/year
tool. All layers of the different levels of soil parameters were for the evapotranspiration at El Minia. The temperatures are
weighted and overlay to produce soil capability units and to ranged from 4.5 °C to 20.5 °C and from 20.5 °C to 37.7 °C
define land suitability subclasses. The overall accuracy of during January and August respectively. Relative humidity
classified image was of 93.7% and Kappa coefficient was in the area is varying with small scale from 68% to over

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70% in January and June respectively. Two high calcareous profiles were digged, and described according to the FAO
plateaus are bounding the River Nile and it runs between guide (1990). Samples analyzes were estimated for their
both to the east and west. The plateaus’ slope is about 0.1 m/ main characteristics of physical and chemical properties
km from south to north (Korany et al. 2006). According to according to (USDA 2012). Consequently (USDA 2014)
the climatic data, soil temperature and moisture regimes are was used to produce Soil Taxonomy of the investigated soil
thermic and torric respectively, according to soil taxonomy profiles. Azzam (2016) found that there are two soil orders
classification 2014. According to Ahmed et al., (2016) Geo- are detected in the west of Minya Governorate i.e. Aridis-
morphologically, in the area from west to east, two units are ols, prevailing soil order in the examination territory and
dominated; (a) limestone plateau and (b) old alluvial plain. Entisols.
(a) Sands and gravels alluvial deposits cover the limestone
plateau. This structural formation is bounding both sides east Spatial model
and west of the Nile Valley from, and (b) in the western side
of the valley, lies adjacent to the cliff of plateau. It includes Fuzzy Overlay (Spatial Analyst) model was used in this
the new reclaimed land in west of the valley which irrigated study to combine fuzzy membership of all raster data
by groundwater in the western desert. together, based on selected overlay type determined with
the rate and weight of each soil parameters. It required to
Soil‑physiography be applied to raster with values that range between 0 and
1. Fuzzy Membership were implement to transform the
Physiographic map has been generated using the analysis input raster into a 0 to 1 scale, which used as indicating
introduced by Zinck and Valenzuala (1990) by overlaying the strength of a membership in a set, based on a specified
Landsat image over SRTM data. The locations of digged fuzzification algorithm.
soil profiles sited in transects cover all mapping units. 33

Fig. 2  Data processing flow chart for generating land evaluation maps

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Modeling Earth Systems and Environment

Land evaluation classification (LEC) affect directly on roots zone and their hollowness from ade-
quate ability of nutrient uptake (Bibby et al. 1991; Taffa
The studied soils were examined for their suitability for agri- 2002). While there are associated factors has direct effect
culture development sing FAO system (2007). Also soils such as texture and nutrient availability. Soil depth and tex-
were examined for their capabilities and limitations using ture maps were generated from field survey and laboratory
U.S.SCS (1992). The followed steps of the methodology analysis of the augers and profiles samples. Soil depth is a
procedures are diagramed in the next flow chart (Fig. 2). major element in the drainage system in the field. For this
The capability factor maps were developed using RS data, Rees (1995) stated the importance of estimating the drain-
i.e. slope in percent was generated using ASTER GDEM age classes; poor and excess drainage which inhibits plant
and land use map was produced using Landsat-8 OLI_TIRS growth or moderate and well drainage which facilitate plant
2017. The different layers of the different LC criteria were growth. Therefore drainage factor was considered and deter-
determined based on USDA (1973) as shown in Fig. 3, and mined to calculate the LC classes in the area. Drainage map
overlaid and analyzed through intersection to obtain LCC. of the studied area obtained from the land survey and digged
ArcGIS various extensions (10.4) were used to measure, profiles. The thematic layers for CaCO3 and clay content,
compare and to analyze the land use and its capability class water table (WT) depth, EC, pH, SAR, OM, and Bulk den-
to plan land uses. The plant growth could be restricted by sity (BD) were created in ArcGIS 10.4 using the weighted
soil stoniness content and accordingly restrict land use and average for each land from unit. These layers were matched
its management (Bibby et al. 1991; Rees 1995). Due to this together to assess the land capability classes.
fact, stoniness which was obtained from the field survey has
been considered in the LCC of this study. USDA (1961)
and Panhalkar (2011) stated that among the soil physical Soil suitability for irrigation (SSI)
characteristics; depth and texture are the main basis used to
distinguish between LC classes. Shallowness has indirect Land was evaluated based on a parametric model of (Sys and
effect on crop growth. The low accessibility of soil depth Verheye 1974) for SSI. There are four groups of the factors

Fig. 3  DEM, slope, landsat image and 3D view of the area

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Table 1  Suitability classes for the irrigation capability indices (Ci) which affecting SSI purposes. These factors according to
classes Saeid et al. (2015) were divided to drainage traits and soil
Ci class Definition Capability index chemical, physical properties and land qualitative character-
istics such as slope.
S1 Highly suitable > 80
The following equation is used to estimate the irrigation
S2 Moderately suitable 60–79
capacity:
S3 Marginally suitable 45–59
N1 Currently not suitable 30–44
�
n ∏n
1 Xi
N2 Permanently not suitable < 29
� i=1
Ci = Xi × n
i=1
n 100

