Affiliations 

  • 1 The Centre for Advanced Modelling and Geospatial Information Systems (CAMGIS), Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, 2007, NSW, Australia; Natural Resources Management Centre, Department of Agriculture, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
  • 2 The Centre for Advanced Modelling and Geospatial Information Systems (CAMGIS), Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, 2007, NSW, Australia; Department of Energy and Mineral Resources Engineering, Sejong University, Choongmu-gwan, 209 Neungdongro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Republic of Korea; Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research, King Abdulaziz University, P. O. Box 80234, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Earth Observation Center, Institute of Climate Change, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: [email protected]
  • 3 The Centre for Advanced Modelling and Geospatial Information Systems (CAMGIS), Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, 2007, NSW, Australia; Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
  • 4 The Centre for Advanced Modelling and Geospatial Information Systems (CAMGIS), Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, 2007, NSW, Australia
Sci Total Environ, 2021 Nov 10;794:148788.
PMID: 34323751 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148788

Abstract

Healthy farming systems play a vital role in improving agricultural productivity and sustainable food production. The present study aimed to propose an efficient framework to evaluate ecologically viable and economically sound farming systems using a matrix-based analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted linear combination method with geo-informatics tools. The proposed framework has been developed and tested in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. Results reveal that more than 50% of farming systems demonstrated moderate status in terms of ecological and economic aspects. However, two vulnerable farming systems on the western slopes of the Central Highlands, named WL1a and WM1a, were identified as very poor status. These farming systems should be a top priority for restoration planning and soil conservation to prevent further deterioration. Findings indicate that a combination of ecologically viable (nine indicators) and economical sound (four indicators) criteria are a practical method to scrutinize farming systems and decision making on soil conservation and sustainable land management. In addition, this research introduces a novel approach to delineate the farming systems based on agro-ecological regions and cropping areas using geo-informatics technology. This framework and methodology can be employed to evaluate the farming systems of other parts of the country and elsewhere to identify ecologically viable and economically sound farming systems concerning soil erosion hazards. The proposed approach addresses a new dimension of the decision-making process by evaluating the farming systems relating to soil erosion hazards and suggests introducing policies on priority-based planning for conservation with low-cost strategies for sustainable land management.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.