Assessment of Agricultural Land-Use Suitability Levels in the Gulf of Edremit

The concept of agricultural production refers to the activities that people carry out to meet their nutritional needs. Such activities have been carried out since ancient times to meet the nutritional needs of people.The process of agricultural production interacts with the land at many stages. The relationship between land and agriculture is particularly visible in regards to production. Thus, the continuity of agricultural production depends on the proper use of the land. In short, ensuring sustainability in agriculture depends on proper land use. The aim of this study is to determine the suitability of cultivated lands for agricultural purposes and to compare the obtained results with current land use in the Gulf of Edremit and its surroundings using various criteria. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHS), based on Geographic Information Systems-based Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis, was used to identify areas suitable for agriculture. According to the findings many settlements were established in fertile regions which were determined to be very suitable for agriculture. In addition, a transition zone consists of unproductive forest land was established between the forest area and agricultural land.The findings of our study showed that cultivated agricultural areas in our study area reached their upper limits when the environmental parameters were taken into consideration in determining the level of suitability of the land . Thus, it is understood that the forest cover faces the threat of new agricultural areas being opened in line with the increasing food need. The use of agricultural areas in accordance with their potential allowed for an increase in agricultural productivity within the study area. In addition, the careful utilization of agricultural lands within the scope of eligibility levels plays a key role in preventing the damage of the forest cover which hosts many ecosystems.