RAINFALL ZONING FOR COCOA GROWING IN BAHIA STATE (BRAZIL) USING FUZZY LOGIC

ABSTRACT Cacao is a species of great economic and social importance. Expanding the area grown with this crop has been limited by its climatic requirements. Agroclimatic zoning for agricultural sector and creation of land suitability maps by fuzzy logic contribute to such production expansion. In this sense, this study aimed to develop rainfall zoning for cacao in Bahia state using the fuzzy logic method. The used data came from rainfall historical series of 519 meteorological stations distributed throughout the state. Geostatistical analyses were used to quantify the spatial dependence degree of studied variable and kriging was used to develop maps representing mean monthly rainfall. These maps were submitted to continuous classification by fuzzy mapping for identification of high-risk areas for cocoa growing based on rainfall. Based on the fuzzy method, the southern mesoregion of Bahia state presented the highest rainfall uniformity, suggesting that this area is more suitable for cocoa growing.