Agroecological land use potential of Amik Plain, Turkey

The loss of agricultural land due to the development of other land uses has increasingly become an issue of local, regional, and national concern in Turkey. This study was aimed at evaluating land use potential and suitability of 174 land mapping units of 72,544 ha in Amik Plain (Hatay, Turkey) for 21 different land use types. For this purpose, land suitability evaluation was carried out using soil and land data and a PC-compatible ILSEN software package program developed by the SENOL land evaluation system. Our study showed that out of 39 potential groups, 26 combined land uses and land covers (LULC) occupied less than 1% of the study area. Nearly 15.6% (11,090 ha) of the study area was found suitable for all of the horticultural crops and related land cover. The land area suitable for the entire field crops was estimated to cover 12.3% (8727 ha) of the study area.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Key words: Land evaluation, land use, agricultural land suitability class

Agroecological land use potential of Amik Plain, Turkey

Keywords:

Key words: Land evaluation, land use, agricultural land suitability class,

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