Throughout human history, increasing population growth and changing dietary patterns have resulted in more and more land moving from forest or grasslands into agricultural lands. Demand for food is increasing as populations grow and gain wealth to purchase more varied and resource-intensive diets. There is increased competition for land, water, energy, and other inputs into food production [1]. Increase in population, changes in dietary habits associated with increase in income, decline in per capita land area, and decline in per capita availability of renewable fresh water aggravated by excessive withdrawal of ground water are the compelling reasons for intensification of agriculture [2]. Intensive agriculture is the cultivation of land where there are very high inputs of labour, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides to obtain the maximum output. This involves the use of mechanical ploughing, chemical fertilizers, plant growth regulators and/or pesticides. It is associated with the increasing use of agricultural mechanization, which has enabled a substantial increase in production. But it also dramatically increases deforestation and conversion of grassland to agriculture, soil degradation by increasing soil erosion, compaction, crusting and water logging, salinisation, alkalisation, acidification, soil pollution and nutrient depletion, reduction of organic matter content in the soil and poisoning water with agricultural chemicals. This leads to low soil productivity and managing such soil is a formidable challenge to ensure productivity, profitability and national food security on sustainable basis. Sustained food security calls for increasing the crop production by maintaining the productivity of existing crop lands, preventing degradation of fertile lands and bringing erstwhile degraded lands under plough. The importance of sustainable utilisation of natural resources has been widely recognized for which information on the nature, extent spatial distribution and temporal behavior of land resources is a pre-requisite. Space borne remote sensing can effectively fulfill this role as it is proven tool for fast and accurate appraisal of natural resources [3]. The information thus generated can be put in a Geographic Information System (GIS) that aids planners in decision-making as well as in scientific management of land resources.

Soil characterization is basically an inference process based on Jenny’s model [4]. According to this model climate, parent material, relief or topography, vegetation and time are the soil forming factors that influence on soil characteristics. The climate acting over parent material for pedogenic time on different physiographic unit is the most dominant factor responsible for development of different types of soil to support different vegetation. Vegetation types are also one active factor which greatly influences soil formation by adding organic matter, providing pores for translocation and accumulation of minerals and clay. During soil development many morphological, physical, chemical, biochemical and, macro and microbiological reactions and processes occur simultaneously as also interactively in soils. These reaction and processes that affect the properties of soils and its development are in turn influenced by several natural factors viz., climate, organism, parent material and modified to a great extend by the relief features. The surface configuration is the chief factor in soil development and close relation exists between soils and their morphological setting [5]. Since the productive potential of the soils is limited by intrinsic characteristics, understanding of the soils as influenced by landscape features is of great significance. The spatial information technologies viz. Remote sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) have made it possible to characterize the soil forming factors and infer soil boundaries based on field survey, soil sample analysis image characteristics. The application of satellite remote sensing data products for small and medium scale soil mapping is widely accepted, but they have not been used for large scale soil mapping due to coarse resolution of satellite data [6]. With advances in terms of spatial, spectral and radiometric resolutions of the sensors, studies have been initiated to characterize soils at large scale through physiography-land use-soil relationship [6- 11].

The land use planning involves making knowledgeable decisions about land use and the environment. Soil information is a vital component in the planning process, reflecting directly upon land-use suitability. The land evaluation system of FAO (1983) was based on land qualities as related to individual crops that was used to develop the crop requirements based on experiences in tropical areas [12]. This land evaluation system for land use was earlier adopted to derive land suitability map in Seoni district, Madhya Pradesh [13]. Computer program, which includes decision support systems (models) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has contributed to the speed and efficiency of overall planning process. Quick and efficient access to large amount of information was enabled by GIS, exhibiting relationships, patterns, and trends that are useful in combining soil survey information to monitor land use changes [14]. Soil survey database could be used to estimate soil characteristics based on known relationship to other soil physical and chemical properties and also to improve fertilizer recommendations on the basis of soil test values [15]. Of late, advanced land evaluation techniques have been found useful in addressing soil fertility constraints and management problems in the areas of low productivity [16]. In some of such areas that are inhabited by tribal farming communities crop failures were experienced frequently due to traditional agricultural practices. These areas should be given priorities for improved crop planning and agricultural development. The land resources can be better managed through systematic soil characterization and evaluating their potentials and limitations with appropriate interventions. Keeping in view above, an attempt has been made to characterize and evaluate the land resources of Mawryngkneng Community and Rural Development Block of East Khasi hills district of Meghalaya using Resourcesat-I data and GIS.