A diverse topography along with deforestation, changing climatic conditions, long-term human settlement, overuse of agricultural lands without sustainable planning, cultural difficulties in accepting conservative land management practices, and wrong political decisions have increased the vulnerability of many soils to degradation and resulted in a serious decline in their functional capacity. A progressive reduction in the capacity of soils to support plant productivity is not only a threat in the African continent and its large desert zone, but also in several parts of Central and Southeastern Europe (CASEE). The loss of soil functions throughout CASEE is mainly related to the human activities that have profound influence on soil dynamic characteristics. Improper management of soils has made them more vulnerable to degradation through water and wind erosion, organic matter depletion, salinity, acidification, crusting and sealing, and compaction. Unmitigated degradation has substantial implications for long term sustainability of the soils’ capability to support human communities and resist desertification. If sustainable agricultural and land management practices are not identified, well understood and implemented, the decline in soil quality will continue and probably accelerate. The lack of uniform criteria for the assessment and evaluation of soil quality in CASEE countries prevents scientific assessments to determine if existing management practices are leading to soil quality improvement, or if not, what management practices should be recommended to mitigate and reverse the loss of soil health.

Rational planning of soil resources based on their capabilities are needed for the sustainable use of agricultural lands. Land suitability classification is an important evaluation tool for the management of soil resources. This study aimed to evaluate the land suitability for wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivation using an approach that integrates multi-criteria decision making (MCDA) analysis and geographic information systems (GIS). The study area cover 21146 ha land and is located within the land consolidation area in the Çumra Plain, located in Central Anatolia of Turkey, The physical, chemical and fertility properties of the soil samples collected from 342 points in the study area were used as parameters in the wheat suitability assessment. The relative weight values of the soil parameters were determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Literature and expert opinion were used in the creation of the AHP matrices and the determination of the sub-criteria. The criteria with the highest weight values or which have the highest impact on wheat growth were soil texture (0.30) and pH (0.16), while the lowest weight values were given for micro elements (0.02). Land Suitability Assessment was applied to the maps of soil variables using weighted overlay analysis in the GIS environment by using the relative weights. Thus, the suitability of the study area for wheat cultivation was mapped. The results revealed that 74% of the study area was highly suitable (S1) and 24% was moderately suitable (S2) for wheat cultivation. The coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.81, which indicated a successful prediction of the GIS-MCDA hybrid approach for wheat suitability assessment. Integration of land suitability analyzes specific to plant variety in land consolidation projects can provide a more detailed perspective on the land in the design of planning studies.