CROP SUITABILITY EVALUATION OF CACAO (Theobroma cacao L.) PRODUCTION IN BARANGAY BATOMELONG, GENERAL SANTOS CITY USING GIS

Land 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 cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) using Geographic Information System software. The study was carried out in Barangay Batomelong, General Santos City. Agriculture is the mainstay of the local economy in the study area, but the production is very low because some of the crops being introduced are not doing well. Therefore, there is a need to identify the suitable areas for growing various crops 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 study research revealed that the study area is highly suitable (5.45%) which covers 45.05 hectares of the total area, moderately suitable (22.71%) with 187.85 hectares of the total area, and marginally suitable (56.87%) for cacao which covers the largest hectarage of the area. The results can be used by the local government to advise the local farmers in the study area to engage in cacao production.