Selecting the vegetable growing areas in tonghai county, yunnan province, china using ahp-gis model approach

Abstract

Tonghai County is an important export-oriented vegetable production base in Yunnan Province, China. Because vegetables are perishable and highly dependent on efficient logistics, growing-area selection should consider both natural production conditions and supply-chain accessibility. This study developed an AHP-GIS model using nine natural, economic, and social indicators. GIS was used for standardization, weighted overlay, suitability classification, and constraint masking, with water bodies and their 200 m buffer zones treated as restricted areas. The results showed that soil organic matter and travel time to core export markets had the highest weights. After constraint exclusion, the combined High and Very High Suitability area covered 22,960.80 ha, accounting for 33.19% of the nonrestricted evaluation area. These areas were concentrated mainly around Xingmeng, Sijie, Xiushan, and Yangguang. Sensitivity analysis showed that the absolute relative change in high-quality suitable area ranged from 0.17% to 2.50%, indicating relatively good model robustness. The findings provide spatial support for optimizing vegetable production and supply-chain infrastructure in Tonghai County