FAOSoil Conservation and Management in Developing Countries

Soil conservation and management in developing countries
Soil conservation and management in developing countries
FAO SOILS BULLETIN
33
Report of an Expert Consultation held in Rome 22-26 November 1976 Soil Resources, Management and Conservation Service FAO Land and Water Development Division
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1985
....
,_..
Reprinted 1981 , 1985
The designations employed and the presentation of material in t his publit ition do not imp ly the expression o f nv opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organil~tion of the United Natiof\s concerning the leg.al Jtatus of any co1.1ntrv. territory, city or arta or o t its autho-rities, or concerning the delimitation
o f its frontiers or bound3ries.
M -53 ISBN 92-5-100430-7
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@ FAO 1977
Copyrighted material
COll'lENTS
I.
I !in!OWQTION
II.
:t.
0
)/orkl.ng
P,I'OUp
on reaea.rcbl erlucation
Ofl
?J1d
extens i on
a.!me~ t r:t
~.
Y.'orki.n r. grot:p
t~ork:itlP.
o r c;an i v.n.t i
ON~l
ruai
f.:Lnan r: ~.al
c.
FrO Up
on nractica.! and
t~chnical,
asoects
1.
2.
Sllil r.onaervC~.tion P!'act i c es anti ero~ ion cont rol i n Ind i a

1) ,-
Tr:"old. it ionaJ fo rrne o f 1 and.
l;GC
in
!"(:l~. t
o~
to
~o i
t~rot: ion
A. Yov.r.
~. .
I.nml cl ri G~ i f i cat 1 nn
G.li .
Hi ~tdr. s ~) o i l coruH~rv;).t i on ;;~a
4.
5.
e. r.>rot er.-t i vc. rnt'.a8u rc ::lf:a inm sa!. in izat i on
F. :.r-!'.s aoud
Tol o of 80 i l con servo.t :lon i n ar.-r:J o,; l tur n-.1 l .o.n.ds N. en
'l'i!f'!
7
t.r.;t.tert. ~ red. maJH -~ r.~ cn t
en
6.
. IJD . . . "'""b . ..r.tg o l?.nrJ( ' " :!i.
7.
StJ.d y i ng !)f.l.t t r.o.t"nc. ot' s o i.l '!' C\:.:nrn:~
S oH ~ron 1.0tl .:Uld N!G~X:,t>) i r .r':;u :" s t .1,;;;, j er:- =n rn_r:-.::.:u j a
4) 'r:o~ion
.,..
' I
in V.ctWt'! 109
n.
f(~(~ imf.>:r?'t:tt i ()G-
A. Ra
123
t .
Gons~rvn:t ion
-~ ~
of upit and.
PJl d
~.!il (: l a.n d.&
for
~to"m$ t N! .:tn:
r-g ricu,l t u r-e

