Abstract

As urbanization and land use changes are continuous in Zuru Emirate, struggle for common resources has led to violent conflicts between herders and crop farmers. It is therefore, critical to identify suitable grazing areas to ensure peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders in the area. This study used geospatial techniques and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tools to analyze criteria for sitting grazing reserves in Zuru Emirate, Kebbi State. Eleven biophysical and environmental criteria were used, including water, road, settlement, soil organic carbon, soil pH and soil depth. The criteria were standardized and weighted using AHP in ArcGIS 10.8. To validate the land suitability map, zonal statistical analysis was used to calculate the mean NDVI value of each land suitability map. Results of AHP weighted analysis of the criteria revealed that land use was the most influential criterion, with a weight of 0.22 (22%), while soil depth and soil pH have the lowest weight of 0.04 (4%), while 0.92% of the study area indicated less suitable, 83.13% is moderately suitable, 16.48% is suitable, and 0.46% of the study area is suitable for sitting grazing reserves. Validation of the land suitability map revealed that the high suitability category has the highest mean NDVI value of 0.05057, while the less suitable class has lowest of 0.04114. Zuru Emirate is moderately suitable for siting grazing reserves. Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation is recommended to collaborate with consenting states to survey and document grazing reserves to prevent future conflicts between farmers and herders.

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