ZONIFICACIÓN AGROECOLÓGICA DE LA CORDILLERA DE GUANIGUANICO

A country development needs an agricultural planning; if it is economically profitable, it should be restricted to the ecological reality of producing areas. In this sense, agroecological zoning is one of the main tools to diminish the risks in agriculture. Keeping in mind these elements, agroecological zoning was carried out in the cordillera de Guaniguanico. Information was recorded in eight meteorological stations and 62 pluviometers from the net of the National Institute of Water Resources to conduct the climatic zoning; 371 000 ha were studied to get data from more than 500 profiles with complete charts, which allowed to characterize soils from the physical, chemical and mineralogical points of view. Different Systems of Geographical Information (SIG) were employed to establish the relationships among several parameters studied to attain the agroecological zoning. Starting from the analysis of information on the performance of crops, the bases for zoning were settled down, considering the temperature and the rain as fundamental climatic elements; both elements were combined to define yield potentials for each condition. The other discriminating element was the soil; firstly, the types of soils and its aptitude for cultivation were kept in mind, later on, its effective depth was considered.