1 33
KuJ"\1-:l ... :
't) . ,\ .
rt.~_rr; h.':lr i k
1) 1
Copyrigt1led material
iv
1.
-mil an d ,..r:-;..t e r .J . kwlor
cont:;rj rv.at. ic~; a c al'::
.eiti. t o
r:~n,""~ ;:r,~a~ment
and or.os i.on r:cnt r c'J. i.n rl!!V<alopi n0 o ::r:n:::tl"i<ls (p. T<'r ~r: ... <'~
1.
R(~~~a.rc h
need.f1 for so i l
c<.lf: fH~ rvo,'" ~ior:
i n develo2ir.e c<>l:.htries
N.
Hu dson
2.
~Jeve:lo>:>rncr..t
oonnt ri.e s
o t' t1o1 l ~nd. ~rater s e r v ic es in deve l oping sne-::::i f1.c reel ~ :i re.l':'ler~ tc ar.6 l)OSEl U1.U i t l.e o
f o r a sE; h ;t.;u;ce N. (til
3.
'l':r::l i n inr,;- 1 extension ar.d implementation o f aoi l t:":Ot'lS+~rva.t t on n . toe;r.o3r.'ID'.cs i n d.cvcl oping cotmtri ea
o. rox:.es
4. Elnvi ronment a !
re ot i on
oe r:~ oec t i.v~s
of lMd uae oo l i cy i n
L.
APPi'lfDI X 1
:~d :rr
Pr ograrr.:ne
"
I,
lN!IROIXJCTION
EXPERT CONSULTATION ON SOIL COJISERVATION AliD MANAGmE!IT IN DEVEWPlll() COUN!IRIES
ll!ore t han two-thi rds of t he world's population today are living in the developing world where agricultural production i s not keeping pace with population i ncrease. Increased food production c ould be achieved by expans ion of cult ivable areas, intensifYing product i on by introducing hi gh y i eldi ng vari eties and
introduction of new technology in agri cult ural
p~duction.
The expansion of
cultivable areas however, offers the least solution to t he problem as most of t he countries especially in Asia have lit t le or no room for expansion. A major problem fac:i.ng the areas already under cultivation, thus aggravating
t he situation, i e the seri ous ness of so i l degradat i on and l oss of soil fertility due to i ndi oeriminat e misuse of agri cultural lands. f ores ts and gra2 i ng l ands. Soil
conservation in the paat was commonly equated with tho mere prevent i on of erosion or
with t he restor ation of areas in which accel erated erosion has already taken place.
The modern thinki ng however, assigns to soil conservation a more comprehensive and more positive role, in t hat sustained improvement complemented b,y t he preservation
of available resources should f orm the central concept. merely a tect<ni cal problem.
o f previ ousl y fertile land.
Soil conservation is not
Several practices in agri culture today have resulted in misus e and degradation
Bad croppi ng patterns, unsui table cultiv ation techniques, misuse of tractor power, improper cho i ce of implements and mach ines, t he abuse of natural pastures and f orests, the extension of cultivation to marginal and sub-marginal
lands, and faulty i rri gation and drainage systems are mostly res pons i ble f or t he present s ituation. In t he attempt to sol ve some of t hese problems, many mist akes have been made result ing in failures and wor sening of the s i tuat i on in many devel oping countries.
The basic concept of a m ulti-diaciplinar,y a pproach t o the sol u tion o f t he problems hac unfortunately been overl ooked i n most cases.
D etail ed knowl edge of the nature and di st ribut ion of land in an area are
the basic pr e-requisites of any oons ervat ion programme.
I n this regard , l and
inventories must be int erpr eted in pr actical terms , signi ficant to a l l other aspec ts
of the environment and to t he basic requ i rements o f .all l and-users and pl anners.
Soil conservat ion must not be limited solel y t o agricul tural and gra zing l ands .
Conservat i on o f t he fores t s is of equal importance AS any m i suGe of such land wil l resul t in eros i on, aediment at.i on and s o i l deg radat ion of' the whole watershed.
C~naervat~on educat i on and extension a't'o ar eas whel'e part i cular at tont .ion
must be dtrected
l.ll
t he developing countr i es .
liany countries t r ansfer without
due cons i deration to soc i o-econom i c f actors , conser vat i on educa t i on met hods from othe :r envi ronment! w-i th the pious hope o f e:olvin~; their own problem:; ..
Copyrigflted material
- 2-
The
or~anizational
set-up is often uncoordinated with the ;oeneral mac1unery
of other Government Departments. ~lis has in maqy oases ~eaulted in ineffec tive, disorganized procrammeo which failed or even, in 60me cases, perpetuated t he problem. There are examples in many countries of expensive soil conser-vation structures which
are not properly maintained and which result in a worsening of the situation.
maey of these countriea, techniques need not a.lwa.ys be compl ex. Such s imple
In
p ~acti ces
as contouring and terracing, constructed with the farmers' own tools, m& in the
aggregate, contribute as much &s the more spectacular large scale development.
The purpose of this Expert Consultation was to re-examine the whole quest i on
of soil conservation and man96ement in the
developi~
countries, bearing in mind

