Abstract
Agricultural productivity in the Peruvian region of Amazonas is being jeopardized by conflicts and inadequate land use, that are ultimately contributing to environmental degradation. Therefore, our aim is to assess land suitability for potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) farming in the Jucusbamba and Tincas microwatersheds located in Amazonas, in order to improve land-use planning and enhance the crop productivity of small-scale farmers. The site selection methodology involved a pair-wise comparison matrix (PCM) and a weighted multicriteria analysis using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) on selected biophysical and socioeconomical drivers. Simultaneously, land cover mapping was conducted using field samples, remote sensing (RS), geostatistics and geographic information systems (GIS). The results indicated that for potato crop farming, the most important criteria are climatological (30.14%), edaphological (29.16%), topographical (25.72%) and socioeconomical (14.98%) in nature. The final output map indicated that 8.2% (22.91 km2) was highly suitable, 68.5% (190.37 km2) was moderately suitable, 21.6% (60.11 km2) was marginally suitable and 0.0% was not suitable for potato farming. Built-up areas (archaeological sites, urban and road networks) and bodies of water were discarded from this study (4.64 km2). This study intends to promote and guide sustainable agriculture through agricultural land planning.
Highlights
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are a vital source of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, holding a fundamental role in the food chain [1]
Moderate variability was shown by pH, while other physical chemical properties displayed a high variability in their results
The coupled Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Remote Sensing (RS)-Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach is widely used in agricultural land zoning processes
Summary
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are a vital source of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, holding a fundamental role in the food chain [1]. Global agriculture is struggling between the need to increase agricultural production and growing environmental concerns [6] Factors such as population growth, climate change, production technology difficulties, overexploitation of soil and supply problems complicate the ability to predict future potato production [7]. Another problem of Peruvian agricultural activity is deficient planning of potential territories for specific crops, which causes disturbances in the ecosystem, such as annual deforestation to install new plots or the overexploitation of territories which are not suitable for cultivation [8,9]. Tools such as Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and multicriteria analysis (MCA) techniques can be used to identify and prioritize suitable land for agriculture [10,12]
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