FIG.

1 TWO-STAGE AND PARALLEL APPROACH TO LAND EVALUATION

In the parallel approach the economic and social analysis of the kinds of land use proceeds
simultaneously with the survey and assessment of physical factors. The kinds of use to which the
evaluation refers are usually modified in the course of the study. In the case of arable farming,
for example, this modification may include selection of crops and rotations, estimates of the
inputs of capital and labour, and determination of optimum farm size. Similarly, in forestry it
may include, for example, selection of tree species, dates of thinning and felling and required
protective measures. This procedure is mostly favoured for specific proposals in connection with
development projects and at semi-detailed and detailed levels of intensity.
The parallel approach is expected to give more precise results in a shorter period of time. It
offers a better chance of concentrating survey and data-collection activities on producing
information needed for the evaluation.

However, the two-stage approach appears more straightforward, possessing a clear-cut sequence
of activities. The physical resource surveys precede economic and social analysis, without
overlap, hence permitting a more flexible timing of activities and of staff recruitment. The two-
stage approach is used as a background in the subsequent text except where otherwise stated.

1.6 The nature of the framework

The Framework does not by itself constitute an evaluation system. The range of possible uses of
land and purposes of evaluation is so wide that no one system could hope to take account of
them. Besides such obvious contrasts as those of climate, differences in such matters as the
availability and cost of labour, availability of capital, population density and levels of living will
all cause differences of detail and emphasis in the evaluation of land.

It was recognition of this situation, coupled with the need for some degree of standardization or
compatibility, which led to the concept of the Framework for Land Evaluation. The Framework
is a set of principles and concepts, on the basis of which local, national or regional evaluation
systems can be constructed. Thus the Framework is not an evaluation manual; it does not, for
example, specify such matters as limiting slope angles or soil moisture requirements for
particular kinds of land use, since such values can never have universal applicability. Instead, the
Framework sets out a number of principles involved in land evaluation, some basic concepts, the
structure of a suitability classification and the procedures necessary to carry out a land suitability
evaluation.

The principles and procedures given in the Framework can be applied in all parts of the world.
They are relevant both to less developed and developed countries. At the one extreme, they can
be applied to areas where development planning is being applied to the more or less unaltered
natural environment; at the other, to densely populated lands where the main concern of planning
is to reconcile competing demands for land already under various forms of use. The Framework
can be used to construct systems applicable at all levels of intensity ranging from, at one
extreme, national, continental or world-scale assessments, and at the other to detailed local
studies. The Framework covers all kinds of rural land use: agriculture in its broadest sense,
including livestock production, together with forestry, recreation or tourism, and nature
conservation. Engineering aspects involved in rural land use, such as foundation suitability for
roads or small structures, are also included.

The Framework is not intended for the distinct set of planning procedures involved in urban land
use planning, although some of its principles are applicable in these contexts. Nor does the
Framework take account of the resources of the seas. Water on and beneath the surface of the
land is, however, of relevance in land evaluation.
This Framework is written mainly for those actively involved in rural land evaluation. Since
most land suitability evaluations are at present carried out for purposes of planning by national
and local governments, this is the situation assumed in references to decision-making, but the
evaluation can also be applied to land use planning by firms, farmers or other individuals. The
principles and procedures which are set out can be applied either to land evaluation for
individual land development projects or to the construction of local or national evaluation
systems.

CHAPTER TWO

Chapter 2: Basic concepts

2.1 General
2.2 Land
2.3 Land use
2.4 Land characteristics, land qualities and diagnostic criteria
2.5 Requirements and limitations
2.6 Land improvements
2.7 Land suitability and land capability

2.1 General

Certain concepts and definitions are needed as a basis for the subsequent discussion. These
concern the land itself, kinds of land use, land characteristics and qualities, and improvements
made to land.

For the sake of clarity, some definitions are given in the text in simplified form. Formal
definitions of terms used in a specialized sense are given in the Glossary.

