Plants prevent wind and water erosion by covering the soil and binding the soil with their roots. Katie spring owns and operates good heart farmstead with her husband edge fuentes in worcester, vt. This technology is known as salt sloping land agricultural technology. Land degradation and hillside farming in the fall river. What is land degradation and how much agricultural land is. Sapphire and other minerals such as corundum, zircon, ruby and garnet were the minerals mined in the area. Live barriers and associated organic amendments mitigate land. Shortterm effects of bench terraces on selected soil. The benefits of hillside farming high mowing organic non. Keywords bench terraces soil erosion control hillside farming landscape restoration soil fertility status soil nutrient enrichment introduction land degradation caused by soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental problems affecting resourcepoor tropical hillside farmers budry and curtis 2007. Chapter 6 causes of land degradation food and agriculture. Smallholder farmers are the primary losers since they lack ability to diversify. Based on their own initiative, farmers recommended to respective village councils to allocate the degraded hillsides to landless and nearlylandless farmers for tree planting. Soil degradation is the inability of soil to support the growth of crops.
Furthermore, cropping systems utilized by small, poor and often parttime farmers reflect shortterm economic goals which are not necessarily environmentally. Mining was a primary activity that has competed with farming in the area. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. As a rule of thumb, the higher the molecular weight i.
The effects of erosion include land degradation and decreased productivity, sediment deposition in rivers with subsequent increase in. This extension of agriculture and increased logging of rainforests has caused considerable erosion but there is a lack of quantitative information. Hillside conservation agriculture for improving land and water productivity in tanzania t anzania has a total area of 945,000 km2 mari, 2006. These hillside soils were particularly susceptible to erosion when cleared for farming. This has resulted in degradation of the landscape in the area. What is land degradation and how much agricultural land. The principal constraints which have hampered development are steeply sloping terrain, application of inappropriate soil conservation measures, and the cessation of direct funding associated with the demise of the former yallahs valley land authority. Strategies for improved soil and water conservation practices. Hillside conservation agriculture for improving land and. Applied geography 1991, il, 143156 land degradation and hillside farming in the fall river basin, jamaica duncan f. Prime agricultural soils are often found in floodplain, where the land is nutrientrich and fertile.
Soil degradation is, in itself, an indicator of land degradation. Live barriers and associated organic amendments mitigate land degradation and improve crop productivity in hillside agricultural systems of the ecuadorian andes. Emanated from increasing land degradation, landlessness and poverty, local farmers were at the forefront to respond land degradation. The biological measures are again divided into agronomic, agrostilogical and dry farming we shall study these measures in some detail. These land farming activities cultivate and enhance microbial degradation of hazardous compounds. This agricultural problem could detrimentally impact our food and water supplies as well as the general sustenance of life. Assessment of linkages between population dynamics and. Its inland lakes cover 59,000 km2 6% of total area and the remaining land covers 886,000 km2 94% of total area.
An understanding of how to maintain healthy soil is essential to reverse and prevent land degradation. Causes and impacts of land degradation and desertification. Farmers plant trees and grass to cover and bind the soil. Land degradation is a process in which the value of the physical environment is affected by a. Many impact studies point to severe crop yield reductions in the next decades without strong adaptation measures particularly in subsaharan africa and south asia, where rural households are highly dependent on agriculture and farming. Even now, terracing projects are envisaged in countries suffering severe drawbacks in their agricultural industry, such as erosion in ethiopia and iraq. The keyline must be established to meet the minimum and maximum row grades required by the criteria. For example, plowing loosens topsoil and removes plants that hold the soil in place. Factors influencing the adoption of soil and water. Dec 09, 2015 the use of terraces help to prevent erosion and soil runoff, something that would be an immediate result of trying to till a hillside into farmland without using terraced steps. Ethiopia where land degradation is the major reason for low level of land productivity and devoid of vegetation hengsdijk et al. Landfarming, also known as land treatment or land application, is an\r\naboveground remediation technology for soils that reduces\r\nconcentrations of petroleum constituents through biodegradation. Strategies for improved soil and water conservation.
Contaminated soils, sediments, or sludges are transported to the landfarming site, incorporated into the soil surface and periodically turned over to aerate the mixture. The time that land is left in natural fallow has steadily declined as more land. This case study explores factors involved with the adoption of swc technologies within. Land degradation is a major problem in many areas of tanzania. The role of climatesmart agriculture in addressing land. Climatesmart agriculture csa is an alternative approach to managing land sustainably while increasing agricultural productivity. The following are the research question of the study. The plowed furrows follow the contours of the land, and the downhill side of each furrow acts as a dam that catches soil before it is carried. Land degradation and hillside farming in the fall river basin, jamaica. Landfarming, also known as land treatment or land application, is an aboveground remediation technology for soils that reduces concentrations of petroleum constituents through biodegradation.
Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of humaninduced processes acting upon the land. Live barriers and associated organic amendments mitigate. Many landless people depended on the remnants of communal hillside forest patches by selling firewood and charcoal, timbering, traditional mining, cutting tree branches and. The soil integrates a variety of important processes involving vegetation growth, overland flow of water, infiltration, land use and land management. How to evaluate alternative cleanup technologies for. Land degradation can be defined in several ways depending upon the subject that needs to be emphasized. Potential environmental consequences span from famine and water pollution to reductions in biodiversity and ecosystem efficiency. The asian rural life development program has developed an erosion control technique that is both easier and less expensive to implement than the traditional methods. Landfarming commonly uses a clay or composite liner to intercept leaching contaminants and. The overall objectives of tbe project are to generate basic knowledge on soil degradation and erosion processes of andean inceptisols and develop conservation. While the potential of hedgerows to decrease water erosion is well recognised, their potential dual. Agricultural mechanization in developing countries has taken at least two contested innovation pathwaysthe incumbent trajectory that promotes industrial agriculture, and an alternative pathway that supports smallscale mechanization for sustainable development of hillside farming systems. Cause of land degradation and its impacts on livelihoods.
Although both pathways can potentially reduce human and animal drudgery, the body of. Healthy soil carries a good plant cover and enables rain. The miniature version of hillside farming, displayed in the kingston and st andrew parish pavilion, demonstrated the creative use of tree stumps, old tyres and stones. Of the total, 25% of land area is highly degraded, 8% moderately or slightly degraded, 36% stable and 10% improving faostate of the worlds land and water resources for food and agriculture. Land degradation soil erosion and desertification are the physical expressions of land degradation, while the social and economic impacts are degraded lifestyles and pernicious poverty. Generally, lack of security of land tenure, power, wealth and greed may cause land degradation amidst institutional and market failure and further result in creation of poverty.
If youre cutting trees, the stumps can be used to make log barriers. Some of the most important types of land degradation and those that we will focus on include. Normally, the land will possess a vegetational cover so as to prevent. For reasons outlined above, poor farmers are led to clear forest, cultivate steep slopes without conservation, overgraze rangelands, make unbalanced fertilizer applications, and the other causes noted above. The topsoil is then more easily eroded by wind or rain. The areas between 1 500 to 4 000 m above sea level are characterised by a multitude of microclimates and low productivity associated with soil erosion and declining soil fertility. Although both pathways can potentially reduce human and animal drudgery. Cause of land degradation and its impacts on livelihoods of. Land degradation caused by agriculture takes many forms and has many causes. This technology usually involves spreading excavated contaminated soils in a thin layer on the ground surface and stimulating aerobic microbial. Land shortage and poverty, taken together, lead to nonsustainable land management practices, meaning the direct causes of degradation. The benefits of hillside farming katie spring owns and operates good heart farmstead with her husband edge fuentes in worcester, vt. Land degradation as the land use section earlier in this chapter shows, demands on the land for economic development and pressures from a burgeoning population are leading to unprecedented land use change.
Pdf allocation of degraded hillsides to landless farmers. However, despite the prospect of land degradation, not every farmer cultivating on unleveled ground will practice soil and water conservation swc technologies. Land cover change, landscape degradation, and restoration along a railway line in the amazon biome, brazil. Almost all farming methods increase the rate of soil erosion. Soil degradation and erop productivity research for conservation technology development in andean hillside farming objective of researcb. Pdf on mar 1, 20, hailemariam meaza and others published impact of degraded hillside plantation on the livelihoods of landpoor farmers in tigray, ethiopia. Mcgregor centre for developing areas research, department of geography, royal holloway and bedford new college, egham hill, egham, surrey tw20 oex, uk and david barker department of geography, university of the west indies, mona, kingston 7, jamaica, wi abstract the. Land degradation land degradationhappens when human activity or natural processes damage the land so that it can no longer support the local. Contour farming consists of plowing sideways across a hillside, perpendicular to the hills slope. Mcgregor centre for developing areas research, department of geography, royal holloway and bedford new college, egham hill, egham, surrey tw20 oex, uk and david barker department of geography, university of the west indies, mona, kingston 7. Raizada 7 1 school of environmental design and rural development.
Pdf on mar 1, 20, hailemariam meaza and others published impact of degraded hillside plantation on the livelihoods of landpoor farmers in tigray, ethiopia find, read and cite all the. The result is a loss of land productivity with impacts on livelihoods and the. Landfarming is an exsitu waste treatment process that is performed in the upper soil zone or in biotreatment cells. The lower third of the slope segment is generally the most uniform landform. Broadly categorizing there are two methods of soil conservation. Soil degradation and crop productivity research for. Desertification has been defined as land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities11. The decision to strive to achieve a landdegradation neutral world in the context of sustainable. Jun 01, 2016 major causes of land degradation greentumble soil degradation june 1, 2016 whether it is through building homes and settlements, the cultivation of crops, the harvesting of plants for food, medicine, fiber, or fuel, or by setting fires to the landscape for hunting purposes, humans have always influenced the landscape around them. Hillside farming a growing practice lead stories jamaica.
Land degradation and hillside farming in the fall river basin. A general definition of land degradation is presented by wasson 1987 as. Sustainability free fulltext responsible agricultural. Responsible agricultural mechanization innovation for the. Terrace farming is used for rice, barley and wheat in east and southeast asia and is a key part of the agricultural system. Contour farming reduces erosion on gently sloping hillsides. The best choice of plants to prevent soil erosion are herbs, wild flowers and small trees. Land degradation caused by erosion and nutrient depletion in the andes poses serious existential threats to small. These concerns are linked to overuse or misuse of the natural resources base. Hillsides, in contrast, can bring a range of challenges for the farmer. Despite its complex climatic and topographic setting, the country. The condition of the soil is one of the best indicators of land degradation.