Soil and terrain constraints

Additional to the crop-specific suitability assessments, the land resources inventory allows characterization of various regions according to the prevailing soil and terrain constraints. A constraint classification has been formulated and has been applied to each grid-cell of the land resources inventory. The constraints considered include:

Terrain-slope constraints
Soil depth constraints
Soil fertility constraints
Soil drainage constraints
Soil texture constraints
Soil chemical constraints
Presence of miscellaneous land units (e.g.., sand dunes, rock outcrops, etc.)

The results by grid-cell have been aggregated to countries and regions. They are presented in terms of six broad LGP classes (0 days, 1-59 days, 60-119 days, 120-179 days, 180-269 days, and 270 days). In tropical and subtropical lowland zones, where LGP_t=5 is 365 days, these broad LGP classes are referred to as respectively: hyper-arid areas (LGP 0 days); arid areas (LGP 1-59 days); dry semi-arid areas (LGP 60-119 days); moist semi-arid areas (LGP 120-179 days); sub-humid areas (180-269 days), and humid areas (LGP 270 days).

Details of the constraint classification are given in .