Exploring and Mapping of Potential Areas for Fruit Crops in Sri Lanka

Land suitability assessment is crucial for identifying potential fruit crop areas to enhance production and recommend strategies for effective crop management. The suitability analysis recognizes marginally suitable regions, assisting decision makers in identifying limiting factors and guiding decisions like new planting, replanting, diversification, and adoption of climate-friendly practices to boost land productivity. Moreover, it enables stakeholders to identify new areas suitable different fruit varieties, emphasizing the land’s unique qualities. Matching crop requirements with available resources through land suitability analysis has become an urgent necessity to sustain agricultural land productivity in Sri Lanka. In this context, assessment was conducted to identify potential fruit crop growing areas for Mango (Mangifera indica), Banana (Musa spp), Pomegranate (Punica granatum), Pineapple (Ananas comosus), Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) and Durian (Durio zibethinus), based on climatic and soil parameters, using Arc-GIS software. Climatic and soil requirements for each crop were determined based on recommendation from the Department of Agriculture. Parameters such as maximum and minimum air temperature, mean annual rainfall, relative humidity, and soil properties were employed to create crop suitability maps. The results of the crop suitability classification indicate a considerable extent of potential areas for fruit cultivation exist in unconventional locations. While some districts exhibited limited overall potential for fruit cultivation, specific divisional secretariat divisions in Sri Lanka were identified as highly suitable for fruit cultivation.