In 1996 ARC initiated a project on Utilization of Agro-ecological Zones Database and Installation of GIS for
Agricultural Development with support from UNDP and FAO.
The main objective was to create a National Agricultural Land
Information System Database in GIS environment to fulfil the
agricultural planning and research needs. The project had a
GIS setup with ARC/INFO, ArcView and IDRISI as the key
GIS software. An important activity was to convert the Land
Resources Inventory (LRI) and non-spatial AEZ database into
spatial GIS/AEZ database. GIS based crop or cropping pattern
suitability database has been developed based on the improved
models and data. A GIS based decision support system (DSS)
has been developed using cropping pattern suitability and
socio-economic factors to assist in agricultural planning and