2.2 Land

Land comprises the physical environment, including climate, relief, soils, hydrology and
vegetation, to the extent that these influence potential for land use. It includes the results of past
and present human activity, e.g. reclamation from the sea, vegetation clearance, and also adverse
results, e.g. soil salinization. Purely economic and social characteristics, however, are not
included in the concept of land; these form part of the economic and social context.
A land mapping unit is a mapped area of land with specified characteristics. Land mapping units
are defined and mapped by natural resource surveys, e.g. soil survey, forest inventory. Their
degree of homogeneity or of internal variation varies with the scale and intensity of the study. In
some cases a single land mapping unit may include two or more distinct types of land, with
different suitabilities, e.g. a river flood plain, mapped as a single unit but known to contain both
well-drained alluvial areas and swampy depressions.

Land is thus a wider concept than soil or terrain. Variation in soils, or soils and landforms, is
often the main cause of differences between land mapping units within a local area: it is for this
reason that soil surveys are sometimes the main basis for definition of land mapping units.
However, the fitness of soils for land use cannot be assessed in isolation from other aspects of
the environment, and hence it is land which is employed as the basis for suitability evaluation.

2.3 Land use

Suitability evaluation involves relating land mapping units to specified types of land use. The
types of use considered are limited to those which appear to be relevant under general physical,
economic and social conditions prevailing in an area. These kinds of land use serve as the subject
of land evaluation. They may consist of major kinds of land use or land utilization types.

2.3.1 Major Kinds of Land Use and Land Utilization Types

A major kind of land use is a major subdivision of rural land use, such as rainfed agriculture,
irrigated agriculture, grassland, forestry, or recreation. Major kinds of land use are usually
considered in land evaluation studies of a qualitative or reconnaissance nature.

A land utilization type is a kind of land use described or defined in a degree of detail greater than
that of A major kind of land use. In detailed or quantitative land evaluation studies, the kinds of
land use considered will usually consist of land utilization types. They are described with as
much detail and precision as the purpose requires. Thus land utilization typos are not a
categorical level in a classification of land use, but refer to any defined use below the level of the
major kind of land use.

A land utilization typo consists of a set of technical specifications in a given physical, economic
and social setting. This may be the current environment or a future Betting modified by major
land improvement e, e.g. an irrigation and drainage scheme. Attributes of land utilization types
include data or assumptions on:

- Produce, including goods (e.g. crops, livestock timber), cervices (e.g. recreational facilities) or
other benefits (e.g. wildlife conservation)

- Market orientation, including whether towards subsistence or commercial production

- Capital intensity

- Labour intensity
- Power sources (e.g. man's labour, draught animals machinery using fuels)

- Technical knowledge and attitudes of land users

- Technology employed (e.g. implements and machinery, fertilizers, livestock breeds, farm
transport, methods of timber felling)

- Infrastructure requirements (e.g. sawmills, tat factories, agricultural advisory services)

- Size and configuration of land holdings, including whether consolidated or fragmented

- Land tenure, the legal or customary manner in which rights to land are held, by individuals or
groups

- Income levels, expressed per capita, per unit of production (e.g. farm) or per unit area.

Management practices on different areas within one land utilization typo are not necessarily the
same. For example, the land utilization type may consist of mixed farming, with part of the land
under arable use and part allocated to grazing. Such differences may arise from variation in the
land, from the requirements of the management system, or both.

Some examples of land utilization types are:

i. Rainfed annual cropping based on groundnuts with subsistence maize, by smallholders with
low capital resources, using cattle drawn farm implements, with high labour intensity, on
freehold farms of 5-10 ha.

ii. Farming similar to (i) in respect of production, capital, labour, power and technology, but
farms of 200-500 ha operated on a communal basis.

iii. Commercial wheat production on large freehold farms, with high capital and low labour
intensity, and a high level of mechanization and inputs.

iv. Extensive cattle ranching, with medium levels of capital and labour intensity, with land held
and central services operated by a governmental agency.

v. Softwood plantations operated by a government Department of Forestry, with high capital

intensity, low labour intensity, and advanced technology.

vi. A national park for recreation and tourism.

