Abstract
The present study on crop suitability analysis is a prerequisite for achieving optimum utilization of the available land resources for sustainable agricultural production. To assess the suitability of crop type for a particular land area, at least five parameters are considered, i.e., physical properties of soil, chemical properties of soil, groundwater availability, irrigation status and climatic condition. The present study area, i.e. Keshpur, Salboni and Midnapore Blocks of Paschim Medinipur District in West Bengal, has the problem of overproduction of same crops resulting in steep fall in price. To overcome this problem, the specific crop suitability in a particular area was undertaken using Geospatial overlay technique. The methodology adopted was to use Landsat ETM+ satellite images in the evaluation of physical and chemical attributes of soil, groundwater level, drainage network system, irrigation, land use and land cover of the study area. Then on the basis of the overlay maps, a crop suitability map was prepared and the result shows that few portions are suitable for groundnut cultivation. The lowland part of the study area and the river basin are most suitable for cultivation of paddy, vegetables, potato and some other crops. It was found that better land-use management could be applied in different land components as the conventional land assessment techniques agonize from the limitation of same cropping technique though it is suitable for different crops. It is observed from the study that though the area is highly fertile according to physicochemical properties of the soil different crop should be cultivated using the suitability characteristic of the soil and furthermore it will boost the income of the marginal farmers.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.