Environments Suitable for the Species of the Coffeagenus in Martinique (The case of Coffea Arabica Typica Variety)
Résumé
A geographic information system (GIS) was developed in Martinique, to perform soil zoning for the revival of the production of Coffea arabica var. typica.
Pioneer in the cultivation of coffee in the Caribbean since 1720, today Martinique plays no role in the coffee industry. In addition, due to its rarity on the island, the edapho-climatic requirements of Coffea arabica had to be defined based on the world literature. The digital data (isohyets, isotherm, geomorphology) was obtained from Martinique’s institutions with expertise in the production of environmental data (IRD, IGN, Météo- France, DEAL Martinique, CTM)1. These data have been processed with a SIG software: QGIS version 2.8.1. During the investigations, the rainfall represented a factor limiting any possibility of production of Coffea arabica var. typica in the future. By removing the pluviometry from the set of parameters, we can visualize the areas that might be acceptable to this culture. With the forecast of the National Meteorological services for the 2071-2100 period under the new climate requirements, we carried out an agroclimatic zoning which also showed us the impossibility of producing this coffee in the future.