Decreasing suitable land for Maize production in Nigeria; assessments with the synchrony of conventional and geospatial techniques

Abstract

Rapidly increasing global population has triggered ever-increasing demand for arable crops such as maize. This has necessitated the need for increase in the precision of soil characterization for maize production in Nigeria - the most populous country in Africa. This study used the Integration of geospatial methods with conventional land assessment methods to overcome the limitations of conventional soil mapping. The study aims at integrating parametric methods with geospatial techniques in land suitability assessment for maize production. Three pedons at three predominant physiographic positions viz: upper, middle and valley bottom in the study locations around Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria were characterized and described following the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) soil characterization guideline. Suitability assessment for maize production was conducted using Storie’s parametric, inverse distance weighted techniques and remote sensing. Land use and land cover were characterized with remote sensing at year 2000 and 2015 respectively. Suitability for maize was classified into three suitability categories namely, Moderately (S3), Marginally (S2) and Not suitable (NS). The results show 70 % of green vegetation and arable land loss to urbanization from 2000-2015. These changes led to reduction in suitable land for maize cultivation.