Potential land use planning and agricultural land suitability classification of Bala Agricultural Farm, Ankara-Turkey

This study was aimed to determine the potential land use planning and classification of agricultural land suitability of Bala agricultural farm land located in Ankara province. According to the results of the detailed soil survey and mapping prepared previously, 23 different soil series and 125 land mapping units were determined in the study area. Land evaluation was carried out by using SENOL Land Evaluation System and lands were evaluated separately for 24 different land use types which are irrigated land use types (16), dry farming land use types (5) and non-agricultural land use types (3). While about 70% of the lands were found to be suitable for irrigated land use types, 76% of the study area was suitable for non-irrigated land use types. According to the classification of agricultural land use suitability in the study area, 5.64% was classified as prime farmlands, 50.98% as moderately productive croplands, 16.38% as marginally productive croplands, 14.28% as currently unproductive lands, and 12.72% as non-agricultural lands.