Land resources survey and agricultural development in Mauritius

Code (CO)	MSI99P0482
Author (AU)	Wong You Cheong, Y.
Title - English (ET)	Land resources survey and agricultural development in Mauritius
Document Type(DT)	Periodical article
Date of publication (DP)	1976
Series (SE)	Revue agric. sucr. Ile Maurice
Source (SO)	55: 285-288
Language of text (LT)	EN
Language of summaries (LS)	En Fr
Abstract (AB)	The "land resources survey" of Mauritius which resulted in the publication of the "Land suitability map" of Mauritius is briefly described. The island is divided into 44 basic "land units", themselves grouped into "13 land complexes". The "suitability" of each land unit for a selected range of uses (land utilization type) is given; both "actual" and "potential" (after major improvements) suitabilities are considered. The following suitability criteria were adopted: availability of water, limiting super-humid climate, availability of plant nutrients, land cultivability and erosion susceptibility. The area of new land suitable for development amounts to 11 000 ha but some of it requires special management. A total net area of 100 000 ha is actually suitable for annual crop production. Irrigation is the most important major improvement and its full implementation can increase the area of Highly Suitable sugar cane lands to 46 000 ha. With de-rocking, the are of Moderately Suitable sugar cane lands (21 000 ha) can be increased to about 44 000 ha.
Descriptors - English (DE)	LAND RESOURCES LAND USE AGRICULTURAL LAND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Descriptors - Geographic (DG)	MAURITIUS
Sort Key 1(K1)	Sugarcane: Land use and management
Date record entered (DA)	1992-02-24
Language of analysis (LA)	En
Affiliation (AF)	Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute
Location (LO)	LIB
Processing status (PS)	CAT
MSIRI Staff (MS)	CHEM