Field Survey and Geoinformatic Approaches for Micro-Level Land Capability Classification

Land capability classification (LCC) is useful to carry out scientific land evaluations and assess land suitability for agricultural use. In this study, the Sadoli Khalasa area of Karveer tehsil, Kolhapur District, Maharashtra, India has been selected to assess precise LCC at micro-scale (cadastral level) using field survey and advanced Geoinformatics approaches. For this purpose, 35 soil samples were collected from the entire area with geographical coordinates (x, y) using a handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) and empirically analyzed. Physical characteristics of soil, i.e. soil depth, texture, and structure were identified from analyzed soil samples and with the help of NBSS and LUP maps and soil grid database (250 m resolution) in Geographical information system (GIS) software. Regional relief, slope, contour, and drainage analysis were carried out from CartoDEM (30 m resolution), downloaded from  https://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/home/index.php , and its validations were carried out from 1:50,000 scale Survey of India (SOI) toposheet (47/L/2), and sample elevations points acquired by GPS. An Object based classification approach was implemented to prepare land use land cover (LULC) of study area in eCognition Developer software with agriculture, harvested land, built-up, lake, fallow land, and barren land classes using Resourcesat-2 LISS-IV data. Finally, all generated multi-layers are integrated with unique projections and intersect overlay operation was carried out to create the LCC of the area. The analysis reveals that Class II, III, IV, VI, and VII are observed in the study region of which Class II and III comprised about 50% area of the selected region. This result signifies that about 75% of land in the area is suitable for agriculture purpose, of which about 30% of land fall under Class II. The used Geoinformatics approach along with field investigations has proved satisfactorily for assessment of LCC in Sadoli Khalasa area in order to avail sustainable land development and can be used in other parts which have similar physio-pedological characteristics.