Assessment of agricultural land use suitability using TOPSIS and VIKOR models: a case study of Koch Bihar district, West Bengal

Abstract

As the need for food crops and other agricultural goods continues to rise, there is an apparent shift towards intensive agricultural land usage and growth in the Koch Bihar district of West Bengal. However, the quantity of land accessible for agriculture, its location and its suitability for farming have not been adequately investigated. Finding suitable land for agriculture in the Koch Bihar district with the aid of multiple physical, hydrological, climatic and infrastructural variables is the primary objective of this present study. Therefore, eighteen causative factors, including geomorphology, slope, elevation, land use and land cover, soil texture, rainfall, groundwater depth, modified soil adjusted vegetation index, temperature, river density, topographic wetness index, distance from road, organic carbon, soil pH, total nitrogen, cation exchange capacity, bulk density, and silt particles, were considered for land suitability analysis using Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacijaik Ompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) models. Results showed that in the TOPSIS model, most of the region (36.88%) was classified as moderately suitable, followed by 27.60% as marginally suitable, 17.87% as highly suitable, 14.57% as currently not suitable and 3.08% as unsuitable for agriculture. In contrast, 34.26% of the region was categorized as moderately suitable and 20.56% as highly suitable in the VIKOR model. 350 Ground Control Points (GCP) from the study area that represented a variety of topographical and LULC conditions were examined for the model validation. With an appropriate degree of discrimination, shown by the area under the curve value of 0.911, VIKOR has demonstrated a great result between the two models. Identifying and mapping suitable agricultural land is essential for sustainable development because it provides food security, optimizes resource usage, protects the environment, enables land use planning and promotes economic growth.