Soil quality is described as the soil’s ability to provide a
growth medium for plants and to sustain crop productivity
(Wander and Bollero 1999; Southorn and Cattle 2000;
Webb et al. 2000). The suitability map resulting from the
spatial overlay of factors in the study area is presented in
Figure 3.
Results indicated that the land highly and moderately
suitable for rice cropping covered an area of about 837.3
ha (55.5%). Of the study area, 34% was unsuitable for rice,
and those areas correspond to adverse soil physical and
chemical properties (Table 3). Kuria et al. (2011) studied a
land suitability system for rice cultivation in the Tana delta
(16,000 ha) based on the method described in the FAO
Guideline for Land Evaluation for Rainfed Agriculture
(1983) using the GIS program. According to their results,
the suitable land for rice cultivation in the Tana delta