Suitable Site Selection for Conola Cultivation in Kurdestan Province Using Geographical Information System (GIS)

The recognition of climate and eco-physiology of agricultural plants can be regarded as one of the most imperative factor in the production of agricultural yield development, and promotion of agricultural activities in any region. This recognition may enhance the production level in one hand, and the reduction of damage resulting from incongruous climate factors in another. The current research has been carried out aiming at the determination of potentially suitable canola production zone in Kurdestan province. Climatic data from 34 existing climate stations, which had long term records were collected and analyzed. We considered climatic factors such as precipitation required for growth period, frostiness, minimum and maximum, mean annual temperatures. We also used total amount of sunshine hours, average relative humidity of phonologic stage of canola, and physical elements including the type of land uses. This was followed by the determination of different layers for each climatic demand through the application of geographical information system (GIS) function. After appropriate evaluation of canola growth requirements using weighted classification method, the layers were categorized. As a final step, all climatic and physical layers were combined in the GIS environment by overlaying of different indices and results indicated that about 6.8 percent of Kurdestan province is suitable for canola cultivation, including Divan Darreh, Dehgolan, and Marivan plains. The reason for such suitability is better climatic, topographic, and pedologic conditions in that area. About 39.4 percent of the whole area is unsuitable for canola cultivation due to inappropriate climatic conditions, and unsuitable physical environment. These areas include northeast and northern parts (Obatoo district), and parts of the central and north west of the province. The remaining areas were classified as average to appropriate occupying 29.3 and 24.5 percent of area, respectively.