Development of a land use suitability model for saffron (Crocus sativus L.) cultivation by multi-criteria evaluation and spatial analysis

The principle purpose of agriculture land use feasibility is to predict the potentials and limitations of land for plant production. The present study provides a model to assess land suitability for cultivation of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in Azadshahr Township, located in the north of Iran. The goal is to provide a special methodological approach to assess land use suitability for saffron cultivation in Iran and other similar regions. This suitability model integrated the perspectives of local saffron experts using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) from Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) to determine the criteria weights such as climate, soil, and topographic used in land use suitability analysis. In the present model, 21 ecological variables were selected for saffron land suitability analysis and thematic maps were developed for each of the parameters in Geographic Information System (GIS).The results showed that the soil and climatic variables have a major role in the development of saffron cultivation. The final land suitability map indicated that the most suitable areas (1743.25 ha) for growing saffron were located in the south and east of Azadshahr township. Also, the largest parts of this region were classified as currently unsuitable (8543.72 ha) and permanently unsuitable (12,450.64 ha) zones. These classes were located in the northern, central and northeastern parts of Azadshahr. The results highlighted that these areas face with limitations for development of saffron cultivation. According to this result, the main limiting features in these classes were high rainfall in the reproductive stage of saffron (25-0 mm), inappropriate slope (12%<), high relative humidity, low annual rainfall, high elevation in north (2700 m<), and unsuitable classes of soil texture. These results can be useful for decision makers and farmers as a planning support tool in saffron cultivation.