Some descriptions of land utilization types are given in Chapter 5.

Where it is wished to relate agricultural land utilization types to a general classification, the
Typology of World Agriculture of the International Geographical Union may be considered
(Kostrowicki, 1974). The role of land utilization types in land evaluation is discussed further in
Beek (1975).

2.3.2 Multiple and Compound Land Use

Two terms, multiple and compound land utilization types, refer to situations in which more than
one kind of land use is practiced within an area.

A multiple land utilization type consists of more than one kind of use simultaneously undertaken
on the same area of land, each use having its own inputs, requirements and produce. in example
is a timber plantation used simultaneously as a recreational area.

A compound land utilization type consists of more than one kind of use undertaken on areas of.
land which for purposes of evaluation are treated as a single unit. The different kinds of use may
occur in time sequence (e.g. as in crop rotation) or simultaneously on different areas of land
within the same organizational unit. Mixed farming involving both arable use and grazing is an
example.

Sometimes an appropriate land utilization type can be found by making several land mapping
units part of the same management unit, e.g. livestock management which combines grazing on
uplands in the rainy season and on seasonally flooded lowlands in the dry season.

Land utilization types are defined for the purpose of land evaluation. Their description need not
comprise the full range of farm management practices, but only those related to land
management and improvement. At detailed levels of evaluation, closely-defined land utilization
types can be extended into farming systems by adding other aspects of farm management.
Conversely, farming systems that have already bean studied and described can be adopted as the
basis for land utilization types.

2.4 Land characteristics, land qualities and diagnostic criteria

A land characteristic is an attribute of land that can be measured or estimated. Examples are
slope angle, rainfall, soil texture, available water capacity, biomass of the vegetation, etc. Land
mapping units, as determined by resource surveys, are normally described in terms of land
characteristics.

If land characteristics are employed directly in evaluation, problems arise from the interaction
between characteristics. For example, the hazard of soil erosion is determined not by slope angle
alone but by the interaction between elope angle, slope length, permeability, soil structure,
rainfall intensity and other characteristics. Because of this problem of interaction, it is
recommended that the comparison of land with land use should be carried out in terms of land
qualities.

A land quality is a complex attribute of land which acts in a distinct manner in its influence on
the suitability of land for a specific kind of use. Land qualities may be expressed in a positive or
negative way. Examples are moisture availability, erosion resistance, flooding hazard, nutritive
value of pastures, accessibility. Where data are available, aggregate land qualities may also be
employed, e.g. crop yields, mean annual increments of timber species.

Table 1 gives an illustrative list of land qualities related to productivity from three kinds of use
and to management and inputs. It is not exhaustive, nor is each land quality necessarily relevant
for a particular area and type of land use. The qualities listed in B and C are in addition to those
of A, which may be relevant to all three kinds of use (based in part on Beek and Bennema,
1972). There may also be land qualities related to major land improvements. These vary widely
with the types of improvement under consideration. An example is land evaluation in relation to
available supplies of water where irrigation is being considered.

A land quality is not necessarily restricted in its influence to one kind of use. The same quality
may affect, for example, both arable use and animal product

There are a very large number of land qualities, but only those relevant to land use alternatives
under consideration need be determined. A land quality is relevant to a given type of land use if
it influences either the level of inputs required, or the magnitude of benefits obtained, or both.
For example, capacity to retain fertilizers is a land quality relevant to most forms of agriculture,
and one which influences both fertilizer inputs and crop yield. Erosion resistance affects the
costs of soil conservation works required for arable use, whilst the nutritive value of pastures
affects the productivity of land under ranching.

Land qualities can sometimes be estimated or measured directly, but are frequently described by
means of land characteristics. Qualities or characteristics employed to determine limits of land
suitability classes or subclasses are known as diagnostic criteria.

