International Journal of Geospatial Engineering and Technology

Vol. 1, No. 1, 2014, pp. 37- 42

RESEARCH ARTICLE
.
2014 GlobalSkope. All rights reserved
Agricultural Land Suitability Analysis of a River Basin Area
using Remote Sensing and GIS
Gopala Krishna. GVT1* and Regil. R2
1Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, PSNA College of Engineering and Tec
hnology, Dindigul
2Delivery Head, UL Technology Solutions (P) Ltd, Trivandrum
*Email: gvtgkrishna@gmail.com
Abstract
The sustainable development of agriculture satisfies basic human needs through e
nsuring proper utilization of existing
environmental parameters and natural resources. It is based on maintaining the s
tability between the productivity factors,
agricultural practices and repossession of unused lands. Finite landuse planning
is a highly required component in
formulating sustainable development. The land, water, minerals and biomass resou
rces are currently under over
exploitation due to expanding population. In India more than 75% of population d
epends on agriculture for their
livelihood. Agriculture plays a vital role in our country s economy. Watershed app
roach is the best starter point in the
reclamation of proper landuse management for increasing agricultural productivit
y. Advancement of satellite based
technologies has brought new set of potentials in different phases of developmen
t planning. In this work, an attempt has
been made to utilize latest Remote Sensing and GIS technologies for planning lan
d suitability for agricultural crops at a
river basin level.
Keywords: Agriculture suitability, Crop suitability, Landuse mapping, Remote sen
sing for agriculture.
1. Introduction
Land suitability classification is the process of grouping
precise land types based on their way of use. Available land
of a country is to be utilized in a proper way for achieving
optimum use. Land suitability analysis is an important task
for designing a land specific cropping pattern in sustainable
agricultural production of a country. One of the most
important and urgent problems in Kerala is to improve
agricultural land management and cropping patterns to
increase the agricultural production with efficient use of
land resources.
In Land Suitability Analysis Remote Sensing play a vital
role both at regional and local levels. Remote sensing offers
an efficient and reliable method of mapping agricultural
lands. It can also give us information about the health of the

vegetation. The spectral reflection of a field will vary with

respect to changes in the growth and type, and that can be
measured and monitored by multispectral sensors.
Interpretations from remotely sensed data can be input to a
geographic information system (GIS), and combined with
other data, to provide information about the study area.
Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS can clearly
visualize the spatial distribution of the agricultural land
suitability. This new technology can reduce the time and
cost in organizing the data in arriving at precise
conclusion and decisions for planners and decision
makers.
2. Study area
The Anjarakandi watershed lies between 110 451 to 110
561 north latitudes and 750 201 to 760 471 east longitudes
and is located in the Kannur district of Kerala state. It is
bounded by Thalassery and Kannur taluks of Kannur
district in the north, Thalassery taluk of Kannur district
and Vadakara taluk of Kozhikode district in the south,
Mananthavady taluk of Waynad district in the east and
Lakshadweep Sea in the west. The total area of the
watershed is 397.74 sq.km. The Mangalore
Calicut
railway is passing through the study area and KeralaKarnataka state high way and other roads are available to
access various places of the study area. The demand for
food, fodder, fuel, grazing, and forest is very high but the
required resources is less available. The basic needs of the

Agriculture land suitability . / Gopala Krishna. GVT & Regil. R / .

