Modeling of Suitable Areas for Rainfed Rice Growing Using Multicriteria Approach in Geographic Information System: Case of Denguele (North West of Côte d'Ivoire)

Abstract

For larger areas in the Côte d’Ivoire and particularly in the Denguele’s land, agriculture is the main source of income. Thus, the search for suitable sites for the valorization of this activity requires the collection and organization of data available. The aim of this study is to propose a model for the selection of suitable areas for rainfed rice growing using multicriteria evaluation and GIS. Multicriteria analysis were performed by the combination of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Five thematic maps were considered such as population density map, land use map, slope map, pluviometry map and soil map. Different classes were identified for each thematic map. Using AHP, a paired comparison matrix was prepared for criteria classes and individual class weights and map scores were worked out. These weights were applied in linear summation equation to obtain a unified weight map containing due weights of all input variables. Finally all the weighted maps were reclassified to arrive the best suitable areas for rainfed rice growing. Areas that are classified as very good and good occupy about 74.04% of the total area of the region and are located in the north and south. The interpretation of the results allowed to note the contributions and limitations of the methodology used.