Multicriteria analysis for the identification of agroecological areas for the Cota Cota Experimental Center, city of La Paz-Bolivia

Alberto Pati Limachi, Mario E. Ramos Flores

Abstract

This research was carried out at the Cota Cota Experimental Center belonging to the Faculty of Agronomy of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, with the objective of identifying agroecological, forest use and conservation zones through multicriteria analysis. Thus, for the research work, six soil samples were taken from pits with a depth of one meter, previously prepared within the perimeter of the Experimental Center under the criteria of slope, proximity to the river and land use plan; these samples were taken to the laboratory and the result of the physical and chemical analysis was mapped through a software that applies Geographic Information Systems (GIS), using the Kriging and IDW data spatial interpolation tools. The soils most suitable for agroecological use are those located according to the computer-generated centroid at the following coordinates: latitude 16° 32' 10.7'' South and longitude 68° 3' 51.2'' W. Indicating a soil with 10-30 % slope, neutral pH (6.54-7.14), NDVI greater than 0.4, clay loam texture, exchangeable potassium 0.6-1 meq 100gS°^-1, organic matter is 0.55-1.5%, the percentage of total nitrogen is between 0.2-0.3%, available phosphorus exceeds 50 ppm, finally the cation exchange capacity (CEC) is between 17.50-20.64 meq 100gS°^-1. According to the parameters used in the multi-criteria analysis, a soil suitable for agroecology does not need to have the highest level of classification in its properties. Only 1.1% of the total area is suitable, which corresponds to approximately 1 800 m², but the rest is forestry and conservation.