1Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Institute of Development studies, Mzumbe University, Mzumbe, Morogoro, Tanzania
2Department of Agronomy and Agroforestry, M.S. Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Odisha, India
3Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
4College of Agriculture, Institute of Rice Industry Technology Research, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, P.R. China
5Department of Agricultural Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
*Corresponding author: emzephania@mzumbe.ac.tz
Tanzania's soil data is insufficient for local strategies on agricultural land use planning since it is extremely specialized to locations deemed to have great promise based on a small amount of data. The study used geographical informatics to understand soil suitability for maize crop production in Tungi Village agroecosystem, Morogoro District, Morogoro Region. This has implications for food security, poverty, and climate in the area. Three criteria were used in the suitability analysis to determine which areas would be best for growing maize: soil properties, topography, and climate. Each criterion was assigned a weight value using the Multi-Criteria Evaluation's Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Through ArcGIS 10.8, cumulative weights for each criterion were employed to create the soil result maps. Results show potassium, cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen, and organic carbon were sufficient. The climate and topography were ideal for growing maize crops. S1 (vastly appropriate), S2 (fairly suitable), and S3 (minimally suitable) were determined by the land suitability results to be around 51 % ( 2,555 acres), 34 % (1,677.5 acres), and 15 % ( 767.5 acres), respectively. It is therefore placed that the soil suitability map would be a tool for local agro-land use decision-making in Tanzania and beyond.
⓿ The study employed Geographic Information Systems (GIS) integrated with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate land suitability for maize cultivation, enabling precise and data-driven decision-making.
⓿ Study use three evaluated criteria soil, climate, and topography soil properties (e.g., pH , organic carbon, nitrogen, potassium, CEC) were found to have the highest impact on maize suitability.
⓿ The analysis revealed that 51 % of the land was highly suitable (S1) for maize production, while 34 % was moderately suitable (S2), and only 15 % minimally suitable (S3).
⓿ General suitability, the study found low levels of available phosphorus and Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) in some areas, signaling a need for targeted soil fertility management.
⓿ Generated maize suitability maps offer valuable tools for local authorities, extension agents, and farmers to plan sustainable agricultural practices and improve productivity in the face of climate and land use challenges.
GIS, Maize, land degradation, climate change, land suitability, AHP1