A diagnostic criterion is a variable which has an understood influence upon the output from, or
the required inputs to, a specified use, and which serves as a basis for assessing the suitability of
a given area of land for that use. This variable may be a land quality, a land characteristic, or a
function of several land characteristics. For every diagnostic criterion there will be a critical
value or set of critical values which are used to define suitability class limits.

Table 1 EXAMPLES OF LAND QUALITIES

A. LAND QUALITIES RELATED TO PRODUCTIVITY FROM CROPS OR OTHER PLANT

GROWTH

- Crop yields (a resultant of many qualities listed below)

- Moisture availability
- Nutrient availability
- Oxygen availability in the root zone
- Adequacy of foothold for roots
- Conditions for germination
- Workability of the land (ease of cultivation)
- Salinity or alkalinity
- Soil toxicity
- Resistance to soil erosion
- Pests and diseases related to the land
- Flooding hazard (including frequency, periods of inundation)
- Temperature regime
- Radiation energy and photoperiod
- Climatic hazards affecting plant growth (including wind, hail, frost)
- Air humidity as affecting plant growth
- Drying periods for ripening of crops.

B. LAND QUALITIES RELATED TO DOMESTIC ANIMAL PRODUCTIVITY

- Productivity of grazing land (a resultant of many qualities listed under A.)

- Climatic hardships affecting animals
- Endemic pests and diseases
- Nutritive value of grazing land
- Toxicity of grazing land
- Resistance to degradation of vegetation
- Resistance to soil erosion under grazing conditions
- Availability of drinking water.

C. LAND QUALITIES RELATED TO FOREST PRODUCTIVITY

The qualities listed may refer to natural forests, forestry plantations, or both.

- Mean annual increments of timber species (a resultant of many qualities listed under A.)
- Types and quantities of indigenous timber species
- Site factors affecting establishment of young trees
- Pests and diseases
- Fire hazard.

D. LAND QUALITIES RELATED TO MANAGEMENT AND INPUTS

The qualities listed may refer to arable use, animal production or forestry.

- Terrain factors affecting mechanization (trafficability)

- Terrain factors affecting construction and maintenance of access roads (accessibility
- Size of potential management units (e.g. forest blocks, farms, fields
- Location in relation to markets and to supplies of inputs.

2.4.1 Examples

These terms may be illustrated with reference to the land quality "oxygen availability in the root
zone". This quality can be most closely estimated by the diagnostic criterion of the period when
the redox potential (Eh) in the root zone is less than +200 millivolts. Such information would
frequently not be available, in which case the next most direct criterion would be periods when
the root zone lay below the water table. For example, oxygen availability might be classed as
"moderate" with 3-6 months below the water table, and "low" with over 6 months. Failing
information on periods with a high water table, then soil mottling, soil drainage class or natural
vegetation could be used as diagnostic criteria for assessing oxygen availability.

Land qualities can sometimes be described by means of a single land characteristic, as in the
preceding example. In many cases, however, their rating involves combinations of several
characteristics, as in the case of moisture availability illustrated by the following example.

Moisture availability to plants is a land quality that is relevant in a wide variety of circumstances.
It can apply to arable cropping, animal productivity (via its influence on growth of pastures) and
forest production. It can affect both productivity, e.g. crop yields, and inputs, e.g. mulching
measures necessary, or amounts of irrigation water required. Among the land characteristics
which affect the quality moisture availability are: amount of rainfall, its seasonal distribution and
variability; potential evapotranspiration, and hence the characteristics which themselves affect it
(temperature, humidity, wind speed, etc.); and available water capacity of the soil, and the
characteristics which affect it - effective soil depth (depth to which roots penetrate) and the field
capacity and wilting point of each soil horizon, the latter being in turn influenced by texture,
organic matter content, etc. The probable recurrence interval at which the soil moisture level falls
to wilting point within the entire rooting zone is a further land characteristic of importance
(which can be estimated but not measured within a short period). By no means all these land
characteristics would be employed as diagnostic criteria. Supposing, for example, that
differences in both rainfall and potential evapotranspiration within the surveyed area were so
small as to be of little importance in differentiating types of land, then this characteristic would
become part of the physical context of the evaluation and would not be used in defining class
limits. The most appropriate diagnostic criterion used to define class limits might be available
water capacity of the soil profile. However, where soil data were not available, then some
function of effective depth and soil texture, believed to bear a linear relationship with available
water capacity, could be used. In the former case, the set of critical values for available water
capacity used to define class limits might be such as: over 40 cm, 30 40 cm, 24-30 cm.

