TITLE:
Agro-Ecological Aptitude to Produce Cocoa under Rainfed Conditions in Tabasco Mexico
AUTHORS:
Genovevo Ramírez-Jaramillo, María José Romo-Olán, Mónica Guadalupe Lozano-Contreras, Jorge H. Ramírez-Silva
KEYWORDS:
Geographic Information System, Productivity, Competitive, Potential Areas
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.8 No.10,
October
28,
2021
ABSTRACT: The main problem of cocoa in Mexico is that it is not competitive due to low productivity related to cultivated areas with low production potential, old and low-yield materials susceptible to diseases and poor use of cultural practices. The state of Tabasco in Mexico is the most important cocoa grower since more of 70% of the country’s plantations are located in the state. Faced with a scenario of strengthening the cultivation and renewal of cocoa plantations, it is compulsory to consider the agro-ecological aptitude for cultivation and reclassify the areas according to their potential yields. The agro-climatic requirements of cocoa were compared with the natural agro-climatic condition geographically scattered in the state. A QGIS version 3.6.0 was the Geographic Information System software used to process and analyze the information. There were identified more than 174 thousand hectares of optimal yield potential and more than 32 thousand with suboptimal ones under rainfed conditions.