Abstract:
The land suitability for forestation in Burirum province was studied by using a
comparison between results obtained by two methods. Land was evaluated to assess its
suitability for forestation. The FAO framework 1984 method was used to evaluate soil suitability
and the Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to analyze spatial data. Land evaluation
was also used to evaluate land qualities for land suitability based on land characteristics of
temperature regime, water availability, rooting conditions, soil fertility and topography. Lastly,
the level of acceptance of stakeholders of forestation was studied.
The study results indicated that three soil units were at the moderate suitability level
for growing Eucalyptus and Acacia. This covered an area of about 2,478.23 square kilometers or
24.54 percent of the total area. Seven soil units were at the marginal suitability level for growing
Teak and Padauk, an area of about 7,536.74 square kilometers or 74.62 percent of the total area.
The results from the GIS application indicated that the most suitable areas for Eucalyptus,
Acacia, Teak and Padauk covered about 6,103.12, 973.10, 964.28 and 421.83 square kilometers
or 60.43, 9.63, 9.55 and 4.18 percent of the total area, respectively. Using the other method, the
most suitable areas for Eucalyptus, Acacia, Teak and Padauk covered about 1,040.85, 236.61,
123.74 and 13.27 square kilometers or 10.31, 2.34, 1.23 and 0.13 percent of the total area,
respectively. On the study about acceptance, influential factors towards forestations in Buriram
province were government policies. If the government seriously promoted forestation, the
probability of farmers accepting it should be much higher from their having reassurance of
government subsidies in marketing and production.
After considering suitability for forestation, it was concluded that Eucalyptus could be
grown in all districts of Buriram province. As for Acacia, it should be grown in almost any area
except some parts of Ku Muang district. As for growing Teak, it should be grown in ten districts.
Padauk should be grown in Satuek and Non Din Daeng districts only.