Topographic exposition and agricultural economic potential of land resources in Ordubad district Azerbaijan

Abstract

Solar receipt, near surface temperature, evapotranspiration and soil-moisture conditions are crucially affected by slope exposition (aspect), which can shape the suitability of, and the costs of agricultural activity in mountainous dry areas. This research evaluates spatial distribution of slope exposition in Ordubad District, Azerbaijan and understanding of its implications on agricultural land suitability and agricultural economic potential. An exposition map created from ArcGIS for the district was analysed by six exposition directions such as North, East, Southeast, South, West and Northwest. The class areas and its shares were determined and correlated with the published data on the aspect-sensitive agricultural processes and recent official agricultural indicators for Ordubad. The total area of mapped classification is 1,097.25km². South-facing terrain forms the largest class at 256.58 km² (23.39%), followed by Southeast at 228.18 km² (20.80%), West at 202.16 km² (18.43%), Northwest at 191.17 km² (17.43%), East at 123.61 km² (11.27%) and North at 95.55 km² (8.71%). So, the total contribution of south and south‐east exposure is 44.19% of area mapped. The variation indicated by these patterns indicates large spatial variability in heat load, moisture holding capacity and irrigation requirements and hence its potential impact on orchard location, crop selection, water management and farm energy expenditure. In this study, aspect is not an independent suitability criterion, but provides a terrain based screening, in future multi-criteria evaluations slope angle, soils, elevation, irrigation availability and land cover / market factors should be included.