Land Suitability for Chili and Tomato Crops in Wayamiga Village East Bacan Sub-District South Halmahera District, Indonesia

Abstract

Chili (Capsicum annum L.) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) crops are two vegetable horticultural commodities with high economic value and market demand and it’s becomes extremely important to consider land suitability and environmental sustainability factors to reduce losses and increase the probability of success. This research aimed to identify land suitability, land limiting factors, and land management for the development of chili and tomato crops in Wayamiga Village East Bacan Sub-district. The research uses a land survey method with a free survey observation distance system. The land characteristics identification employs the Boring Technique on 13 land units and land sampling of 7 samples. Land suitability analysis refers to the FAO’s land suitability classification system (1976) up to the sub-class of land suitability using a matching method. The research results indicate that the land is actually suitable for chili in Wayamiga Village with the analysis result suggesting a suitable land and S3(write this in full since it is the first time it appears) for chili and tomato is 1.940,7 ha (42,1%) and not suitable (N) is 2.666,3 ha (57,9%). Suitable land for chili and tomato crops is usually moderately suitable land (S2) (do same as foe S3) and marginally suitable land (S3). The land limiting factors that affect the land suitability for chili and tomato crops include rainfall during the growth period, humidity, soil drainage, base saturation, soil pH, organic C, soil salinity, total nitrogen nutrients (N-total), phosphorus (P2O5), potassium (K2O), flood hazard class, land average temperature, soil effective depth, surface rocks, and slope. Land management applied to maintain the sustainability of chili and tomato farming in Wayamiga Desa consists of the improvement of environmental humidity conditions, tillage, construction of drainage channels, application of lime and organic fertilizers, application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers, and flood prevention.