Simulation of farming suitability for arid-agriculture using a GIS-Evaluation approach in the loess plateau, China

There is larger difference of suitability for farming arid-agriculture in the Loess Plateau. Irrational usage of farmland caused backward economy and degradation of environment. In order to simulate the suitability of the farmland, the data of climate, soil and terrain were used to integrate through a MCE-GIS approach. The weight coefficient according to experts' opinion was used to assess farming suitability; continuous suitability showed the highest value is 236 and lowest is 40. There are 181 ha with very low suitability and 905,509 ha (21.73%) with high suitability. The potential irrigated farmland defined as high suitability is about 466,857ha (11.20%). This simulation is a pioneer evaluation among the medium-scale regions in the Loess Plateau, and it provided a reference at regional level that could be used by government to establish optimal agriculture policies and reasonable farming industrial structure.