GlobalSkope Publishing Society
existing population and future increasing population has to
be meeting since the land available is static. Anjarakandi
River basin is the place where the landuse changes are
taking place more rapidly. The area under paddy cultivation
has drastically declined. Especially in the lower region
paddy fields are converted into prawn cultivation, since it is
more profitable over paddy cultivation. In the other region
paddy fields are reclaimed for cash crops and also for
construction of the building. The over-exploitation of
agricultural land resulted in declining the productivity and
depleted the land in some of the areas. In order to meet the
needs of the future population to be sustained, productivity
of the agricultural land has to be increased.
Figure 1. Study area map
3. Aim and Objectives
This work was aimed to identify area suitable for
agriculture in Anjarakandi River basin and to propose
suitable agricultural land use plans for sustainable
agriculture using remote sensing and GIS techniques.
The main objectives were
.
to generate various thematic maps related to
agricultural activity
.
to critically analyze agricultural dynamics and to
study transition taking place in the basin.
.
Identification of areas suitable for agriculture and
to prepare integrated map of land suitability for
sustainable agriculture.
.
to suggest agricultural land use plan using a set of
decision rules for site specific plan for sustainable
agriculture.
4. Materials and Methods
Land suitability analysis of Anjarakandi River basin
was carried out using various topographic maps and
satellite imagery. Satellite data were used for preparing
landuse. Drainage and contour maps were extracted from
the topographic map of Survey of India. Secondary data
like soil, geology, and landform were also used for the
study. The following data were used for study.
.
The survey of India Topographic map 49M/5,
49M/9 and 49M/13 of scale 1:50,000.
.
Soil map from Soil Conservation Department,
Govt. of Kerala

.
Geology map from the Geological Survey of
India
.
Remotely sensed data, viz. Landsat ETM+ data
geocoded of scale 1:50,000(2006 image).
This study used a weighted overlay methodological
approach to integrate all thematic layers for achieving the
designed objectives.
5. Preparation of thematic maps
In order to demarcate the land suitability classes for
the study area different thematic maps on 1:50,000 scales
were generated from Remote sensing data and
topographic maps.
5.1 Base Map
The base map was prepared from Survey of India
Topographic map of scale 1:50, 000. The boundary was
demarcated by analyzing the drainage of the area.
Drainages, Major places, transport networks, were taken
from the topographic map. The base map is shown in
fig.2.
Figure 2. Base map
5.2 Geology
Geology plays a major role in the agricultural land
suitability analysis. Geology map prepared by the
Geological Survey of India was traced and used for the
study. The general geological formation of the study area
is of Archean and recent age. The prominent geological
formation found in the region are Hornblende-biottie
gneiss (sheared) with bands of schists and
ultramafites,Biotite-hornblende gneiss (migmatite) covers
and Quartz-mica Schist and quartzite covers. A detailed
description of geological formation is shown in fig. 3.

IJGET / Vol. 1, No. 1, 2014, pp. 37- 42

Figure 3. Geology map
5.3 Landform
Landform comprises geomorphological unit and is
defined by its surface form, location in the landscape and is
an element of the topography. The lithology, slope, relief
and type of existing drainage pattern influence the
formation of the landform. Landform map was prepared
from the contour, relief map and Satellite imagery with
partial field verification. Six distinct landform units were
found in the area. Valley fills are formed by the transport of
materials through erosion and slope at higher elevation.
Details of landforms of the study area are shown in fig 4.
Figure 4. Landform map
5.4 Soil
Soil is unconsolidated material at the surface of the
earth that serves as a natural medium for growing plants.
Soil is the weathered material on the earth s surface and the
bedrock below the surface to a maximum depth of
approximately 200cm. The naming of soil horizons is
based on the type of material the horizons are composed of;
these materials reflect the duration of the specific processes
used in soil formation. Soil type map was prepared based
on Soil map from Soil Conservation Department Govt. of
Kerala. Ustic Kandihumults, Kanhhaplustults, Kandiustults
covers the major portion (202.59SqKm) of the area. Soil
types are given shown in fig. 5.
Figure 5. Soil map
5.5 Drainage Density
Drainage density is the total length of all
the streams and rivers in a drainage basin divided by the
total area of the drainage basin. It is the measure of how
well or how poorly a watershed is drained by stream
channels. Drainage density depends upon both climate
and physical characteristics of the drainage basin. Rugged
regions or those with high relief will also have a higher
drainage density. High densities will indicate greater
runoff, less infiltration content and also greater flood risk.
Drainage Density classes and its areas are shown in fig 6.
Figure 6. Drainage density map
Drainage density is very high in the upper region of the
basin and gradually decreases in the middle and lower
region. Almost 70% of the total area falls under very
low to moderate drainage density category.
5.6 Landuse / Landcover
The Landuse refers how land has been put to different
uses . Land cover refers to natural vegetation, water

bodies . Landuse/Landcover pattern of the region gives

idea about the present status of the area and also it will
help in land suitability classification. Landuse of the
study area is characterized by agricultural land,
plantation, mixed trees, built-up land, forest, wastelands
and water bodies etc.