Fig. 4  a Landforms units and b soil taxonomy of the area

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where: Ci is irrigation capability indices, Xi included: X1, river terraces (moderately, moderatelylow, low), peniplain,
X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8; ratings of soil (texture, depth, outwash plains–alluvial fans, shoulders (upper, middle,
calcium carbonate content, electrical conductivity, drainage, lower), pediments, dry wadis, rock outcrops, sand dunes.
slope, gypsum content) respectively and in Sprinkle irriga- The detailed areas of each unit are shown in Table 2. Soil
tion only X8 is used for rating of wind speed. taxonomic is shown in (Fig. 4 B) and presented in Table 2,
The capability index ranges their classes of consistent units were defined as Lithic Haplocalcids, TypicCal-
suitability are shown in Table 1. cigypsids, TypicHaplocalcids, TypicTorrifluvents, TypicTor-
The above classified layers were used to assess the land ripsamments. While the unsampled areas were not classi-
capability for irrigation, where the weighting value is con- fied i.e (Rock outcrops, Sand Dunes, Sand sheets)although
sidered as similar for all soil parameters. it belong to Entisols order.
The depth of soils is varying from shallow (25–50 cm) to
moderately deep (75–100 cm) and deep (> 100 cm) (Fig. 5),
Results and discussions which cover 3.2% (64.2 km2), 49.7% (998.2 km2) and 20.0%
(401.6 km2), of the study area respectively. Soil texture is
Soil‑physiography mainly proportion of sand with very small proportions of
clay and silt. The textures of soils in the area are sandy,
Visualizing and analyzing land form characteristics mainly Loamy sand, Gravelly loamy sand, Sandy clay loam as
depend on the Slope (Fig. 3) as a basic element (Panhalkar shown in Fig. 5. The field survey showed that about 3% of
2011) which assists for calculation of land capability indi- the studied area is poorly drained. While moderately, well
ces (Wischmeier and Smith 1978; USDA 1961 and 1973; and somewhat excessively drained is accounted 30, 40, and
Wilson and Gallant 2000). ASTER Global Digital Eleva- 27% respectively.
tion Map (ASTER GDEM) with from 30 m resolution was
processed to generate the slope map (in percent). Figure 3 Soil fertility status
shows that slopes greater than 15% are located in north-
ern west part of the study area, which indicate that steep- Macronietrents status in the area reveals that soils are con-
est slopes represent low portion, 3% of the area (Fig. 3). sidered rich in potassium while moderate in phosphorus and
The level slop (0–1) and nearly level slope (1–3) are mainly very poor in nitrogen except in some agricultural fields as
occupying most of the area by (67% and 13%) respectively shown in Fig. 6. Soil available nitrogen status was low to
and the area of slope (3–5%) is occupying 17% of the area. medium (23.3–306.9 kg h­ a− 1) in all the pedons. Nitrogen
The landform units (Fig. 4 A) were generated from field content is decreasing with the depth in all the pedons. The
survey based on the integration of digital elevation model high level of available nitrogen was may be due to continu-
(DEM), slope and satellite image and were defined as old ous addition of fertilizers and increased level of organic

Table 2  Land Suitability classes for horticultural and field crops for each landform unit
Landforms Soil Horticultural crop suit- Field crop suitabil- Capability Area in Sq Km
ability sub classes ity sub classes

Low old river terraces TypicTorripsamments S2tp S2t C2 109.02

Moderately low old river terraces TypicTorripsamments S2tcp S2tc C2 206.81
Moderately old river terraces TypicTorrifluvents S2sp S2s C2 214.51
High old river terraces TypicTorripsamments S2tcsp S2tcs C2 32.27
Outwash plains and alluvial fans TypicCalcigypsids S3tsg S3tsg C4 85.76
Peniplains Lithic Haplocalcids S3stpag S3sta C3 64.24
Pediments TypicHaplocalcids S3tcpsa S3tcsa C3 48.50
Dry wadis TypicHaplocalcids S2tcps S2tcs C2 99.75
Middle shoulders TypicCalcigypsids S3tcps S3tcs C3 419.61
Rock outcrops Rock outcrops N2 N2 C7 30.02
Lower shoulders TypicCalcigypsids S3tcps S3tcs C3 7.65
Sand dunes Sand Dunes N1 N1 C5 25.45
Sand sheets Sand sheets N1 N1 C6 490.59
Middle shoulders TypicCalcigypsids S3tcpsg S3tcsg C3 31.83
Upper shoulders TypicCalcigypsids S3tcspg S3tcsg C3 144.10

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Fig. 5  Soil attributes maps of the area

carbon content in some agricultural fields. The areas having replenishment and also high P fixing capacity. The values
low nitrogen content due to low organic matter content in indicate that small area is having medium available phos-
the soils of these areas. Soil available phosphorus was low phorus content and the remaining area is having values of
to medium in all the pedons. Low status of available phos- medium phosphorus content. Soil available potassium was
phorous was mainly attributed to its higher removal than ranged from low to high (63.4 kg ­ha− 1 401.3 kg ­ha− 1). Low

