English 
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Abstract
The continuing deterioration of land and water resources occurring in several regions of the world is partly due to the mismatch between land suitability – capability and land use. Therefore, there is a pressing need for effective land evaluation to achieve optimal utilisation of available land resources for sustainable agricultural production through better matching of land characteristics with land uses. According to the FAO, as far as agriculture is concerned such an exercise will result in defining which part of an area is suitable for particular crops based on the available land resources and other production inputs. In this study a land evaluation system for predicting the physical suitability of land for specific crops- Wheat, Barley and Olive- in the north west of Libya was developed based on matching land use requirement for these crops with the available land resources in the area. This will lead to improved crop yields and optimal utilisation of other agricultural production inputs including water resources. The modelling procedure used Boolean and Fuzzy logic sets and their integration within a Geographic Information system (GIS) environment. The model consists of four factors: soil, climate, slope and erosion hazard which have been shown to be the most important indicators of land suitability. As an example, the results show that for Barley 42% of the land in north-western Libya is well suitable, while only 24% is poorly suitable.
Writer
Nagib Froja¹, Adebayo J. Adeloye ² and Roland Burkhard³
Nagib Froja¹, Adebayo J. Adeloye ² and Roland Burkhard³
School of the Built-Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Riccraton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK. I
