This research was completed using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. Field surveys were executed in sugar cane plantation throughout South Sulawesi Indonesia. Land suitability analyses were performed using a parametric approach with Storie’s index equation followed up with  correlation analysis using the Pearson correlation. Results revealed that the period for sugarcane crop growth in the humid tropic relatively dry regions of South Sulawesi Indonesia lasted for the months of November to July.  The land suitability for sugar cane in the research location was moderately suitable (S2c) and marginally suitable (S3c, S3s, S3s,f and S3c,w) with limiting factors such as relative humidity during crop maturation phase, the duration of sunlight, soil depth, soil texture, soil pH and soil drainage. Land suitability index at the research location ranged from 25.2 to 55.0; sugar cane yields ranged from 30.3 to 62.0 Mg ha-1 year-1. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between LSI with cane and sugar productivity were 0.81 and 0.84 respectively, signifying the strength of the correlation between the two values. This also indicates that land suitability index can be estimating the potential crop yield in the humid tropicsthat relatively dry climate regions.

Ultisol soil has high potential for the development of dryland agriculture. However, this soil use faces obstacles because the nutrient content in Ultisol soils is generally low. This study aims to determine the effect of manure and straw compost on increasing nutrient content of phosphorus in ultisol soil. This study used a completely randomized design (CRD) with 9 levels of treatment, namely P0 = control, P1 = manure 10 tons / ha, P2 = manure 5 tons / ha, P3 = compost 5 tons / ha, P4 = compost 10 ton / ha, P5 = manure 5 tons / ha + compost 10 tons / ha, P6 = manure 10 tons / ha + compost 5 tons / ha, P7 = pellet compost 5 tons / ha, P8 = compost pellets of 10 tons / ha. The treatment was repeated 3 times. The results showed that giving 10 tons / ha of manure plus 5 tons / ha of compost had a significant effect on reducing Al-dd content, and increasing P-available, pH, base saturation, cation exchange capacity and C-organicon Ultisol soil. Giving pellet fertilizer 10 tons / ha gives a real influence on the growth of maize plants.

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Agricultural land use planning should always be guided by a reliable tool to ensure effective decision making in the allocation of land use and activities. The primary aim of this study is to develop a user friendly system on a spatial basis for agricultural land suitability evaluation of four groups of agriculture commodities, including food crops, horticultural crops, perennial (plantation) crops, grazing, and tambak (fish ponds) to guide land use planning. The procedure used is as follows: (i) conducting soil survey based on generated land mapping units; (ii) developing soil database in GIS; and (iii) designing a user friendly system. The data bases of the study were derived from satellite imagery, digital topographic map, soil characteristics at reconnaissance scale, as well as climate data. Land suitability evaluation in this study uses the FAO method. The study produces a spatial based decision support tool called SUFIG-Wilkom that can give decision makers sets of information interactively for land use allocation purposes.This user friendly system is also amenable to various operations in a vector GIS, so that the system may accommodate possible additional assessment of other land use types.

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<p>Land suitability assessment is essential for the efficient use of diminishing fertile agricultural land. Assessment parameters include soil texture, pH, the sum of basic cations, base saturation, cation exchange capacity, organic carbon, soil depth, slope, and mean annual temperature and precipitation data. Results showed that 76.28% and 23.26% of the total area were optimally and moderately suitable for coffee growth, respectively; 9.6% and 90% were optimally and moderately suitable for cocoa growth, respectively; 1.98%, 78.74%, and 19.26% were optimally, moderately, and marginally suitable for clove growth, respectively; and 6.68%, 86.89%, and 6.41% was optimally, moderately, and marginally suitable for pepper growth, respectively. The final land suitability index (LSI) was strongly influenced by the threshold values used by the researcher and the quality of the land indicator itself. Plant threshold values differed due to variations in plant recruitment. The main limiting factors were mean annual temperature &lt;26°C, acidic soil pH, and low CEC. This study showed that the fuzzy method is ideal for converting the numerical data of various magnitudes into membership function values and representing land suitability. The principal component analysis is an effective method to determine the weights of multiple factors in a systematic and objective manner. The linearity test found a correlation between LSI and production with f = 0.00, indicating that the applied model can predict agricultural production and is applicable to other agricultural land management.</p>

The purpose of this study is to analyze land use changes in the Kelara watershed and to assess the suitability of current land use changes with the spatial planning regulation of Jeneponto within Kelara basin. This study integrates various survey techniques, remote sensing, and geographic information system technology analysis. Geospatial information used in this study consists of Landsat ETM 7+ satellite imagery (2009) and Landsat 8 (2014) as well as a number of spatial data based on vector data which is compiled by the Jeneponto Government. Remote sensing data using two time series (2009 and 2014) are analyzed by means of supervised classification and visual classification.  The analysis indicated that land use type for the paddy fields and forests (including mangroves) converted become a current land use which is inconsistent with the spatial planning regulation of Jeneponto.The use of land for settlement tends to increase through conversion of wetlands (rice fields). These conditions provide an insight that this condition will occur in the future, so that providing the direction of land use change can be better prepared and anticipated earlier.

In South Sulawesi, the regional program for prime commodity development has been implemented by the provincial government, as part of promoting regional spatial planning program. In some parts of the region, cultivation of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) as prime commodity has long been practiced in different soil environment. Therefore, there is a need for information that will allow land managers to identify both the inherent land suitability, and the spatial distribution of land areas where possible development can be implemented taking into account present land use types. This paper describes a spatial based quantitative suitability evaluation of land for cocoa production. This research was carried out in the one of the cocoa-producing districts in South Sulawesi, District of Luwu Timur. The research project implements land suitability evaluation method based on the spatial-quantitative approaches in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The main sources of data bases used include digital topographic map, land use map, soil map and soil characteristics derived from available data at reconnaissance level and semi detailed survey, climate data, and satellite imagery. The results of analysis of potential development area for cocoa cultivation show that more than 90 percent of study region are suitable (at S2 and S3 classes) for cocoa cultivation. This study reveals that there are some limiting factors in term of chemical and physical soil characteristics that can still be improved, but there will be almost no limitation in terms of land cover type for cocoa development.