Agro-ecological zoning of agroforestry systems:: The case coffee (Coffea arabica L.) -: Parlor palm (Chamaedorea elegans mart.)

In view of the deterioration of the natural resources in tropical areas, agroforestry systems have been identified as land management techniques that allow for a more sustainable production. On the other hand, methods of agro-ecological zoning help locate those types of land use better suited to the physical characteristics of a region. However, agro-ecological zoning has not been developed yet for agroforestry systems. In this work, such a proposal is developed, taking as a case study the coffee-parlor palm system. This proposal is based or? selection and categorization of environmental variables, construction of a cartographic model, cartographic synthesis and validation. In a reap of agro-ecological zoning, the different suitability levels present in the study area are located. It was determined that 85.5% of the area has environmental constraints. Data for agroforestry system distribution are used for the validation process and, by means of generalized linear models, the effect of environmental variables or? this distribution was assessed. Of the 11 variables, only minimum temperature (palm), stone abundance and soil fertility didn't have statistical significance (P > 0.05). With the linear models, maps of presence probability were generated. A determination coefficient of 0.70 for the climatic factor and of 0.45 for the edaphic component, were registered. Correlation analysis was carried out between the suitability reaps and the presence maps of the agroforestry system, registering correspondence only in the climatic aspect (r = -0.88).