The services/products offered by the Rural Physical Planning Division (RPPD) are essential to sustainable rural/agricultural development, decision-making and implementation. The services provided are available to all stakeholders.  These include farmers, researchers, students, planners, government and non-governmental agencies.

Mission Statement
The RPPD is responsible for undertaking and maintaining a comprehensive inventory and evaluation of the country’s soil and land use resources for use in the agriculture and related sectors to foster rural development in accordance with the Government’s policy on land use development.

Regional Offices
The Division consists of two regional offices. These are:
1. Western Regional Rural Physical Planning Unit
This unit is located in Catherine Hall, Montego Bay and serves the parishes of St James, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny and St Elizabeth.

2. Eastern Regional Rural Physical Planning Unit
Located at Hope Gardens in Kingston, this unit serves Kingston & St Andrew, St Thomas, Portland, St Mary, St Ann, Manchester, Clarendon and St Catherine. The following units are located in the eastern regional office:

1. Administrative and Planning Units: Plans and coordinates programmes; performs inspections on proposed subdivisions, quarry sites and land reclamation by the bauxite companies.
2. Soil, Water and Plant Tissue Laboratory: Samples related to their use in agriculture are analyzed. Both physical and chemical analyses are done on soil samples; while only chemical analyses are done on water and plant tissue samples.
3. Soil Survey and Land Classification: This section depends largely on the laboratory to validate soil type and land class.
4. Computer and Cartographic sections: This section functions in the preparation of maps from data gathered through aerial photo interpretation and field work.

• Conduct national and local soil and land cover/land use surveys
• Conduct rural land evaluation assessment and make recommendations on the use of agricultural lands
• Conduct land capability assessments
• Assess soil fertility and make recommendations for soil and land management.
• Conduct soil tests and making fertilizer recommendations to farmers and special interest groups.
• Design and prepare maps
• Spatial data capture through aerial photo interpertation, satellite imagery and GPS
• Agricultural assessment of subdivision applications
• Assessment of areas slated for querying operations.
• Assessment of the areas for Reclamation/Restoration of mined out ore bodies for all Bauxite companies for certification of compliance.
• Chemical and physical analyses on soil plant tissue and water samples.

Services and Products

Soil Analyses, including:

• Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus, Calcium and
• Magnesium
• Electrical Conductivity (E.C)
• Cation Exchange Capacity (C.E.C
• Trace Elements (Mn, Fe, Zn, and Cu)
• Exchangeable Bases (Ca, Mg, K, and Na)
• Bulk Density, Hydraulic Conductivity
• Lime requirement (CaCO3)
• Organic Matter (OM), Moisture (%)
• Particle Density
• Anion – Cl-, SO42-, NO3- etc.

	Plant Analyses, including: Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus, Calcium, and Magnesium Trace Elements (Mn, Fe, Zn, and Cu)
	Water Analyses, including: Sodium Chlorine Total Solids EC pH

GIS Laboratory GIS facilities available for decision-support are: ESRI ARCGIS desktop 9, ARC Info 9.1 software R2V software Large format plotter Digitizing board Soils database Land cover/land use database Agro-climatic database Land capability database Soil erosion potential database Click here to see the price list.

Contact:
Rural Physical Planning Division
Ministry of Agriculture
191 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6
Tel: (876)-927-0441/977-0322
Fax: (876)-977-0326
Email: rppd@moa.gov.jm

Catherine Hall, Montego Bay
Tel: (876)-952-5618   

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