Assessment of Physical Land Resource Potential for Surface Irrigation in Muga Watershed Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

AUTHORS: GASHANEW YESHITA ADMAS

ABSTRACT:Assessing available land and water resources for irrigation is important for planning water resources projects. This study is initiated with the objective of assessing the land resources potential of Muga watershed for surface irrigation development by using Geographic Information System and analytical hierarchy process with multi criteria analysis. The evaluation of land in terms of the suitability classes for surface irrigation is based on the method as described in FAO (food and agricultural organization) guideline for land evaluation. After evaluating the physical land capability for surface irrigation, irrigation suitability map was developed AHP method was utilized to identify the weight of each criterion from the pair wise comparison matrix. The weighted sum overlay analysis was then used to generate the suitability map in a GIS environment. By weighting analysis of all parameters 2.99% of the study area was found to be highly suitable whereas about 33.63% was restricted for irrigation developments.