Remote Sensing-Driven FUCOM Approach for Identifying Suitable Peach Cultivation Sites

Land evaluation studies are strategically significant for effectively utilizing agricultural lands, which are rapidly decreasing due to degradation and misuse. The primary objective of this study was to determine the suitability of Umurbey Plain lands in Lapseki district of & Ccedil;anakkale province in NW T & uuml;rkiye for peach cultivation. For this purpose, a new approach has been applied. To determine the relative importance criteria, the full consistency method (FUCOM) was used for weight calculation. Afterward, land suitability classifications were validated using the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from Sentinel-2A (MSI) satellite images. With the presented model, the accuracy assessment was developed to a higher level. Thirdly, a total of 24 peach orchards were evaluated with NDVI data at the variety level, including varieties ripening in the last week of June ('Royal Glory'), the second week of July ('Extreme July'), the first week of August ('Gloheaven') and the first week of September ('Abdos'). In the study area, 9.61% of the lands were classified as highly suitable, 20.02% as moderately suitable, 51.04% as marginally suitable and 19.33% as not suitable. The accuracy assessment of the presented model showed that the vegetation period and land suitability classes of peach varieties were highly accurate. As a result, the NDVI reflectance characteristics of the varieties 'Royal Glory', 'Extreme July', 'Gloheaven' and 'Abdos' were found to be highly consistent with the land suitability classes. The study revealed that using remote sensing-driven FUCOM and GIS integration in land evaluation studies is highly beneficial for precision and sustainable agriculture. It is recommended that the model approach in this study be tested under similar climatic conditions and in different geographical regions by evaluating different peach and other plant varieties.