Soils and land sustability assessment for crop production: a case study of control Ethiopia
1996
Teshome Yizengaw (ambo College of Agriculture (Ethiopia))
Soil units in central Ethiopia were evaluated following the FAO (1976; 1983) methodology. The land use types considered were grain maize and tef cultivation under rainfed conditions and a low to intermediate level of management. A simple computerized land evaluation system, referred to as LEV-CET (Teshome, 1994), developed on the basis of Automated land Evaluation System (Rossiter and Van Wambeke, 1989; 1991) was used to evaluate the selected pedons (land units) for the considered land use types (crops). Comparing the requirements of each crop with the properties of the soil units, most units are moderately to marginally suitable for maize and tef production. The major soil related limitations were found to be associated to wetness (drainage) and rooting (clayey texture) conditions. The simple computerized land evaluation system (LEV-CET) has generated useful results and decision options quickly and in a reproducible manner. It clearly shows the major soil related potentials and constraints of land units for several alternative land uses. Based on the outputs, it is possible to outline corrective measures and management options for sustained crop production in a given area. A comprehensive assessment of areas, however, could further be obtained by including climatic and socio-economic factors into the system of evaluation, which of course can be accommodated by LEV-CET.
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