Natural Environmental Factors Affecting Potential Agricultural Productivity Within Selected Arable Areas of the Linea Noroeste Region, Dominican Republic

Antonini, G.; Timofeeff, N.; Zobler, L.

The agricultural potential of an eight. hundred square kilometer area in the Linea Noroeste region, Dominican Republic, was assessed. Because information on the natural environmental parameters was needed urgently for economic planning, the study was conducted at a semi-reconnaissance level, utilizing new and specially designed land resource analysis techniques, applied to a reduced area of 600 square kilometers. A stratified random sample with variable proportions of 606 one-hundred-square-meter sites was used to collect data on soils, land surface, and micro-climate. The raw data consisted of nineteen variables for soils, five variables for land surface, and five variables for climate. The data for each variable set were submitted to a factor analysis by a computer. The resultant factor units were mapped and described by their respective variable loadings. The factor units were ranked according to their limiting effects on agricultural use due to the influence of their variables. The ranked factor units for soil, land surface, and climate were next areally combined and plotted on a map. The result was a multivariate factor map of site areas. Each site area is marked with a three-digit symbol that describes its agricultural quality and potential. The specific field attributes responsible for the rank of a given site may be obtained by reference to the composition of its factors. The decision to ameliorate a limiting property is left to the economic planner. The study is regarded as the initial step in a more detailed research program on the Linea Noroeste region.