Abstract

The land suitability evaluation for banana production (Musa acuminate) and its irrigation management in drought prone Pulivendula tehsil (133315 hectares) of Cuddapah district requires systematic land resource information to apply FAO-SYS guidelines to analyze and generate maps under Geographical information system. The climate is semiarid with length of growing period of 95 to 135 days and aridity index of 11.29 to 14.25. The angot pluvimetric analysis shows that August to October receives high intensity rainfall (>20mm) with probability more than 50 per cent. A soil resource inventory on 1:25000 scale using IRS-P6-LISS-IV satellite imagery was carried out to derive soil map having 43 soil mapping units. The soil map shows that 69 per cent of area is non-gravelly with deep, moderately well drained, moderately to strongly calcareous alkaline clay soils occurring on nearly flat to very gently sloping lands. The land suitability map shows that fifty one thousand hectares of land is moderately suitable for banana with limitations of subsoil gravelliness, rooting depth and texture under erratic rainfall pattern. The irrigability analysis for drip irrigation shows that 38.33 per cent of area (56091ha) is suitable with high soil erosion risk that needs construction of bench terraces with rock bunding.

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