Determination of suitable areas for protected cultivation enterprises Aydın province by using GIS based multicriteria decision analysis

In this research, it is aimed to determine the most suitable areas for greenhouses in Aydın and suitability of sampled enterprises. For this purpose, using the methods Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), and Geographic Information System (GIS), five main criteria (topography, soil, climate, water and economy) and two site selection constraints (land use capability class and distance to surface water resources) were considered. With use of AHP technique, qualitative and quantitative approaches to the determination of criteria have been included in the problem and more effective decision-making has been made with the participation of many decision makers who are experts in their fields. 160 sample enterprises were selected from the existing protected cultivation enterprises in the research area. Seven assessment classes are envisaged for these criteria as "most suitable", "suitable", "medium suitable", "less suitable", "least suitable", "unsuitable" and "uncategorised". Total areaof Aydın can be classifield as follows: 2.4% as "most suitable", 33.4% as "suitable", 31.4% as "medium suitable", 0.7% as "less suitable", 29.6% as "unsuitable" and 2.5% as "uncategorized". Also, the corresponding percentages for sapmled enterprises are 1.9% as "most suitable", 10.1% as"suitable", %0.6 as "medium suitable" and 87.3% as "unsuitable". These results indicate that in general the study area is not suitable for the greenhouse area in terms of distance to surface water resources and land use capability class. In addition, recommendations have been developed to make site selection more more appropriate and comprehensive for greenhouse areas as well as other agricultural production areas, not only in the study area but also in other areas.