2.4.2 The Scarcity Value of Land

The value of a particular type of land may be increased by its scarcity or the rarity of certain of
its qualities, within a given region or country. This is often the position with nature reserves. In
the extreme case, the presence of a plant or animal species unique to one area may make that
land virtually irreplaceable, resulting in strict protection even against highly profitable other
uses. Situations whore land acquires added suitability for a particular use by virtue of its scarcity
can also arise with productive forms of uses for example where dry-season grazing land is in
short supply.

2.5 Requirements and limitations

Requirements of the land use refer to the set of land qualities that determine the production and
management conditions of a kind of land use.
Limitations are land qualities, or their expression by means of diagnostic criteria, which
adversely affect a kind of land use.

For example, the requirements for mechanized cultivation of wheat include high availability of
oxygen in the root zone and absence of obstructions (boulders or rock outcrops); waterlogging
and the presence of boulders are limitations. Thus limitations may be regarded as land qualities
expressed in such a way as to show the extent to which the conditions of the land fall short of the
requirements for a given use.

2.6 Land improvements

Land improvements are activities which cause beneficial changes in the qualities of the land
itself. Land improvements should be distinguished from improvements in land use, i.e. changes
in the use to which the land is put or modifications to management practices under a given use.

Land improvements are classed as major or minor. A major land improvement is a substantial
and reasonably permanent improvement in the qualities of the land affecting a given use. A large
non-recurrent input is required, usually taking the form of capital expenditure on structure and
equipment. Once accomplished, maintenance of the improvement remains as a continuing cost,
but the land itself is more suitable for the use than formerly. Examples are large irrigation
schemes drainage of swamps and reclamation of salinized land.

A minor land improvement is one which either has relatively small effects or is non-permanent
or both, or which lies within the capacity of individual farmers or other land users. Stone
clearance, eradication of persistent weeds and field drainage by ditches are examples.

The separation of major from minor land improvements is intended only as an aid to making a
suitability classification. The distinction is a relative one; it is not clear-cut and is only valid
within a local context. In cases of doubt, the main criterion is whether the improvement is within
the technical and financial capacity of individual farmers or other landowners (including small
communal owners, e.g. village co-operatives). In many areas improvements such as subsoiling,
dynamiting or terracing cannot be undertaken by individual farmers, and are therefore regarded
as major land improvements; in countries with large farms and high capital resources coupled
with good credit facilities, however, these changes may be within reach of individuals and are
therefore considered as minor improvements. Field drainage is another improvement that may or
may not be regarded as major, depending on farm size, permanency of tenure, capital availability
and level of technology.

2.7 Land suitability and land capability

The term "land capability" is used in a number of land classification systems, notably that of the
Soil Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Klingebiel and Montgomery,
1961). In the USDA system, soil mapping units are grouped primarily on the basis of their
capability to produce common cultivated crops And pasture plants without deterioration over a
long period of time. Capability is viewed by some as the inherent capacity of land to perform at a
given level for a general use, and suitability as a statement of the adaptability of a given area for
a specific kind of land use; others see capability as a classification of land primarily in relation to
degradation hazards, whilst some regard the terms "suitability" and "capability" as
interchangeable.

Because of these varying interpretations, coupled with the long-standing association of

"capability" with the USDA system, the term land suitability is used in this framework, and no
further reference to capability is made.