Author(s)

Denis Magnus Ken Amara^1,2*, Sayyadsaheb A. Nadaf¹, Daniel Hindogbe Saidu³, Osman S. Vonu⁴, Raymond Morie Musa⁵, Philip Jimia Kamanda⁶, Patrick A. Sawyerr², Joseph Christian Adamu Mboma⁷, Saidu Deggy Mansaray², Mohammed Azim Sannoh²

¹Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, University of Agricultural Sciences Dharwad, Dharwad, India.
²Department of Soil Science, School of Agriculture & Food Sciences, Njala University, Njala Campus, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
³Department of Agriculture, Food Security & Livelihood, Sustainable Cassava Commercialization through Entrepreneurs Strengthening & Support (SUCCESS) Project, BRAC, Bo, Sierra Leone.
⁴Department of Soil Science, Eastern Technical University of Sierra Leone, Private Mail Bag, Kenema, Sierra Leone.
⁵Department of Agricultural Education, Eastern Technical University of Sierra Leone, Private Mail Bag, Kenema, Sierra Leone.
⁶Department of Extension & Rural Sociology, School of Agriculture & Food Sciences, Njala University, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
⁷Department of Social Studies, Eastern Technical University of Sierra Leone, Private Mail Bag, Kenema, Sierra Leone.

Land suitability analysis is a prerequisite to achieving optimum utilization of available land resources. Hence, a study on land resource inventory for agricultural land use planning was conducted in the Northern Transition Zone of India to determine land capability and develop a suitability map for wheat and sorghum-based on physical and climatic factors of production using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Detailed soil survey information was used for this exercise. Four series (Singhanhalli, Mugli, Bogur and Venkatapur series) were identified and mapped into seventeen mapping units. Land capability classification showed that a greater portion of the study area belonged to class III followed by class IV with limitations of erosion, wetness and varying soil properties. Four land capability classes viz., II, III, IV, and VI, and seven subclasses viz., IIsf, IIItsf, IVs, IVt, IVts, IVtsf and VIt were identified. Major limitations of these subclasses were slope, erosion, depth, texture, coarse fragments, pH, organic carbon and base saturation. Soil suitability assessment revealed that the soils are moderately suitable to permanently not suitable. About 234 ha (31.6%) is moderately suitable, 494 ha (65.0%) marginally suitable and 10.2 ha (1.3%) permanently not suitable for wheat; while 78.5 ha (10.3%) is moderately suitable, 633.4 ha (82.3%) marginally suitable and 32.6 ha (4.3%) permanently not suitable for sorghum respectively. The moderate, marginal and permanent non-suitability was due to moderate, severe and very severe limitations respectively. However, it is possible to achieve potential yield of the crops in the study area if these limitations are addressed.

Land Resource Inventory, Soil Suitability, Land Use Planning, Land Evaluation, Soil Survey, Remote Sensing, Soil Mapping

Amara, D. , Nadaf, S. , Saidu, D. , Vonu, O. , Musa, R. , Kamanda, P. , Sawyerr, P. , Mboma, J. , Mansaray, S. and Sannoh, M. (2021) Studies on Land Resource Inventory for Agricultural Land Use Planning in Northern Transition Zone of India through Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques. Journal of Geographic Information System, 13, 710-728. doi: 10.4236/jgis.2021.136039.