s~gested.
socio-economic aspects, administ rative structures, technology and f inanc i a l r esources . The discussions elucidated pertinent problems in the organiza tion of aoil cons ervat ion
and management in theae countriea and poaaible solutions were
FAO pla.cod great importance on tho JOBeting, the reaul te of which may hel p millions to preserve and improve their natural resources and sustain them for a more
prosperous life. It io <~Bainat this background that the prooeedi~s of the Elt'pert Consul tat ion are published in the series of FAO Soils Bulletins.
.
j
II, INTRODUCTIOll
RECCtJ.i<NDATIOliS OF THE
~IORXIJIG
GROUPS
i.
Soil erosion, and consequent ly the need f or conservat ion, is not confined to
land under arable use; it frequently affects grazing lands, and oan be associated with mining, road construction, forestry and other kinds of land uae.
ii ,
Soil conservation refers not only to mechanical protection measures but includes all aspects of land use planning, development and management which contribute to the maintenance and i.Jllprovement of soil resources.
Soil concervstion is an interciisciplinary subject, which involves agronomy, soil science, ranee management, forestry, ecology, hydrology, engineering, geography, economies, sociology and other disciplines.
Soil ie a basic resource, for the present and the future. As such, the value of ita conservation extends beyond that whioh can be expreeaed in monetary terms.
iii,
iv.
v.
The d~ caused by severe soil erosion is frequently irreversible, It i consequently desirable to take eonaervat ion measures to prevont onset of erosi on rather than acting after it has oolll!lenced.
A. WORX:WG GROUP Cll RESEARCH, EIJUCATIW AND E:ICTENSIW
OUIDELJNES W RESEARCI!
As a c;ener.1.l principle it ia auegel3ted t hat the contribution of FAO ohould be directed to tards the coordination and diGsemination of resultc and assistance to
individual countries ;
and that individual
count~ies
and institutions should

circumst3nce~.
concentrate on work related to their local or regional
Certain branches of research in soil erosion and conservation are wel l -estsbl i ahed 1 for example, experimental work on run-off plotc, We by no means suggest that such work should be discontinued. It is necess&rJ in order to provide fundamental scientific data, without wh ich applied studi es oAI!not proceed; furthermore, there is also a
demonstration value to work of this nature. Nevertheless, as work
o~
this kind
already takes place in many countries, it is desirable that greater attention should now be directed towards other types of work, including the following:
i.
Field studies, including Mapping, of the location, extent and severity of erosion.
In addition, it will frequently be necessary to oollect the basic data required for the preparation of such mapa, preferably using standardized procedures,
ii.
Case studies of erosion and its caus&s, taking into account the effects of social, oultural and physical factors, land use and economic and institut i onal factors.
iii. iv,
Investigations of the effects of social and institutional factors in causing

erosion or inhibiting conservation measures .
The adaptation of teclll!iques of soil conservation to the physical 1 economio

and social conditions of particular countries and areas.
- 4 -
v.
Studies of farming systems and methods of l and management (e.g. cover crops, minimum tillage, agri-ailviculture, agri-aquaculture) which are conservational and, at the same ti~e, compatible with traditional land uce practioea.
Attempts to quantify t he consequences of erosion in productive and economi c terms, and hence to demon strate the benefits t o be derived from conservation.
Studies of different l and uae and management practices in relation to the
vi.
vii .
developn>ent of sound soil conservation methods, are inoludedt

a. b.
e. d.
Under t his general head
Different methods of land clearance and silvicultural practicesi The consequences of mechanization;
The effects of shelterbelts and wind breaks;
The consequences for the soil of l evels of intensity of use higher than those to >1hich it had formerly been subjected (e.g. continuous arable use, grazing at hi gh intensiti es) .
viii . Investigation of ra.tee of erosion on gra.zing landa, and relationships with
plant and animal productivi t y.

