229-Suitability Model for Land Development and Irrigation Potential in Northeastern Brazil.

Abstract

The present study was conducted from remotely sensed data and GIS technology for mapping of economically irrigable land, which requires a detailed understanding of the ecology, soils, topography, geology and geomorphology of the study area. Under this study a variety of supervised classification methods has been applied and tested extensively for land use planning, management, land development and irrigation potential on two test sites in two different states (Paraiba and Piaui) of northeastern Brazil. The Present study describes some outlines on using these technologies to derive various natural resources and environmental information, such as, land use/land cover classification, soil associations, land capability, slope classes and finally a Suitability Model for land development and irrigation potential for the study area. The result showed a very good performance by SPOT imagery analysed through digital interpretation using ERDAS Software. After receiving these results, it is necessary for the Federal as well State Agencies to explain to the public and farmers the planned projects for Irrigation, Soil Conservation and Land Development to be executed in NE Brazil for its agricultural and economic development, land evaluation and land reforms programs (REFORMA AGRARIAS) of the Federal Government of Brazil.