Multi-criteria evaluation of land suitability for irrigated agriculture in

the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE, using an integrated AHP-GIS modeling

IN51F-0066
Amal Aldababseh ,
1 Marouane Praveen Oliver Temimi ,
1 Maghelal ,
1 Branch ,
2 Volker Wulfmeyer 2

AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, December 2017

Abstract Data and Methods Results Results & Validation
Prioritization of the criteria using Saaty’s developed 9-point scale measurement [1]. 7 hierarchical structures were built as decomposition structures to define land Results of applying the AHP-GIS land suitability assessment indicate percentage
 The aridity of the climate in the UAE demands new assessments of land
This leads to the development of a square pairwise comparisons matrix [2] [Table 1]. suitability (Figure 3). of land suitability per category per crop.
suitability for the optimum exploitation of irrigated agriculture, particularly
Categories

Soil Capability
Climate

Water Resources
Topography

Management

sum

Soil Capability

Climate

Water Resources

Topography

Management

sum

Priority

Rank
from non-renewable sources like desalination and wastewater treatment. Date Palm Vegetables Fruits Cereals Sorghum Forage Jojoba
 An Analytical Hierarchal Processes–Geographic information System Most Suitable 15 7 16 7 18 14 25
integrated model was developed and used in this study for the systematic
Moderately Suitable 15 13 39 20 21 36 56
aggregation of the selected layers.
Soil Capability 1 1 1 6 9 18 0.305 0.304 0.308 0.286 0.321 1.52 30.50% 2
 Results show that jojoba and sorghum show the best capabilities to survive 1 1 1 6 8 17 0.305 0.304 0.308 0.286 0.286 1.49 29.80% 3
Marginally Suitable 30 47 17 16 13 18 17
Climate
under the current conditions, with most suitable lands extending over 25% Water Resources 1 1 1 7 9 19 0.305 0.304 0.308 0.333 0.321 1.57 31.40% 1
Currently Not
Suitable 32 22 8 39 35 25 0
and 18% of the total study domain, respectively. Dates palm, fruits, and Topography 0.17 0.17 0.14 1 1 2.48 0.052 0.052 0.043 0.048 0.036 0.23 4.60% 4 Permanently Not
forage have almost the same total area of land that is most suitable for their Management 0.11 0.12 0.11 1 1 2.34 0.034 0.037 0.034 0.048 0.036 0.19 3.80% 5 Suitable 8 11 20 18 13 8 1
plantation with 16%, 15%, and 14%, respectively. Vegetables and cereals
Table 1: An illustrative example of pairwise matrices developed to determine priority
proved to be the least preferable options with only 7% total area most ranking for the main categories for the date palm crop.
(a) (b)
suitable for each.
Using the pairwise comparison matrix, the AHP calculates each criterion
Background weights using the Eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue of the
Figure 3: The resulting hierarchal structure showing the modelling procedure for
matrix, and then normalizing the sum of the components [3]. irrigated agriculture areas for the date palm in Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE.
 In the UAE (Fig. 1),
irrigation water is
taken both from Figure 6: Land suitability maps: (a) prepared by the EAD, 2009 and (b) obtained using
conventional water AHP-GIS method.
resources like (b)
(a)
groundwater and
springs and from non-
conventional water
resources like
desalination plants and
treated wastewater
facilities.
Figure 7: (a) the total area of land suitability classes for different scenarios and (b)
Fig. 1. Study Area changes in area percentages per land suitability categories under different scenarios.
 Renewable water resources are scarce in the UAE because of the aridity of the
region which limits the development and expansion of agriculture. Conclusions
 The agriculture sector in the UAE is limited by the overall low suitability of the
 Land in the central and eastern part of the Emirate has the highest capability
land which represents only 6.81% of the total land area. Figure 4: The land assessment model, for weights (scores), confirming that current agricultural farms were developed on
 The limited expansion of land that is used for agriculture in the UAE has made the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, from the highly capable land.
achieving food security in the country challenging. Figure 2: Flow chart illustrates the research methodology datasets preparation up to the final
 Jojoba and sorghum output maps indicate the largest area of excellent suitability for
 Local agriculture production currently satisfies less than 10% of local needs. suitability layer.
those two crops productions, due to their ability to adapt to harsh environmental
 Thus, it is essential to carefully analyze and aggregate all the available information
conditions and their limited need for continuous and excessive irrigation.
on water resources, land, climate, and infrastructure to optimize the use of land and
 The highest capability weights were mostly found in areas of highly capable soils
water in order to maximize agricultural productivity and achieve food security in Running the AHP-GIS
and in areas close to water resources (groundwater, desalination facilities, and
the country. model generated
seven land suitability
treated sewage effluent).
 The inclusion of non-conventional water resources altered the classification of
Objectives maps for the selected
crops in the UAE. some areas making them suitable for irrigated agriculture.
Results are presented
 This research aims at developing a suitability index for the assessment and
prioritization of areas in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for large-scale agriculture using
in Fig. 5. Authors
a number of spatial datasets that were aggregated according to a set of predefined Validation of results is
1 Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, A part of Khalifa University of Science and
criteria. An integrated AHP-GIS modeling methodology has been developed to presented in Figures 6 Technology. Abu Dhabi, UAE. aaldababseh@masdar.ac.ae, mtemimi@masdar.ac.ae,
integrate 16 different geospatial databases (Figure 2). and 7. pmaghelal@masdar.ac.ae.
2 University of Hohenheim, Institute of Physics and Meteorology, Stuttgart, Germany.

 The novelty of this study is twofold: oliver_branch@uni-hohenheim.de, volker.wulfmeyer@uni-hohenheim.de

- First we combine in the context of an arid region a large number of agronomic and
climatic factors into management, water resources, and socio-economic factors, References
(16) criteria and (80) sub-criteria to define land suitability for the Emirate’s most
critical crops, seven, as identified by the Government of the UAE in the national [1] Saaty, R.W. The analytic hierarchy process—what it is and how it is used.
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Figure 2: The spatial coverages of the [2] Saaty, T.L. Analytic hierarchy process. Wiley Online Library: 1980.
- Second, we introduce non-conventional water resources in the analysis, namely,
sixteen selected criteria for evaluating
desalinated water and treated sewage effluent, as the main source of water for land suitability for irrigated Figure 5: Land suitability for irrigated agriculture maps: a) Vegetables, b) Fruits, c) Cereals, d) Sorghum, [3] Forman, E.H.; Gass, S.I. The analytic hierarchy process—an exposition.
irrigation for specific crops (non-edible and climate resilient crops). agriculture e) Forage, and f) Jojoba. Operations research 2001, 49, 469-486.