Land Evaluation and Farming Systems Analysis for Land Use Planning (LEFSA)

LEFSA outlines the development and application of an integrated land evaluation and farming systems analysis sequence. In the present guidelines it is argued that integration of land evaluation and farming systems analysis can substantially improve current practices in land use planning as an aid for sustainable land use and rural development. The current state-of-the-art in both land evaluation and farming systems analysis is critically reviewed and their relative strengths and weaknesses are discussed, with respect to the basic philosophy as well as their applications in practice. Both methodologies cannot be compared directly as they originate from very different backgrounds and have evolved in the mainstream of different scientific disciplines. Land evaluation is rooted in soil science, and in actual practice puts heavy emphasis on an agro-technical analysis, in which economics is often involved only as an afterthought. On the other hand, farming systems analysis is concerned more with socio-economic constraints. The levels of analysis also differ to some extent, with land evaluation emphasizing the regional aspects and farming systems analysis concerning itself more with the farm level. At the same time these differences also provide opportunities for exploiting the complementarity between the two approaches. The guidelines recommend integration of land evaluation and farming systems analysis for land use planning in three areas: (i) by linking the respective units of analysis, land use types and cropping or livestock systems, as components of farms; (ii) by multi-scale analysis, linking the levels of analysis (national, regional, farm and components of farms) to; and (iii), by linking data via geo-referencing.

LEFSA suggests procedures for such an approach, including the use of new computer-based support tools.  The latter include the use of relational data bases and GIS , mechanistic crop growth models, such as DSSAT, CropSyst, WOFOST, computerized land evaluation techniques, such as ALES, and interactive multiple-goal linear programming, such as implemented in Global AEZ.

The LEFSA sequence is currently a theoretical concept and requires further testing in actual land use planning situations.