CROP SUITABILITY EVALUATION OF GRAINS AND COMMERCIAL CROPS IN BARANGAY MARIBULAN. ALABEL. SARANGANI PROVINCE

Land suitability is defined as the fitness of a given land for a defined use. The study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of grains like rice and corn, and commercial crops like banana and cassava in barangay Maribulan, Alabel, Sarangani Province using Geographic Information System software. The suitability evaluation was based on three main parameters namely: soil characteristics (texture, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), climatic (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall), and topographic (elevation, slope) and were evaluated based on agricultural experts crop ratings and FAO guidelines for agriculture. The Process Flow was used to determine the relative importance of each criterion and the resulting weights were used to make the suitability map using Quantum GIS 2.14.1 Essen Software. The result of this study shows that for each crop, Barangay Maribulan is suitable for rice, corn, and cassava, while moderately suitable for bananas.