<p>Agroforestry is a sustainable land management strategy that addresses land degradation and mitigates climate change while promoting social and economic well-being. For promoting agroforestry practices, it is essential to assess the current status and identify opportunities for its expansion. This assessment involves mapping existing agroforestry areas and conducting detailed analyses to determine areas that have suitable conditions for adopting agroforestry (AF) practices in the future programme. The present study focuses on agroforestry suitability mapping of Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, India, using geospatial technology. Various ecological, topographical, soil, climatic and socioeconomic factors were integrated into the analysis through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy AHP methods. The results from the AHP method revealed that 19.97% of the area is highly suitable, 24.03% was moderately suitable, 4.36% was marginally suitable, 10.47% was currently not suitable and 41.17% was permanently unsuitable for agroforestry. In contrast, the Fuzzy AHP method revealed that 16.24% of the district's total area is highly suitable, 25.14% is moderately suitable, 5.54% is marginally suitable, 16.53% is currently unsuitable, and 36.54% is permanently unsuitable. It was also found that an area of 2259.98 km<sup>2</sup> (44.04%; AHP) to 2123.80 km<sup>2</sup> (41.39%; Fuzzy AHP) is highly and moderately suitable for the practice of AF. The cross-references generated using high-resolution images from Google Earth, based on random points, revealed slightly better accuracy of Fuzzy-AHP (83.02%) over AHP (81.93%). The findings of this study can be utilised by policymakers and planners for planning and allocating funds for agroforestry projects targeted at developing climatically resilient landscape and mitigating the climate change.</p>

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Suitability mapping of agroforestry in Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh, India, using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP)

  • Saakshi,
  • D. R. Bhardwaj

摘要

Agroforestry is a sustainable land management strategy that addresses land degradation and mitigates climate change while promoting social and economic well-being. For promoting agroforestry practices, it is essential to assess the current status and identify opportunities for its expansion. This assessment involves mapping existing agroforestry areas and conducting detailed analyses to determine areas that have suitable conditions for adopting agroforestry (AF) practices in the future programme. The present study focuses on agroforestry suitability mapping of Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, India, using geospatial technology. Various ecological, topographical, soil, climatic and socioeconomic factors were integrated into the analysis through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy AHP methods. The results from the AHP method revealed that 19.97% of the area is highly suitable, 24.03% was moderately suitable, 4.36% was marginally suitable, 10.47% was currently not suitable and 41.17% was permanently unsuitable for agroforestry. In contrast, the Fuzzy AHP method revealed that 16.24% of the district's total area is highly suitable, 25.14% is moderately suitable, 5.54% is marginally suitable, 16.53% is currently unsuitable, and 36.54% is permanently unsuitable. It was also found that an area of 2259.98 km2 (44.04%; AHP) to 2123.80 km2 (41.39%; Fuzzy AHP) is highly and moderately suitable for the practice of AF. The cross-references generated using high-resolution images from Google Earth, based on random points, revealed slightly better accuracy of Fuzzy-AHP (83.02%) over AHP (81.93%). The findings of this study can be utilised by policymakers and planners for planning and allocating funds for agroforestry projects targeted at developing climatically resilient landscape and mitigating the climate change.