Location tagging and pattern distribution of high value commodity crops using GIS mapping in Guimaras, Philippines

Abstract

Geographic Information System (GIS) is an informative approach which allows us to visualize information in ways that reveal relationships and patterns in systems. Guimaras has been acknowledged to be a top producers of high value commodity crops namely; mango, cashew, and calamansi but on technological trends such as precision agriculture with the aid of GIS isn’t well introduced towards the said sector. Thus, the location tagging and determining the pattern distribution of high value commodity crops using GIS mapping in Guimaras was conducted. Identified high value commodity crops; calamansi, cashew, and mango plantations were located and land boundaries were determined. Using ArcGIS 10.5 a digitized map that displays the plotted locations in each municipality and farm’s relative distances was constructed. Average Nearest Neighbor Analysis (ANNA) was then used to determine the distribution of the plantations, determining if they are clustered, random, or dispersed. Results showed that 33 mango plantations in Jordan and 30 mango plantations in Buenavista were clustered, whereas 22 mango plantations in San Lorenzo and 23 mango plantations in Sibunag displayed a random dispersion, while 9 mango plantations in Nueva Valencia were randomly distributed. For cashew plantations, 3 plantations in Jordan, 5 plantations in Nueva Valencia, and 3 cashew plantations in Sibunag were random, whereas the rest have no record of cashew plantations. For the calamansi plantations, 14 plantations in Jordan and 44 plantations in Buenavista are clustered, while 22 plantations in San Lorenzo, 9 plantations in Nueva Valencia, and 23 plantations in Sibunag are clustered.