Multi-criteria Decision Analysis for Site Selection of Apple Crop Cultivation: Case Study of Nainital, Uttarakhand

In this study, a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis has been used for the apple crop cultivation in the Nainital District of Uttarakhand State, India. Eight important factors, viz., altitude, chilling temperature, agriculture land use, rainfall, crop growing temperature, soil texture, slope and aspects are used for this purpose. Analysis has been done using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and GIS-based overlay methods. A ground truth was also conducted for the cross verification of the results. The results of this study suggested that a total of 290.34 ha area is under most suitable and 2000.53 ha as moderately while 183.54 ha as marginally suitable land for apple crop cultivation. Though major area is under the moderately suitable category still the different apple crop varieties can be suitable than the traditional. Thus, the proposed methodology is applicable for identification of suitable apple crop areas effectively and accurately.