Land-use suitability is the ability of a given type of land to support a defined use. Analysis of land-use suitability requires the consideration of a variety of criteria, not only the natural/physical capacity of a land unit, but also its socioeconomic and environmental impact implications. As land suitability is assessed within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, it is formulated as a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. The study was conducted in the Sangab Plain in northeast Iran. We investigated the study area’s suitability for grassland and agricultural uses. A hybrid method of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and GIS methodology was applied to evaluate land suitability based on a set of criteria and sub-criteria. Results showed that 20% of the study area had high (rich), 65% had medium (fair), and 15% had low (poor) suitability for agriculture. In terms of grassland use, the comparable amounts were, respectively, about 7%, 23%, and 70%. The lands of the Sangab Plain have medium potential for agricultural use and low potential for grassland use. This paper used both qualitative and quantitative techniques.

Agriculture is an irrefutable part of food policy. This paper aims to introduce an integrated method using MICMAC and AHP techniques to deal with understanding the key strategic variables of agricultural system. MICMAC was used to determine the classifications of variables and AHP was applied to weigh these classifications. MICMAC is a structural analysis tool used to structure ideas and AHP is an effective tool to deal with complex decision making and helps decision-makers making the best decision. The results show that strategic variables had different types of influence and direct, indirect, and potential dependencies did not have the same importance. AHP-MICMAC not only considers these differences, but also puts a total priority weight for each variable. These characteristics have an important role in forming strategies and scenarios for agricultural development. Therefore, the case of Iran was used to illustrate the application of MICMAC aiming to supply instructions for the development of agriculture system.