Developing a Geographic Information System (GIS) application for soils and crop suitability studies in Atwima District of Ghana

Abstract

This paper reports a study that sought to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) application for soils and their crops suitability in the Atwima District. The purpose of the study was to digitally capture, store, and analyze the soil map and crops suitability data of the district. GIS is a computer-based system for gathering, storing, manipulating and analyzing spatial data to support decision making. In this study, the soil map of the Atwima district was digitized and analyzed with GIS software called ArcView. The soil characteristics and crops suitability data were also added in tabular form to the database. A thematic map showing soil associations and their crop suitability was then generated from the database and displayed concurrently with the tabular data. Analysis of the map and table proved that it is easier to study soils and their suitable crops from their data displayed concurrently on the desktop. It was therefore concluded that developing GIS application for the study of soils and crops suitability is an effective way of bringing all related datasets together to support agricultural research and decision making. The main recommendation was that agricultural students must develop a comprehensive GIS database that will include all datasets relevant to soils and crops studies and management. Keywords: geographic information system, digitalized soil map, soils and crops studies