Author(s)

Hassan Rahmanpour^1*, Esmail Arjomand², Fatemeh Akrami², Mahdi K. Hoshtinat³

¹Young Researchers and Elite Club, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran.
²Geography & Secretary Education, Roshtkhar City, Iran.
³Sociology & Secretary Education, Roshtkhar City, Iran.

The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) has significantly helped managers provide optimal models of sustainable agricultural development, identify local features related to agricultural production and their proper zoning, identify agricultural needs and constraints and finally provide the appropriate structure of land use. The main purpose of this study was to determine areas capable of cultivating Pistachio according to the parameters affecting the Pistachio cultivation in Roshtkhar town. Statistics of meteorological stations of the town were taken from Meteorology Organization of Khorasan Razavi for the period of 1989-2010 in order to determine climatic parameters required to cultivate Pistachio. For mapping surface elevation, slope, aspect, and TIN of the geographic organization of armed forces with a scale of 1:250,000 topographic maps were used. For mapping vegetation and land use in the area under study, land capability map of the area on a scale of 1:250,000 from the institute of soil and water was used. Also information on cultivation and annual production of agricultural statistics, published by Agriculture was used. Finally, it was concluded that the northeast and southwest of Roshtkhar town are the most prone areas to cultivate Pistachio.

Pistachio, Roshtkhar City, Prone Areas, Environmental Factors (Climate and Natural), Geographical Information Systems

Rahmanpour, H. , Arjomand, E. , Akrami, F. and Hoshtinat, M. (2016) Investigating the Effect of Climatic Factors of Roshtkhar Town (Khorasan Razavi, Iran) on the Development and Cultivation of Pistachio Using GIS Software. Open Journal of Geology, 6, 963-970. doi: 10.4236/ojg.2016.68072.