Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of GIS-based information system enhances the ability of rational decision making
process. Turner ( 1994 ) explained the application and benefits of GIS in tea planta-
tions as a management tool.
3   Study Area
This study was conducted in Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka, which lies between
6040′51.02″ N 80023′42.27″ E and 6 43′ 23.83″ N,80022′10.61″ E latitude and
longitude of the upper left and lower right corners respectively. The area primarily
belongs to two major agro ecological zones, namely wet and intermediate zones.
However, based on rainfall, elevation and soil factors, it is further divided into sev-
en agro ecological sub-zones belonging to low-country and mid-country. On an
average, it records 200 wet days and receives more than 3,000 mm of annual rainfall
(Annual report 2009 ). Geologically, area is covered by Precambrian metamorphic
rock named as highland complex which is dominated by charnokites and quartzite
which supports the tea production (Fig. 4.1 ).
With respect to total tea area, Ratnapura district has the maximum area under
tea cultivation, about 31,116 ha. However, about 75 % of the tea lands in the area
belong to small holders (Panabokke et al. 2008 ). Further, Ratnapura records higher
annual tea productivity, 2,159 kg/ha of tea, after Kalutara and Gall districts (Anon,
2003 ). Basically, tea plantations in the area are of two types, commonly named as
seedling and vegetatively propagated tea or clonal tea. Both tea types are harvested
throughout the year, however irrespective of the regions, vegetatively propagated
tea gives significantly higher yield than seedling tea in the country. Hence, in the
recent past many of the seedling tea gardens were diversified to clonal tea and as a
result seedling tea cultivation is now confined to only a few estates in the region.
Tea plantations in Ratnapura area are further classified into mono-cropping, and
mixed cropping with rubber, coconut and other perennial crops. However, use of
coconut and minor export crops dominates over other intercropping types. Even
though tea is stated to be a mono-crop, planting of low and high shade trees is a
common practice (Fig. 4.2 ).
Panabokke et al. ( 2008 ) classified the tea-growing area into four main produc-
tivity zones, based on corporate estate sector tea yield. However, small-scale tea
productivity studies, which are essential for the appropriate land use planning are
limited. Basically, such information is important when making a decision on new
planting, replanting, infilling and crop diversification. Furthermore, it plays a sig-
nificant role in optimizing resource use efficiency and sustainable tea production.
Therefore, formulation and accessibility to productivity information in both macro
and micro levels is significant in various levels of decision making. As mentioned
elsewhere, remote sensing and GIS are handy in this scenario and this study basi-
cally focuses on generating information in micro scale.
The data used in this study were derived from a range of sources, including satel-
lite images, and field collected data and secondary data such as rainfall data, yield
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