Resumo

PINEDA, Corina; MACHADO, Diego; CASANOVA, Eduardo  e  VILORIA, Jesús. Land physics evaluation of the high Guarico River basin with sustainable water production purposes. Agronomía Trop. [online]. 2006, vol.56, n.3, pp.385-414. ISSN 0002-192X.

Guarico River basin is important in Venezuela as a provider of water for domestic consumption of Caracas and nearby towns as well as for agricultural and industrial activities in Carabobo, Guarico and Aragua States. However, this basin shows high levels of erosion and sediment production which threaten the quality and quantity of water produced and therefore, affect the life span of the Camatagua dam which is the principal water reservoir that supplies the water to satisfy the demand for different uses. Because one of the reasons of basin deterioration is an inappropriate land use in agricultural, livestock and forestry activities it is necessary to ascertain land utilization types in accordance with land aptitude in order to develop technical and socioeconomic guidelines to plan and monitor land use with sustainable water production purposes. The methodology follows the scheme of the integral land evaluation with agricultural and environmental purposes of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) for actual and potential agricultural and forestry uses. The results of this paper contribute with a methodology for agricultural evaluation of Venezuelan basins, propose land type uses in agreement with conservation and water production criteria and may be used as a framework for the development of an integral management plan of the Guarico River basin.

Palavras-chave : Guarico river basin; land utilization types; land aptitude; conservation; water.