ArcGIS Pro Agricultural Land Suitability Analysis Training Course

Course overview

Agricultural investment, resettlement, irrigation, and food-security programmes depend on defensible decisions about where crops can be grown sustainably. Yet land data commonly sits across separate soil surveys, elevation models, rainfall records, land-cover maps, protected-area boundaries, and market-access layers. This course enables professionals to turn those datasets into transparent land suitability evidence in ArcGIS Pro, helping teams identify viable production areas, rule out constrained land, compare crop scenarios, and explain the assumptions behind recommendations to funders, government counterparts, and communities.

Participants build a complete agricultural land suitability workflow using ArcGIS Pro and the Spatial Analyst extension. They prepare vector and raster data, establish an appropriate geodatabase structure, derive terrain and proximity criteria, classify soil, climate, and slope factors, apply exclusion constraints, and combine weighted criteria through Weighted Overlay and Weighted Sum. The course also covers the FAO land evaluation approach, multicriteria decision analysis, sensitivity testing, map validation, ModelBuilder automation, and production of decision-ready maps and summary tables for crops such as maize, rice, sorghum, horticulture, or pasture.

Teaching is based on a realistic agricultural development case in which participants assess candidate land parcels for a proposed production programme. Instructor demonstrations are followed by guided ArcGIS Pro labs, peer review of criteria and weights, and structured interpretation of results. Each participant leaves with an ArcGIS Pro project, organised geodatabase, documented suitability model, classified suitability map series, area statistics, and a short suitability assessment brief that can be adapted for an active programme or feasibility study.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Prepare soil, climate, terrain, land-cover, and infrastructure datasets in an ArcGIS Pro geodatabase for suitability modelling
• Derive slope, aspect, elevation, drainage proxies, and distance-to-access criteria from raster and vector source data
• Translate crop requirements into FAO-style land qualities, suitability classes, thresholds, and exclusion constraints
• Reclassify continuous environmental variables into documented suitability scores using ArcGIS Pro raster tools
• Construct weighted land suitability models with Weighted Overlay and Weighted Sum in Spatial Analyst
• Apply Boolean constraints to remove protected areas, water bodies, settlements, unsuitable land cover, and restricted parcels
• Test model sensitivity by changing criterion weights and comparing resulting suitability area statistics
• Produce a reproducible ArcGIS Pro suitability project, map layout, model documentation, and decision brief

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• GIS Analysts — who prepare spatial evidence for agricultural planning, investment, and programme targeting
• Agronomists — who need to convert crop requirements and field knowledge into mapped suitability criteria
• Land Use Planners — who compare agricultural potential against environmental, settlement, and infrastructure constraints
• Agriculture Programme Managers — who must justify site selection and geographic targeting to funders and partners
• Food Security and Livelihoods Officers — who identify areas suitable for climate-resilient crop and livelihood interventions
• Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists — who assess agricultural development options against protected and restricted land

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable navigating ArcGIS Pro, opening projects, viewing attribute tables, symbolising layers, and performing basic vector geoprocessing such as Clip, Buffer, Select By Attributes, and Join. Familiarity with coordinate systems, raster versus vector data, and agricultural concepts such as crop requirements, soil texture, rainfall, and slope is expected. Participants should have previously worked with spatial datasets in ArcGIS Pro or an equivalent GIS application. No programming, remote-sensing classification experience, advanced statistics, or prior multicriteria decision analysis experience is required.

Training methodology

The course combines concise instructor-led demonstrations with daily ArcGIS Pro labs built around an agricultural development scenario. Participants work with soil, rainfall, elevation, land cover, roads, protected areas, and administrative boundaries, then convert crop requirements into scored raster criteria. Small-group reviews test the logic of thresholds, constraints, and weights before participants run and interpret alternative suitability models. The final day includes a practical application-planning workshop in which each participant adapts the workflow, documentation structure, and map outputs to a current organisational decision.

Course outline

Day 1: Land suitability frameworks and data preparation

• FAO land evaluation concepts: land qualities, limitations, and suitability classes
• Agricultural land suitability questions for crop targeting and site selection
• ArcGIS Pro project structure, file geodatabases, and analysis environments
• Raster and vector data models for soil, climate, terrain, access, and land use
• Coordinate systems, cell size, extent, snap raster, and resampling decisions
• Data quality checks for missing values, inconsistent units, and spatial coverage
• Preparing an analysis-ready geodatabase with standardised field names and metadata

Workshop: Participants assemble and quality-check a project geodatabase for a crop suitability assessment, producing an analysis-ready data inventory and ArcGIS Pro project.

Day 2: Deriving agricultural suitability criteria

• Converting crop agronomy requirements into measurable spatial criteria
• Slope, aspect, and elevation derivation with Surface and Spatial Analyst tools
• Distance to roads, markets, water sources, and processing facilities using proximity analysis
• Soil attribute preparation for pH, texture, depth, drainage, and organic matter
• Climate criteria using rainfall totals, temperature ranges, and growing-period indicators
• Raster extraction, interpolation considerations, and zonal summaries for administrative areas
• Reclassify methods for thresholds, ordinal scores, and suitability classes

Workshop: Participants derive and reclassify terrain, soil, rainfall, and access layers for a selected crop, producing a documented criteria scorecard and raster stack.

Day 3: Constraints and multicriteria suitability modelling

• Hard constraints versus preference criteria in land allocation decisions
• Creating exclusion masks for water bodies, settlements, protected areas, and restricted land
• Boolean raster logic with Con, Set Null, Raster Calculator, and logical operators
• Weighted Overlay tool configuration and common scale requirements
• Weighted Sum modelling for flexible numeric criterion combinations
• Weight elicitation using expert judgement and analytic hierarchy process principles
• ModelBuilder design for transparent and repeatable suitability workflows

Workshop: Participants build a constrained weighted suitability model in ModelBuilder, producing a first-pass classified suitability map and saved model workflow.

Day 4: Testing, validating, and interpreting results

• Suitability class interpretation: highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginal, and excluded land
• Sensitivity analysis through alternative weights and threshold scenarios
• Comparing model outputs with Swipe, transparency, and raster change detection methods
• Area calculation by suitability class using Tabulate Area and Zonal Statistics
• Validation against known farms, field observations, yield records, and expert review
• Identifying uncertainty from source data resolution, seasonal variation, and proxy variables
• Equity, land tenure, environmental safeguards, and practical access considerations

Workshop: Participants compare three weighting scenarios and validation evidence, producing a sensitivity table, area statistics, and a written interpretation of model limitations.

Day 5: Decision-ready outputs and operational application

• Cartographic design for suitability maps, constraints maps, and comparison layouts
• Dynamic text, legends, scale bars, and map series in ArcGIS Pro layouts
• Summarising suitable land by district, community, parcel, and programme zone
• Exporting maps, tables, and geospatial packages for partners and decision makers
• Documenting criteria sources, assumptions, weights, exclusions, and validation results
• Adapting the workflow for different crops, irrigation options, and climate scenarios
• Planning data updates, field verification, governance, and model ownership

Workshop: Participants complete a capstone suitability assessment pack containing map layouts, area summaries, model documentation, and a short decision brief for a proposed agricultural intervention.

Tools & standards covered

ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, ArcGIS Online, FAO Framework for Land Evaluation

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions