Theme 4 presents results of the final step in the GAEZ crop suitability and productivity assessment, combining agro-climatic potential yields with soil/terrain evaluation results, i.e., yield reduction factors due to the constraints induced by soil limitations and prevailing terrain-slope conditions.

Grid cells of the resource inventory can be made up of multiple soil types and terrain slope classes. GAEZ determines for each grid cell the respective characteristics of land units in terms of soil types and slope classes. Each of these component land units is separately assessed and assigned a suitability rating and simulated potential yield. The values are accumulated over all component land units in a grid cell, which produces a distribution of results falling into different suitability classes: very suitable (VS), suitable (S), moderately suitable (MS), marginally suitable (mS), very marginally suitable (vmS) and not suitable (NS).

This theme provides information for 53 crops and includes sub-themes on: (1) Suitability Class, (2) Suitability Index, (3) Agro-ecological Attainable Yield, and (4) Crop Water Indicators.

GAEZ methodology development, data base compilation, production of results and establishing the Data Portal were accomplished in close technical collaboration and with inputs of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).

For further details, please refer to the GAEZ v4 Model Documentation.