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Fig. 6  Soil fertility status of macronutrients

values variation throughout the pedons due to coarse texture are recognized within the order not suitable (N1 and N2).
and gravelly nature of soils which are particularly low in The occupied area for each class as percentage of the total
available potassium. The available potassium is medium to area is shown in Table 2 and Fig. 7. Land suitability sub-
high in most of the area soils.The available potassium con- classes reflect on the type of limitations, e.g., Limitation fac-
tent is high in surface layers and it decreases in subsurface tors: texture (t), calcium carbonate (c), salinity (s), saturated
horizons, though the soils have low potassium resources. sodium (a), available depth (p) and profile development (g),
Figure 6 shows the spatial distribution of macronutrients. accordingly the soil characteristics of the studied area could
be classified for their suitability for agriculture utilization
Land evaluation into four classes depending on the severity of their limita-
tions to sustained agriculture use as shown in Fig. 7 and
Based on the natural limitations and properties of soils, land presented in Table 2.
capability was estimated mainly for agriculture use. Among
all capability classes, which are used for agriculture use and/ Soil suitability for irrigation
or crops cultivation are the first four while the last four are
not suitable for this purposes. The obtained land capability The obtained results (Fig. 8; Table 4) showed that sprinkler
classes (Fig. 7; Table 3) are II, III, IV, V, VI and VII com- and drip irrigation are more effective methods, suitable for
prised 33.0, 35.6, 4.3, 1.3, 24.4 and 1.5% of the total area, the area and should replace the surface irrigation system
respectively. exist in the cultivated lands in the studied area. Also the
Two classes of suitability degrees are recognized in the results demonstrate the absence of soil series which are high
area within the order suitable (S2 and S3) and two classes suitable in respect to surface irrigation use in the area. The

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Fig. 7  a Land capability, b suitability subclasses for field crops and c suitability subclasses for horticultural

Table 3  Land capability classes Mean of capability index was 39.4, 69.2 and 75.9 for irri-
2 gation methods of surface, sprinkle and drip respectively.
Capability classes Area in ­km Area in
percent- These results demonstrate the area suitability for all irriga-
age tion methods. Meanwhile the soil texture factor highlights
the importance of replacing the surface irrigation method
C2 (II) 662.4 33.0
with the sprinkle and drip irrigation methods. The sprinkle
C3 (III) 715.9 35.6
irrigation method is high appropriate in the area. But based
C4 (IV) 85.8 4.3
on the obtained capability index for irrigation, applying drip
C5 (V) 25.4 1.3
irrigation system will be having High efficiency more than
C6 (VI) 490.6 24.4
other irrigation techniques. And consequently improves the
C7 (VII) 30.0 1.5
irrigation purposes and land suitability for different crops.
Limitation factors: texture (t), calcium carbonate (c), salinity (s), satu-
rated sodium (a), useful depth (p) and profile development (g)
Conclusion
sprinkle irrigation method has two major/most factors limit-
ing its use in the area, confined in wind speed and soil tex- Based on the results, new land suitability subclasses maps
ture. While the drip irrigation method mainly limited by soil were created. The area could be used for cultivation pur-
texture factor in the area. Soil suitability is moderate to high poses. Despite that, areas of sand dunes and rock outcrop
for the entire area in respect to drip and sprinkle irrigation lands are not suggested for agriculture use since these areas
except for sand dunes and rock lands (Fig. 8). are risk prone to sand dunes movement. Continue using

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Fig. 8  Capability index for soil suitability to different irrigation methods

Table 4  Suitability classes Landforms Soil Suitable Irrigation system Area, ­Km2

of surface, sprinkle and drip
irrigation for each soil series Surface Sprinkle Drip

Low old river terraces TypicTorripsamments S3 S1 S1 109.02

Moderately low old river terraces TypicTorripsamments S3 S2 S2 206.81
Moderately old river terraces TypicTorrifluvents S2 S1 S1 214.51
High old river terraces TypicTorripsamments S3 S2 S2 32.27
Outwash plains û Alluvial fans TypicCalcigypsids S3 S1 S2 85.76
Peniplains Lithic Haplocalcids S2 S2 S2 64.24
Pediments TypicHaplocalcids S3 S2 S1 48.50
Dry wadis TypicHaplocalcids N1 S2 S2 99.75
Middle Shoulders TypicCalcigypsids N1 S1 S2 419.61
Rock outcrops Rock outcrops N2 N2 N2 30.02
Lower shoulders TypicCalcigypsids N1 S1 N2 7.65
Sand Dunes Sand Dunes N1 N1 N1 25.45
Sand sheets Sand sheets N1 S3 S3 490.59
Middle Shoulders TypicCalcigypsids N1 S2 S1 31.83
Upper Shoulders TypicCalcigypsids N1 S2 S1 144.10

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