Geographic information systems-based land suitability assessment for switchgrass cultivation in marginal lands: a case study for İzmir-Turkey

Energy crop cultivation is considered the main factor in the rapid increase in the share of biomass energy in the future global energy supply. However, the most critical issue for the cultivation of energy crops will be establishing sustainable energy cropping systems and protecting agricultural areas devoted to food and feed crops. Therefore, the present study aims to identify key criteria for energy crop cultivation areas and to develop a Geographic information systems (GISs)- and multi-criteria evaluation model (MCE)-based methodology. This study employs a GIS-based MCE technique, including fuzzy standardization, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and weighted overlay for analyzing land suitability to switchgrass cultivation for the case study in İzmir-Turkey. The criteria identified in this study include climatic parameters, soil characteristics, topography, and land restrictions for land-use compatibility. Climate data were employed by TerrSet’s Crop Climate Suitability Model to determine the climatic suitability of switchgrass in the city. Subsequently, an assessment model of land suitability for switchgrass cultivation was developed by integrating AHP in the ArcGIS environment. Here, the highest specific weight was attained for climatic suitability (0.22), and the lowest was found for elevation (0.094). Significantly, 69.4% (40,725 ha) of the potential cultivation area was moderately suitable and higher, and 30.5% (17,896 ha) was low suitable for switchgrass cultivation. Therefore, it was concluded that the applied methodology could be a practical approach for sustainable biofuels production and environmental protection and can be employed for different energy crops and regions. Graphical abstract