Integration
A mistake in early attempts at land-use planning was to focus too narrowly on land resources without enough thought given to how they might be used. Good agricultural land is usually also suitable for other competing uses. Land-use decisions are not made just on the basis of land suitability but also according to the demand for products and the extent to which the use of a particular area is critical for a particular purpose. Planning has to integrate information about the suitability of the land, the demands for alternative products or uses and the opportunities for satisfying those demands on the available land, now and in the future.
Therefore, land-use planning is not sectoral. Even where a particular plan is focused on one sector, e.g. smallholder tea development or irrigation, an integrated approach has to be carried down the line from strategic planning at the national level to the details of individual projects and programmes at district and local levels.