Land suitability evaluation for surface irrigation using geographic information system: a case study in Didessa River Sub-Basin, Western Ethiopia

Surface irrigation is one of the key strategies to address the 1st and 2nd United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (no poverty and zero hungry) to be achieved by the year 2030. This study is aimed to identify the physical land suitability of Didessa River Sub-Basin for surface irrigation. This study used GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) with 11 factors: soil depth, soil texture, soil drainage, soil types, slope, streams, land use land cover (LULC), temperature, rainfall, roads and market accessibility. This study produced potential surface irrigation areas of Didessa River Sub-Basin to be utilized by the farming communities. The obtained results showed that 3135.1 km² (67.8%) of the study area is moderately suitable for surface irrigation. Thus, our results showed that the majority of the Didessa River Sub-Basin are suitable, while 479 km² (10.4%) is not suitable for surface irrigation. We conclude that land suitability assessment for surface irrigation will minimize any unforeseen factor that may affect agricultural productivity. Lastly, we recommend further research to identify the most suitable crops for the identified potential surface irrigation areas.