Surface irrigation Potential Mapping using GIS and Remote Sensing based Multi criteria Analysis in Abbay Basin, Upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia
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Date
2020-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Multi-criteria irrigation land suitability analysis and mapping can play an important role not
only in sustainable use of scarce resource, but also in overcoming the global problem of
water scarcity and crop production caused due to high degree of rainfall variability and
unreliability. The General objective of this work was to Map suitable land for Surface
irrigation potential using GIS and remote sensing based multi criteria analysis in the abbay
basin, upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia. The study employed Geographical information Systembased
multi criteria land suitability analysis method considering eight factors, namely, soil
pH, soil drainage, soil depth, Cation Exchange capacity of the soil, texture classes, Runoff,
slope, and distance from the main river to find suitable land for surface irrigation. Using the
Weighted Overlay tool, the values of each dataset were weighted and combined to find the
most suitable location for irrigation using the ArcGIS environment. The results of the study
revealed that about 5741870.55 ha (29.26 % of the watershed area) highly suitable,
7013480.98 ha (35.74 % of the watershed area) moderately suitable, 5013834.33 ha (25.55 %
of the watershed area) marginally suitable, 1854431.87 ha (9.45 % of the watershed area) not
suitable. The findings drawn from this study can play an indispensable role in boosting
irrigable land in the study area by considering suitable irrigable lands in terms of the eight
factors described. About 38892.70ha of land can be irrigated at the gauge location of the
rivers in South Gojam watersheds without further development on the downstream.
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Keywords
Blue Nile Basin, Irrigation, Land suitability evaluation, Multi-criteria analysis