Agriculture land suitability . / Gopala Krishna. GVT & Regil. R / .

GlobalSkope Publishing Society
The spatial distribution of landuse / land cover was
interpreted from Landsat ETM+ data (2006 image) satellite
data. 54.88% covers mixed tress and paddy area covers
only 6.27% of the total area. Mixed trees include Coconut,
Mango, Jackfruit, Pepper and others. Mixed crops include
Tapioca, Banana, Coconut and Aracanut. A detailed
description of the landuse types of the area is shown in
fig. 7.
Figure 7. Landuse / Landcover map
6. GIS Analysis
GIS analysis is the manipulation of spatial data into
different forms in order to extract additional meaning. The
major concerns are to investigate the patterns in the spatial
data and to discover possible relationship between patterns
and other attributes within the study region. The ultimate
goal is to model such relationship for the purpose of
understanding and prediction. One of the added advantages
of the GIS is the multi criteria analysis. One can
incorporate different criteria for the evaluation of the area
and according to these different criteria conclusion may be
taken for the solution of the problem.
7. Weighted Overlay Analysis
Weighted Overlay is a technique for applying a common
measurement scale of values to diverse and dissimilar
inputs to create an integrated analysis. Weighted overlay
analysis allows us to combine data from several input
themes by converting their cell values to a common scale,
assigning a weight to each theme, and then adding the
weighted cell values together. The accuracy of this method
depends on the assignment of the weight for each
parameter. A weight represents the relative importance of a
parameter. In order to produce the lad suitability areas it is
essential to overlay different layers by assigning weightage
according to the importance of each layer. There is no
standard scale for a simple weighted overlay method. In
this study layers selected for weighted overlay were
Geology, landform, soil type, drainage density and land
use. The final stage involved combining all thematic
layers in GIS platform to identify the areas suitable for
agriculture and increasing productivity. Based on the
nature, influence on suitability of land and logic, the
weightages for each layer were assigned.
8. Results and Discussion
After the weighted overlay analysis the five categories
of land suitability classes were established, they are very
low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The category of
land suitability classes are shown in following table.
Sl. Agricultural Area in Percent
No Land Suitability sqkm age to
Classes total

area
1 Very Low 33.03 8.30
2 Low 67.73 17.03
3 Moderate 137.77 34.63
4 High 130.41 32.79
5 Very High 28.80 7.25
Total 397.74 100
Table 1 Anjarakandi River Basin-Agricultural Land suitability
8.1 Very High Suitable Areas
The analysis showed that the very high suitable areas
were seen in the south-west and lower portion of the
study area. Most of the very high suitable areas were
found in the Dharmadom, Eranjoli, Pinarai and
Peralassery Panchayath of Kannur District. In these areas,
the landuse practices are cropland paddy cultivated area.
The major land form units in these areas are valley fills
and coastal plain. Major soil categories found in these
areas were K10 Ustic Kandihumults, Kanhhaplustults,
Kandiustults and K07 Typic Kandiustults, Ustoxic
Dystropepts, Typic Kanhhaplustults,Typic Kandiustults.
These areas have lower drainage density. A very high
suitable area covers only 28.80sqkm which is only 7.25%
of the total area. These areas should not be converted for
nonagricultural purposes.
8.2 High Suitable Areas
The high suitable areas were found in lower as well as
in the mid land region. The high suitable areas were
found in the Vengad, Ancharakandi, Chembilode and
Mangattidom and Pinarai panchayath. The landuse
practices in these areas are paddy cultivation and mixed
trees. Major landforms in these regions are Valley fills
and Undulating denudational upland. Prominent

