Investigation of AHP and TOPSİS methods for determination of suitable beekeeping areas in the Konya, Karaman, Aksaray and Nigde provinces

Beekeeping, on top of demanding extensive technical knowledge, also requires rich flora in the regions it's being performed. Due to bees collecting raw materials from nature, selecting the correct location for beekeeping is of utmost importance. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has been long used as a tool for finding alternative uses for agricultural land, precision agriculture and land feasibility mapping. When bee's honey production cycle is considered, quite a few factors has to come together. In this work, region known as "Kop Area" in the Central Anatolia which includes cities, Konya, Karaman, Nigde and Aksaray has been investigated for feasibility for beekeeping using AHP and Geographical Information Systems from "Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis" method. In our work, primarily, the main criteria that effects beekeeping activities are determined and reclassified. As the first step, existing data has been compared with AHP method and the weight of each data is calculated. By cross matching this data using weights a general feasibility map is generated. The generated feasibility map is then overlaid with the areas where the beekeeping activities are already taking place. Lastly, generated map has been used to investigate the reliability of the feasibility.