Land Evaluation Techniques Comparing Fuzzy AHP with TOPSIS methods

Increases in populations and in particular in developing countries are placing increased pressure on both natural and agricultural resources. In many cases, especially in semi-arid regions, the pressures are compounded by restricted agricultural lands. Reliable and relevant land evaluation is a requirement for land use policy and decision making to support sustainable rural development. Land evaluation techniques for many developing countries are still needed to develop a model for predicting land suitability for self-sufficiency in agricultural production. Selection an appropriate land evaluation technique in developing courtiers such as Libya is very important for current and future land uses planning. This paper compared two land evaluation techniques for; barley using FuzzyAHP and TOPSIS methods for a test area within Jeffara Plain of Libya. The results of the Fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS models are based on standardizing land characteristics by using different fuzzy models, applying the pairwise comparisons method for criteria weighting and using generalized family of distance metrics functions. Land suitability results for barley from the use the Fuzzy AHP and the TOPSIS methodologies have been derived. Error matrix and analysis of the results are presented using two assessment technologies; an overall accuracy and KAHAT statistic.