ix. Stud ies of the off-site effects of erosion (e.g. on stream flow regimes,
reservo i r s i l tation ).
2. ()\JIDELINES 0!1 EDUCATION
i.
An appreciation of aoil conservation should be introduced as an aspect of

"general studies" in seoondar"J and tertiary education in t he same way that
students are m ade aware of t heir cultural herit age, t heir

t he principles or hygiene, etc.
oountr.y' ~
history,
i i.
The study of so i l conservation as a subject in its own right should be

introduced into secondary and tertiary curricula, and soil conservation
topios should be introduced into other subjeots at primary level.

iii .
The trt nt\I.O ol' t.1oil o onnervat ion an a. proeotti o nal. dioo i p l ine e hou.ld bo
encouraged
i v.
hi gher degrees in Soil Conservation.
Since the re is a greater requirement for praotioal conservationists than for conservation researoh workers, higher degree training should put more emphasis on praot ieal applicat ion of knowledge than on researoh. The interdiscipl inary nature of soil conservation education and training should be recogni zed, It cannot be contained entirely within a faoulty of agriculture ,
or forestry. o r engineering.
v.
vi.
In t he oaae of higher degrees whi ch have a significant researoh component, the research should certainly be relevant to the student 's own country 1 and
preferably carried out t here.
vii.
One of the most pressing needs i s for more trained staff at technician level, i.e . t he man who aotually sets out the work in t he field. Techn i cal f ellowships to provide short-term praotical training at thi s level would be ueeful. Since the phys ical conditions vary from one country to another, training courses are preferabl y on- site traini ng in t he country concerned.
1
'
- 5-
viii. The panel recognizes the difficulty which oan arise when technicians or technol ogists attend courses and t hen return to take up positions under
oeniors who do not appreciate the
trainin~.
Consequently , t here is a
need to ensure that in all soil conservation units the value of specialized training is recogn ized at all levels. 3. GUIDELlliES Ql EXTENSIQI i. Extensi on services and soil conservat ion work Recognizit>e that the implementation of soil ooneervat ion programme a requires special expertise covering many disciplines, and t hat this expertise is not normally available within an exteneion service, the
recommendation of the Working Party an Institutional Organization is
reit erated, i.e. that it is essential to have a separate soil conservat i on

organization.
As a short term measure, tmtil such a noil conservation
organizat i on is established, it may be appropr iate to form wi t hin the extension service a soil conservat ion unit or department which is made up of specially trained personnel, However, in t he long term, the soil coneervation operations of an extens i on aerviee should be l imit ed to follow-up, maintenance and simple soil conservat i on practices, with the planning and design of soil conservation programmes handled by soil
conservation specialis ts.
ii.
EXtension programmes accompany soil conservation programmes

