Agroecological Zoning and Land Suitability Assessment for Maize (Zea mays L.) Development in Buton Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

From a regional planning perspective, information on agroecological zones, land characteristics and its suitability for a certain land use type is needed for more efficient land management decisions. The main aim of this paper is to assess land characteristics and to evaluate land suitability for maize cultivation on a regional basis. This research was conducted from August 2012 to February 2013 on 10 locations (sub-districts), in the main land of Buton Island, Indonesia, namely: Batauga, Sampolawa, Lapandewa, Wabula, Pasarwajo, Wolowa, Siontapina, South Lasalimu, Lasalimu, and Kapontori. Three main stages were undertaken in this study: survey, mapping, and evaluation, to assess land suitability for maize development. Land suitability map for maize was developed in GIS, based on such parameters as climate (air temperature, air humidity, and rainfall), soils (texture, pH, C-organics, clay CEC, drainage, and erosion condition), and physiography (topography, landform, and altitude). Land suitability classes were grouped into very suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), marginally suitable (S3), currently not suitable (N1), and permanently not suitable (N2). The results show that due to severe limiting factors, suitable land (class S3) covers only a total area of 509.60 ha, or only 0.64% of the total potential area for development (74,664 ha). This was mainly located in Sampolawa sub-district 405.34 ha (0.54%) and Kapontori 104.26 ha (0.14%). Other locations in general, fall into permanently not suitable class (N2) with a total area of 61,113.08 (81.85%), where the largest area was found in Pasarwajo 12,616.68 (16.90%); and currently not suitable class (N1) covers only 13,042.01 ha (17.47%), where the largest area was in South Lasalimu 6,5459.23 ha (8.32%). This research may be useful as references for efficient spatial decision making in the allocation of maize in the region.