Habitamu Taddese
Hawassa University
Ethiopia
Title: Application of geographic information systems in identifying potential sites for jatropha curcas production in Ethiopia
Biography
Biography: Habitamu Taddese
Abstract
Jatropha curcas L. is an oil bearing plant growing in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. This plant is considered to be a potential solution to the prevailing shortage of fossil fuel and the resulting environmental impacts. Cognizant of this, governments have given considerable attention to develop biodiesel technologies including that of jatropha. Development of biodiesel technologies has also attracted interest of national and international investors in Ethiopia. However, there is gap of information with regard to how much potential land can be allocated for biodiesel development. In this study, Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to identify those potential areas. Data of relevant environment factors influencing growth and productivity of jatropha such as climate, soils and topography were used for this purpose. Generally, results of overlay analysis for biophysical suitability evaluation using GIS identified 15.07%, 76.57% and 8.36% of the land as highly suitable, moderately suitable and not suitable for jatropha production, respectively. The main limiting factors identified in this study are elevation, climate and water logging condition of soils. Sensitivity analysis based on land use / cover criterion indicates that there is great variation in the area of land suitable for jatropha investment with a few changes in land use types that go not suitable due to theie ecological significance. In general, adequate land is available for jatropha investment in the country. However, allocation of land for jatropha production should be done based on the identified suitable sites. Keywords: GIS, land suitability, Jatropha curcas L., spatial modelling, Ethiopia.