An Approach of Agricultural Courses for Soil Conservation Based on Crop Soil Suitability Using Geomatics

Abstract

Optimal resource planning is essential in developing countries, particularly in the Middle East, where scarcity of resources represents a major challenge for development. To eliminate inappropriate human influence on natural resources and develop a strategy for appropriate land use, land evaluation (LE) assessments are crucial to be properly carried out. In this context, land suitability (LS) assessment was performed in Port Said Governorate. LE and LS were carried out for several field crops, vegetable crops, forage crops, and fruit trees. LS was matched based on the requirements of the selected crops, then it was associated with physiographic map units using a GIS platform. Different sources of remote sensing-derived maps were integrated and homogenized to increase the accuracy of physiographic. Moreover, land quality and soil characteristics mapping were conducted in Arc GIS spatial model to generate LS using geostatistical methods. The results revealed that structure of LS classification was four classes only, moderately suitable S2 = 36%, marginally suitable S3 = 30%, currently not suitable N1 = 23%, and permanently not suitable for crops N2 = 11% of total area of land), respectively, of land. The actual LS produced in association with physiographic units. The potential crops suitability was produced considering the significant fluctuation in land use in the area. Fluctuation changes in land use; fish farms led to increase organic matter (OM) to 2.3 from 0.4% in some soil profiles due to the fish farms practices in the area, and reduce soil electrical conductivity by 50% due to leaching effect. Severe limitations of crop suitability are due to defects associated with organic OM, soil compaction, salinization, alkalinization and carbonates. This work helps to achieve optimum use of available land resources to help in soil improvement and prevent land degradation. Comprehensive LS assessment is required to grow appropriate crops on marginal lands. Hence, there is an urgent need for developing a crop suitability framework for optimum use of land in the area. This approach provides an integrated approach to identify suitable crops for areas with physical constraints.