Site suitability for turmeric production in India -A GIS interpretation

Abstract

India has 1,49,410 hectares area under turmeric cultivation with a total annual production of 527,960 tonnes. The compound growth rate of turmeric area is 6.30 and production is 3.37 when comparing 2000 levels over those of 1970. It shows that the increase in area is not having significant effect over the production rate. In the present paper the suitability maps and area productivity graphs are given to show the position of turmeric in the important turmeric growing states. It was found that site suitability is an important factor to determine the productivity of the crop. A highly suitable location may not result in larger yields than suitable or marginallly suitable areas. Suitability maps are useful to determine areas which will have the greatest success for growing a particular crop in a region.