Weather variability, erratic rainfall, and heatwave patterns negatively impact agriculture, the rural community, and the environment of the fragile African economies. Irrigation systems build the resilience of agriculture against weather variability, allowing farmers to tailor their cropping calendars according to demands. The primary goal of this research was to determine the land suitability for irrigation on a continental scale using spatial multi-criteria analysis (SMCA) based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and GIS. The objective was to estimate the area and distribution of suitable land for irrigation in Africa. The analysis was based on soil, land cover, DEM, and river geospatial data for the African continent. The land suitability for irrigation was assessed using seven main factors, i.e., soil texture, soil depth, soil drainage, soil organic content, slope, land cover, and river proximity, by weighting the factors in a pairwise comparison matrix, reclassifying the raster data of these factors, and overlaying the criterion raster data. The study revealed that 5.27% of Africa’s land area is highly suitable for irrigation, and 9.01% was moderately suitable for irrigation. And the suitable land for irrigation was mainly located in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the information obtained from this study is useful for planners and decision-makers in African countries for improving irrigation cropland.