Agricultural Land suitability Analysis for Four Major Crops Using Satellite Imagery and G Is Techniques

Abstract

Rural areas in India got a greater need to increase the agricultural production in a sustainable manner, with the finite land resource available. The yield of the crop depends upon the resources available, the climate of the area and its growth. Land suitability study is the holistic approach for sustainability. With the help of land suitability approach farmers can maximize the crop production by adapting the crop that is best suited for their land. Land suitability classes mirrors the extent of suitability within the orders. There are 3 land suitability classes within the order suitable. They are recognized as highly suitable S1, moderately suitable S2 and marginally suitable S3. There are 2 land suitability classes under the order not suitable N. They are recognized as currently not suitable N1 and permanently not suitable as N2. The parameter that are considered for land suitability study for agriculture as a whole are soil texture, land use land cover, macro nutrients of soil, slope, aspect, ground water prospects condition. Soil in the study area is classified into 5 categories viz., clayey, clayey mixed, clayey skeletal, loamy skeletal and rocky land. Soil texture has a vital role to play in plants growth; it’s indirectly related to the fertility of the soil, water holding capacity of the soil, availability of oxygen to the roots and drainage condition of the soil. Land use/ land cover map level 1 classification, study area is classified into agricultural land, water bodies, forestry, wastelands and built-ups. These layers were overlaid by using weighted overlay tool and the final land suitability map is generated. The spatial variation maps along with other inputs layers like aspect, slope, soil texture, ground water prospects and rainfall data were overlaid to obtain land suitability models for agriculture as a whole and particularly for major crops namely rice, maize, groundnut and grapes. The land suitability map for agriculture shows that the highly suitable regions are found in some parts of Gauribidanur and Chintamani villages of Chickballapur District of Karnataka where the study was conducted. There is no highly suitable class found in maps of individual crops, because there might not be highly suitable condition prevailing in the site.