Hybrid GIS-MCDM Based Modeling Approach for Determination of Land Suitability of Wheat Cultivation in Konya Closed Basin, Türkiye

In countries with high population growth and migration potential, such as Türkiye, agricultural lands are gradually decreasing due to the increase in food demand and the misusage policies and urbanization applied to the lands. Land suitability activities carried out within the scope of agricultural sustainability in order to increase agricultural production and soil productivity are important. This study focuses on identifying the agricultural lands suitable for wheat cultivation by evaluating the Konya closed basin in the Central Anatolia Region of Türkiye by using a hierarchy developed with the integration of the AHP method, which is one of the GIS and MCDM techniques. Within this framework, 15 criteria were delineated under 4 main headings as meteorological criteria, topographic criteria, soil criteria, infrastructure and economic criteria and their weight values for their sub-criteria were calculated. The most effective criteria were determined as the average temperature of October (0.1379), followed by the average annual temperature (0.1300) and the land use capability (0.1191). Finally, the land suitability map was created for wheat cultivation. According to the suitability map, 0.39% (15 815 km2) of the study area is found to be very highly suitable for wheat cultivation, 61.24% (2 494 461 km2) is found to be highly suitable in terms of suitability. The districts of Kadinhani, Sarayonu, Altinekin, Cihanbeyli, Kulu, Karapinar and Emirgazi, which are located in the north of the study area, have been determined as very suitable regions for wheat cultivation. This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by identifying precise and suitable areas by combining GIS and AHP in the wheat cultivation site selection process. In the study, a new research perspective is presented by taking into account the uncertainty in the site selection process and the concept of sustainability in four different dimensions: meteorological, topographical, soil, and infrastructure and economic, thus aiming to guide decision-makers for future studies. According the current literature, that no comprehensive study has yet been conducted that covers such a large basin for the wheat plant, which is the raw material of humanity's basic nutritional needs. In addition, the average annual pressure criterion that is not examined in the literature was discussed in the study and its importance for wheat plant development was also examined. Consequently, the outcome of this study delineates that the methods and criteria used in this study may be guiding for site selection for wheat cultivation in future studies covering such wide areas.