Since soi l conservation programmes will not be effective without the under-
standing and willing cooperation of the land user, it ie suggested that an extension service should include wi thin its ter1ns of reference the duty of
explaining to land ucers the need and purpose of each aoil conaervot i(m
prog:r""""e and the results to be expecte<l. an important aspect of this work. iii. General extension/educat i on
The use of demonstration" will be
In addi tion to extension work which is related to a part i cular pr ogranrne, t here should also be a general programme aimed at educating the land user in the philosopl>.y of good land husbandry, lfllile t his general ertension programme would be primarily directed towards the rural population, it should also have the lon~term aim of' generating awareness throughout t he whole
populat ion.
iv. Extenoion t echniques
The techniques for disseminating information on soil conservat ion are well known, and while t he actual material and t he details of the approach should
be ada.pted to local ci:rcumctMces, the basic principles are well tried &nd
tested. a, b,
o ..
Some of these are:
Use of the mass med ia to create general awareness (includin~ TV, documentaries); Use of spec i ally prepared sim9le literature (e.~. the "comics" of tbe
Soil Conservation Soc i ety of Amer ioa);
lntroduct ion of conservation t op i cs into t he school curriculwu;
d.
Usc of youth
organi~.at ions
such as
4~H,
Young Fa:rmers, etc,
.,
- (. v. Effeotive extenaion
The effectiveness of an extension service, or an extension worker, should be measured by the extent to which the objective is achieved, The number of
visits macle, or the number of lectures, demonstrations, handout s . may have
no relation t o the effectiveness of the operation, In order t hat an extension service ~ operate effectively it must be adequately staffed, so that it is possible for an effective contact to be maintained between the extension worker and the farmers with whom he ie dealing.
B, k'ORKING GROUP a; ORGA!IIZATICJ;AL .AND FIN .Al!ClAL ASPECTS
i,
ii.
Due to the rapidly progressive loss of land and water resources ~ e rosion, urgent action is needed to take remedial measures in most developing countri es .
Tho present organizational and in.atitutional sot up in moat developing
countries oannot cope with the increasing needs for land and water conservation
activitiee.
iii, iv, v.
Because of the multifaceted nature of the problem, special organizations should deal with the multidisoiplinar.y character of soil and water services,
To initiate effective action on this subject, a Soil Conservation Board at
a hi gh,
polio~making
level ehould be established in developing countries,

be
In countries where no related organizations exist, a secretariat should

fomed under the Soil Conservation Board and be composed of high level technicians in the field of land, water, forestry and human resources.
conservation activities .
The
oeor-etnriat should be established for initiation and coordination o-f soil vL

In cowttries where some s erviccc in noil and water exist they should be given the status of a unified service. As a tranaitional step only, a Task
FOree may be established, vii. The disciplines involved in such a unified Soil and Water Conservat ion ~rviee will be identified below and should be used according to the agro-ecological zones as required: a.
b,
Land evaluat i on
o,
d,
e.
f. C
h.
i.
j.
Ecology Geography H,ydrology Agronol!zy' Forestr.y Soil and water conservation Engineering Social science
Soil and water conservat ion planning
k.
Comprehennive watershed management
1,
m.
Agricul tural production econom i cs

Coordinated pro(Jrammes l-lit h t"cscarch, education and extension.
viii . Policy
a. Det'init ions of t ho required policies to achieve aorne of the identified
coil and water conservation

b. Requicites:
~ala
must be clearly stated,

~~cognized
The need for remedial action based on
natu_ r al
resources nod environmental probl ems .
7-
c. d. e.
Statement of policy purp<>se s that represent a consensus among the people invol ved in te~s of what the policy should pArform. The pol i cy should establ i sh general guidelines and define the directions for achieving the goals, Guidelines on the following lines of action should be delineated : Policy goals Flexibilities Implementation and innovation
Planning, recaareh and &ve.luat ion Peoples participation
Prevention of fragmentation Complementary of government roles Institutionalization of incentives Comprehensiveness of approach Land tenure
i.x.
Finances a, b. Finances should be in the general programme of government activities, services and budgets.
ln the framework of the development of this, ser ious consideration should be given to allocate sufficient funds for incentives to farmers for implementation of the field development programmes and ass i stance projects, field operations and maintenance.
x.
FAO's role in establishing and developing in developing countries a. b, c. d.

