CROP SUITABILITY EVALUATION OF SOLO PAPAYA (Carica papaya) PRODUCTION IN BARANGAY TINAGACAN, GENERAL SANTOS CITY USING GIS

Crop suitability analysis is a method of land evaluation, which measures the degree of appropriateness of land for a certain use. The aim of this research was to identify the suitable land for the production of solo papaya (Carica papaya.) using Geographic Information System software. The study was carried out in Barangay Tinagacan, General Santos City. Barangay Tinagacan is commonly composed of agricultural lands but the production is low due to the crops presented to the farmers that have unknown crop suitability in that area. Therefore, crop suitability evaluation should be done in order to achieve maximum potential yield. Three suitability criteria i.e. soil (texture, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), climate (rainfall, temperature and relative humidity) and topography (elevation and slope) were evaluated based on agronomist expert opinions and FAO guideline for rainfed agriculture. An Analytical Hierarchical Process was used to determine relative importance of criteria and the resulting weights were used to construct the suitability maps/layers using Quantum GIS software. The results of this research revealed that the study area is currently not suitable for Solo papava production. A total percentage of 35.99% is classified as currently not suitable. The next has 20.82% which is classified as moderately suitable for papaya plantation. Excluded areas have a total of 148.06% in the overall land area of Barangay Tinagacan. Therefore, production of papava in Barangay Tinagacan is currently not suitable. The results can be used by the local government to advise the local farmers in the study area to not engage in papaya production.