Developing a GIS (ArcInfo) to Assist Farmers of Kwazulu-Natal in the Agricultural Use and Planning of the Land

The objective of the project is to develop a GIS so that the agricultural production of the land can be determined to advise commercial and, especially, emerging black farmers on the agricultural potential of their land. The resultant map could also be used for future agricultural planning by the Department of Agriculture. The planning and structure of the project was intensive as the varying socio-economic situation of the people was an important factor to be considered, especially on how a first world technology could be applied in a third world environment. The paper will lay out the steps taken to establish the GIS:

• the criteria used to establish the norms for capturing data
• how the climate, altitude, vegetation and soils information is used through models to determine the potential of the land
• the problems encountered and how the project is being used will also be discussed

A mention will be made of how the project will be further developed.

Ron Bennett
Cedara Agricultural Development Institute
Private Bag #9059
3200 Petermaritzburg South Africa
Telephone: 0331-33371
Fax: 011-27-331-431253