Precision farming with geoinformatics: A new paradigm for agricultural production in a developing country

This paper critically evaluates conventional agricultural land suitability and appraisal methods in a developing country and points out their shortcomings. It also evaluates the new paradigm of precision farming with geoinformatics techniques and highlights the beneficial aspects to land use and agricultural production. In this context the paper shows that traditional physiographic, taxonomic, and land use systems prove inadequate while geoinformatics (using remote sensing data and GPS controlled point observations and soil sample data) work best in modern precision farming. An application of the new paradigm in the Orle River basin in Edo State, Nigeria is used to illustrate how precision farming strategies incorporating geoinformatics might be implemented in Africa. © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.