TITLE:
Land Suitability Analysis for Orange & Pineapple: A Multi Criteria Decision Making Approach Using Geo Spatial Technology
AUTHORS:
Pratibha T. Das, S. Sudhakar
KEYWORDS:
Khasi Mandarin Orange; Pineapple; Site Suitability Analysis; Soil; Slope; Remote Sensing; GIS
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.6 No.1,
February
13,
2014
ABSTRACT: Land evaluation procedure
given by FAO for soil site suitability for various land utilization types for
rainfed agriculture has been used to assess the land suitability for khasi
mandarin orange and pineapple in East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya. The
database on soil and land use/land cover was generated from IRS-P6 remote
sensing satellite data, soil survey and laboratory analysis of soil samples to
perform an integrated analysis in the Geographic Information System
environment. Different soil chemical parameters and physical parameters were
considered to evaluate soil site suitability for orange & pineapple. Different
thematic layers were derived from soil map by using ArcGIS software.
Subsequently all of them were overlaid and integrated in GIS environment and suitability criteria was applied to
the resulted composite map and generated land suitability map for orange and pineapple. The result indicated that
the soil sites of the study area are highly to marginally suitable for mandarin
orange whereas it is marginally suitable for pineapple. The study reveals that
highly suitable areas for orange are found in the Cherapunjee and Mawsynram area
that covers 34.5 Sq.Km areas. Moderately suitable (37% of TGA) and
marginally suitable (24% of TGA) areas are
found only because of slope constraint (8%-30% slope).
The hills with deep gorges and ravines on the southern portion of the district
is found not suitable for orange plantation
because of steep slopes (>30%) and stoniness. Land suitability analysis for
pineapple showed that 81% area of total geographical area of the district is
marginally suitable and 19% area is not suitable to support the crop. The
district is marginally suitable because of topography (slope and erosion), soil
fertility (base saturation and CEC) and climate.