Integrated use of GIS, AHP and remote sensing in land use planning for tropical high altitude vegetable crops

Abstract: In Indonesia, Java Island still contributes a large amount of the total number of vegetables produced. In this tropical country, vegetables are produced in two different agro-ecological conditions, which are high altitude and low altitude. The rapidly increasing population growth has caused the centre's production of high altitude vegetables on Java Island to be increasingly pressured by other types of land utilization. This study was conducted in one of the production centres of tropical high altitude vegetable crops in the upper slope area of Mts Gede-Pangrango, West Java, covering an area of 78,290 ha. The research objective was to delineate the suitable land that is available for high altitude vegetables crops. In the first step, land suitability was analysed using multi-criteria decision-making methodology. The criteria used include those grouped within the parameters of land, topography, climate and ease of management; criterion consists of sub-criteria. The criteria were weighted using the Analytical Hierarchy Process, while sub-criteria were scored according to their contributions to land suitability. The weights of the criteria and scores of the sub-criteria were used for delineating land suitability in a geographic information system model. In the second step, the land availability was analysed by taking into account the constraints of forest area status designation and the spatial pattern of official land use plan map. Results of both analyses were used to delineate suitable and available land for tropical high altitude vegetables crops. The results showed that the amount of land that was suitable and available for tropical high altitude vegetables crops was 23.7% of the analysed area. The area of suitable and available land that is actually not used yet is 9% of the area analysed, which could be recommended for the expansion of vegetable crops. Land that is suitable and available, either land that is already used or land that is not yet used, could be designated as priority lands to be protected from the pressure of non-agricultural land utilization in order to maintain the sustainability of vegetable availability