IJGET / Vol. 1, No. 1, 2014, pp. 37- 42

geological formations are Quartz- mica Schist and
Quartzite and Hornblende biottie gneiss with bands of
Schists and Ultarmafites. Drainage density of this area
varies between very low to low densities. The high suitable
area covers 130.41 sqkm which is 32.79% of the total area.
Care must be taken no to convert this area into other uses.
Figure 8. Agricultural land suitability map
8.3 Moderate Suitable Areas
The moderate suitable areas area mostly found in the
mid land region and smaller portions in the lower as well
as in the higher region. The moderate suitable areas were
found in the Mangattidom, Chittariparamba,Malur
Kolayad, Kezhallur, Kodali, Kadambor and Mattannur
municipality. The landuse practices in these areas are
cashew plantation, rubber plantation, mixed trees and
waste land. The major land form units of these regions are
undulating denudational uplandand low dissected
plateau/pediment. Prominent geological formations are
Quartz- mica Schist with Kyanite and Hornblende biottie
gneiss with bands of Schists and Ultarmafites. Major soil
type of these region is K10 Ustic Kandihumults,
Kanhhaplustults, Kandiustults with latertic soil texture.
The drainage density of the areas varies between moderate
to high densities. The moderate suitable area covers 137.71
sqkm which is 34.63% of the total area. Conversion of land
for plantation monoculture should be discouraged. Mixed
plantation is suitable for this area.
8.4 Low Suitable Areas
The low suitable area lies in the upper region as well as
in the north, south and eastern region of the basin. The low
suitable areas were found in the Pattiom, Kanichar,Malur,
Chittariparamba panchayaths. Most of these areas falls
under reserved forest and land use types of this regions
area deciduous forest, rubber plantation and mixed trees.
The land form units of these regions are undulating
denudational uplandand low dissected plateau/pediment.
Charnokite and Hornblende biottie gneiss with bands of
Schists and Ultarmafites were the major geological
features of the region. K08 Dystropepts, Kanhaplustults,
Tropaquepts, TypicUstropepts, K09(OxicHumitro,
UstocKandihumults, Ustic Haplohumults, Kandiustults,
K21 (UsticHaplohumults, Kannhaplustults Humitropepts)
were the major soil types. Colluvium and latertic type are
the soil textures of this region. These regions have very
higher drainage density and very low road density. The
low suitable area covers 67.73 sqkm which is 17.03% of
the total area. Conversion of forest land to other uses
should be discouraged.
8.5 Very Low Suitable areas
The very low suitable area lies in the upper region that
is in the east and South-East portion of the basin. The

very low suitable areas were found in the Pattiom,

Kunnothuparamba, Thillenkeri Panchayth. Majority of
the area falls under Kannoth reserve forest region. Ever
green or Semi evergreen type forest types were seen in
the region. High Mountain landform unit were prominent.
Charnokite is the major geological formation of the area.
K20 (Ustic Haplohumults, Ustic Palehumults,Ustic
Humitropepts) is the major soil type of this region with
forest loam soil texture. No of drainages and drainage
densities were very high in these regions. Major portion
of these area falls under reserved forest these areas are
not suitable for agricultural activities. The very low
suitable area covers 33.03 sqkm which is 8.30% of the
total area. Deforestaion should be discouraged in this
area.
9. Conclusion
In this study Remote Sensing and GIS techniques
were used to identify agricultural land suitability areas for
Anjarakandi River Basin. The study clearly brought out
the spatial distribution of agricultural land suitability
areas derived from Remote Sensing data in conjugation
with evaluation of other variables like soil, landform,
geology, landuse and topographic information in GIS
context is helpful in sustainable development option for
intensification or diversification. Most of the paddy areas
of the basin were converted into mixed crops or remains
as fallow land. Majority of the high and very high
agricultural land suitability regions falls under lower
region. Very low suitable and most of the low suitable
areas belongs to reserved forest and deciduous forest
regions, it cannot be used for agricultural activity. It is
obvious that the planning has to be carried out in village
level for understanding and solving the problems for
sustainable agricultural development. From the study it is
found that more than 30% area of the basin is lying under
moderate to high suitable areas. Both accounts for 65% of
the total area of the Anjarakandi River basin.

Agriculture land suitability . / Gopala Krishna. GVT & Regil. R / .

GlobalSkope Publishing Society
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