Land Inventorization at Tardi-Babhlaj Villages of Shirpur Taluka Maharashtra State using RS and GIS

Abstract

Scientific evaluation of the land is essential in order to understand the suitability for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes and identification of capabilities and constraints of the land for various crops and their cultivation helps in appropriate and sustainable usage. In order to uplift the production, productivity as well as profitability from a farm land, the knowledge regarding various land resources and soil properties become pre-requisites. In this, direction, a land inventorization was carried out using RS and GIS techniques. The prime objective was to carry out land evaluation studies based on land based on land capability classification and suitability of lands for commonly cultivated crops in the region. Soil morphological features, physical, physico-chemical and fertility properties of the land were analysed and the results indicated that the soils are good in inherent properties even with the slight variation in the morphological and physicochemical properties. Land evaluation based on Land Capability Classification (LCC) revealed that, all the blocks fall under Class-IV with some of the limitations like, erosion, texture and low organic carbon content in soils. Suitability of land to the crops indicated that there are limitations with respect to erosion, slope and soil fertility. Based on the obtained results, corrective measures were suggested for all the blocks to reduce the erosion losses improve the soil properties for higher productivity of the cultivated crops. The study concludes that variation in soils in all blocks is due to the close relationship between soils, physiography and climate which are interrelated.