ABSTRACT
Approximately 94% of the Asmat region located on the southern coast of Papua Province is lowland swamp. In order to explore the potentials of this land for agriculture development, mapping, land resource correlation, and suitability assessment at the 1:50,000 scale was conducted. This study aimed to identify the potential and direction of the land resources through land suitability maps for agriculture, especially food crops on a semi-detail map. The research was conducted through the use of standardized methods developed by the Indonesia Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development (ICALRRD). Land suitability assessment was conducted using Land Suitability Assessment System version 2.01 (SPKL v.2.01) software in accordance with the Guidelines for Land Suitability Assessment for Strategic Agricultural Commodities Semi-Detail Level Scale 1:50,000 (ICALRRD, 2017b). 2,517,204 hectares of the land area was mapped, and only 47,774 ha could be optimized for agricultural activity. The soil mapping exercise found six types of soils, which are Alluvial, Organosol, Regosol, Kambisol, Gleisol, and Podsolik. Furthermore, the land suitability map recommended 14 strategic commodities including paddy rice, rainfed rice plants, upland rice crops, swampy rice paddy, corn, sweet potatoes, cassava, soybeans, red chili, shallots, oil palm, white sugar cane, and elephant grass feed plants. However, Protected Forests, National Parks and Limited Production Forests covering 2,142,205 hectares were not recommended for agricultural purposes. Therefore, to plan for the expansion or extensification of land for agriculture in the region, only 47,774 hectares were recommended, with approximately 210,080 hectares not suitable, and some 117,346 hectares covered by settlements and water bodies.
