Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences June 2019, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 25-33 ISSN: 2334-2404 (Print), 2334-2412 (Online) Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. Published by American Research Institute for Policy Development DOI: 10.15640/jaes.v8n1a3 URL: https://doi.org/10.15640/jaes.v8n1a3 An Application of GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Making Approach for Land Evaluation and Suitability Mapping for Rice Cultivation in Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria Otokiti Kolade Victor 1 & Adesina Olufemi Samson 2 Abstract This study adopted a GIS-based multi-criteria decision approach in mapping the inherent qualities and potentials of land peculiar to rice cultivation in Oye-Ekiti. FAO framework was used as a guide in selecting variables for the land evaluation. An Analytical Hierarchical Process was used to assign weights to the selected factors with respect to their relative importance, while pairwise comparison was used to rank the factors. The priority generated was used to assign weights in ArcGIS 10.5 weighted overlay toolset in spatial analyst tool. The resulting weights are based on the principal eigenvector of the decision matrix. From the priority value derived from the pairwise comparison result, the criteria were reclassified according to their suitability level and weighted overlay toolset was used to merge the criteria from which the results were obtained. The study area was classified into three categories based on rice cultivation suitability, namely: Highly suitable-S1, moderately suitable-S2, marginally suitable- S3. The result indicates that that 18% (79.925 sq.km) of the total land area is highly suitable for cultivating rice, 70% (326.019 sq.km) is moderately suitable while 12% (57.725 sq.km) is marginally suitable. The study is a GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making approach in selecting the best rice cultivation site. Keywords: Land suitability analysis, Geographic Information Systems, Analytical hierarchy process, Multi- criteria decision making, Rice, Oye-Ekiti 1. Introduction The economic benefits attached to rice are significant in many nations. It is a dependable source of revenue in the United States and Southern Europe, it is also the most widely consumed staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in Asia where it upholds the economies of China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam [1] . In 2018, Nigeria recorded an increase in rice consumption at 6,900,000 metric tonnes, which was an increase of 200,000 metric tonnes over the previous year [2] . However, efforts from public and private investors in rice production in Nigeria have yielded positive results as production received a boost [3] . Nonetheless, the country’s production capacity is still low to sustain her consumption needs as the Nigeria population is projected to surpass 300million by 2050 [4] . The Federal Government of Nigeria has been effective in discouraging importation of rice by imposing various measures, from high tariffs to restrictions on the use of foreign exchange to limitations on transport across land borders. These have drastically reduced the quantity of rice imported into Nigeria. However, importation growth is still much anticipated as consumption increases in the year 2019 [2] . A major contributing factor to the forecasted importation growth in 2019 is due to flooding, as rice-producing states like Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Anambra, and Kogi were severely affected by flood in 2018 [5] . Like the Federal Government, the State Governments are part of the efforts to promote the concept of food security and greater self-sufficiency in rice production. This was evident in the activities of many state governments with the aim of boosting local production of rice in Nigeria. 1 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. otokitikolade@gmail.com 2 Department of Food Security, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom. femi.wumi007@gmail.com