Land Suitability Analysis of Biodiesel Crop Kemiri Sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw) in The Province of West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Increase in fossil energy demand should be balanced with the development of renewable energy, one of the source is from vegetable materials that could be processed into biodiesel. One of prospective biodiesel crop in Indonesia is Kemiri Sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw). Kemiri sunan has certain growth condition for optimum reproduction. Land suitability analysis is needed to determine potential available land for planting kemiri sunan on West Java Province. To determine land suitability Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) is used, based on Geographic Information System (GIS). Determination of factors numerical weight was done using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The analytical parameter consist of climate criteria (altitude, rainfall, the number of dry month, humidity, and temperature) and land criteria (slope, soil texture, pH, solum thickness, and drainage). Result shows the area of suitable land for planting kemiri sunan is 981,067.20 Ha consist of 86,855.70 Ha of land in suitable criteria, 799,947.58 Ha land in moderately suitable category, dan 94,263.92 Ha of land in marginally suitable category. The suitable land area for planting kemiri sunan is spread in 23 districts on West Java Province. While available potential land for planting kemiri sunan after deduction by area allocated for another use is 141,955.56 Ha which consist of 19,582.74 Ha of land in suitable category, 103,974.62 Ha land in moderately suitable category, and 18,398.20 Ha of land in marginally suitable category. Area of available land is spread in 17 districts on West Java Province. Kemiri sunan is recommended for development at West Java Province as an effort for providing alternative energy and environment rehabilitation.

Keywords: Land suitability, Land aviability, Kemiri sunan (Reutealis trisperma (Blanco) Airy Shaw), Biodiesel