Land Suitability Assessment for Wheat Production Using Analytical Hierarchy Process and Parametric Method in Babylon Province

This study was carried out to show the extent to which the land is productive due to the effect that climatic changes and the increase in population growth are the reasons that led to an increase in the demand for food, especially in developing countries. Therefore, a scientific way must assess the land suitability for growing crops. This research aimed to provide an integrated approach to the process of analyzing the suitability of agricultural lands for crop growth. Wheat in the Nile region of Babylon Governorate, was studied using the analytical hierarchy model (AHP) and compared with the parametric method and the actual crop in the field, as twelve soil criteria were determined (electrical conductivity, soil interaction, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable sodium ratio, soil texture, lime, gypsum, organic carbon, drainage, soil depth, slope, flooding) and three criteria were added in the AHP method due to their importance in Iraqi soils, which are (total nitrogen, availability phosphorus, crop variety). The results were extracted and showed that all the results of the study using the parametric method within the very unsuitable class for cultivation, N2, 72.5%, with an area of 37,734.07 hectares, and the unsuitable class, N1, 27.5%, with an area of 14,312.92 hectares, either by using the method. According to the analytical hierarchy process and giving varying importance to the soil criteria above, it was found that 37.5% are very suitable S1 with an area of 19517.62 hectares, 42.5% suitable for agriculture S2 with an area of 22119.97 hectares, and 20% moderately suitable S3 with an area of 10409.4 hectares. These results were similar to the agricultural reality of the regions under study.