LAND RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS DECISION SUPPORT TOOL IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA

Istiqlal Amien and E. Runtunuwu

Indonesian Agroclimate and Hydrology Research Institute

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture in Indonesia that withstands the prolonged economic crisis is unable to crater the still growing market demands. Domestically the agriculture is also threatened by better quality imported agricultural products. This is among other because of the very limited agricultural land that often inappropriately utilized. Except for few commodities, agriculture initially was the cater the basic need of the farmers. Therefore, many were intended to produce the daily need of the farmers such as food without much consideration on the advantages of the existing resources. In the area of globalization and with increasing awareness of environment safety the agriculture is urgently need to be oriented. The land resources should be utilized correctly with appropriate management to produce commodities that are able to compete in wider markets.

For that purpose, land resources information with the utilization alternatives is imperative. Land information such as soil, water and climate has been collected separately in the past. But it was very difficult for the users to digest the information that was not always systematically prepared. Therefore, with agroecological approach that combines information on physiography, climate, and soil land resource information system was initiated. This information can be fed into the expert system model to delineate areas for conservation and production forests, perennial crop plantations, agroforestry and annual crop farming. Further crop options for particular agricultural systems, as well as cropping patterns for annual crops can be generated. Combination between the product agroecological map and present land use delineates the under, proper, and over utilization areas.