Hari Krishna Dhonju* , Kerry Walsh and Phul Subedi
CQUniversity, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
*Corresponding author's email: harikrishna.dhonju@cqumail.com, dhonjuh@gmail.com

Abstract

The temperate mid-hills areas of Nepal are suited to a production of a range of fruit commodities, but suitable production areas are dependent on local climatic, soils and infrastructure such as roads and electricity supply. A rapid crop suitability analysis for the example of apple production was conducted, exploiting a set of soil, topographic and climatic parameters to indicate potential production areas. As a critical parameter to commercial production, road accessibility between farm and market was assessed using the latest available road network data (Strategic Road Network of Nepal, SRN), using the criteria of land within 1500 m of a road. The study was undertaken using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and Geospatial Analysis in Google Earth Engine (GEE) and ArcGIS environments. Only 6% of agriculture area of Nepal is suitable for apple production, of which 38% has limited road accessibility. The output is intended to assist policy and decision makers and horticulture development investors, with a process developed that could be implemented for other crops. Feedback is sought on the choice of factors and of the usability of the system.