e.
multidisciplined soil conservation
To make governments .,are of the urgency and the need to institutionalize the soil and water conservation programmes. To catalyse in influencing the polioy-making bodies in government to take effective action in this respect. To advise how to create the basis for such activities by adequate legislation. Such actions s hould be carried out in the framework of Regional Offices by country representatives and/or high l evel Headquarters staff.
Assistance in formulation and implementation .of field programmes which will include on-the-job training.
f,
Special attention should be paid to the planning and implementation of comprehens ive watershed management on a small sub-watershed scale in representative areas.
- ec.
\iORJ<INC CROUP ON PRACTI CAL A I1D 'i'FJ;;HNICAL ASPECTS
Practit~al /technical aspect s in conn ection Hith FAQta projects on soil c onserva.t ion
The discussionc d uring t he s ess ions of our expert panel this week have t he great need for progratnmes of soil and water conservation i.n developing countries. The ~:orking group makes t le f ollowing general suggest i ons to FAO and t o eovernrnental i_nst it ut ions cooperating in s uch programmes:
empl'1 aSi~ed
better integrR.tion between diaoiplines and Nlmi niAtratione involvecl.i pref erence fo r s m ell , high-i mpact conservation projects with active and follow-up by local d e c iaion-makers and farmers to a void a coll apse of t he project when the expatriates leave;
parti~ipation
inoreased res pons i bilities from local sovernment and lese from donating agencies. It is of part i cula r importanc e that after local staff nre trained t~ey s hould continue to impl ement t he progra~Une and not be transferred to othe-r duties; more effec tive eval ua tion and follow-up of prolects to utilize 0 xieting experi ence both wi t hi n FAO and in the project areaa. The evaluation should. include soci t>-eoonomi c , ecolog:ioal, teo hnolo~cal ant} orgMiza.t ional aspects.
1 '1 he working ,eroup struct u r ed t he diacuea i on i n t he f ollowing six steps of project plannin~, execution and 1'ollow-up. It is s u pposed that steps 2 and 3 a~ p.reparnd by a mission of conrmltants to t he country requesting assistant'}e. 'l'l"le d oct>ment s of steps 1 , 2 and 3 s J,o uld be car efully s t udied by t he s taff befo re implement ation .
i.
General oroblem iden t ification: c":OUnt ry
Request for assistonoe made by a develop ing
1'h e magnit1><le of t he problem and scale o f operation s hould be defined. In t he ~ppro.aol: to soil oonservn.tion in develop ing oount r ieft, t he teohnit;Al aspects to come under conailleration should inc l ude protect ion of t he environment and improvamP ..nt of t he conditions o.f l i fe fo r t he people involved , in addition to t he purely tecl nit:al matters on erosion control and i mprovement o f production.
1
ii .
Anal~~sis
of exiGt i ng informat i on
a.nd trD.d it i on al conditions i n t he project a.rea: It i s essent i Al t hat m ore attent i on be eiven t o lMal and trad.i tional ;>a:tt ems and constraints. Po l i t ioal, i'\dmin ia:trative, SOQ io- economto , de rnograpl'ica) t ecological and technological ootv~it i ons sJould. 1)c f\\ll ;r tnken it1t o a.nr.count. Ti1 e needs f or f1tr tler data coll ecti on "'ld prepa r a.t ion for ev~<luat iou of pro j ecf impact s tonl\l be c lefi ne<l .
Lo~al
- 9-
iii .
Proj ect
fo ~lat i on
Ir. pro~amme fOI"ft'!\.\la.tion moro con s id er~t ion must be e iven to projects l eading to comprehensive pl"'gramrnes in tlte count r~', which mus t be f'ollm.,edup by FAO, by t he donat ing agency , and t he local government,by techni cal s ervicing on a progra.mme baa is ; terefore, t he art i ole o.f agreement must include statement of intentions of t he 8QVernment, ita deoisiona on le~slation and its commitment on follow-up a fter termination of t h" project . Suet projects muat emphaa i ze prope r bioloeieal ~onservntion and man~ment in addition to
approp,-iate eneineering t echniques. Consider ing that soil co!lservation inclndef:l aepeota of soil and water managem ent, i t usua..ll.Y invol ven li g.l' c~tpita.l and human skill inputs eJtd i t is fel t tha.t more emphasis be f!i ven to approaches through pl ant and animal management for good lane\ use in developing countries . Preparation and funding for evaluation of project impact during and after execution should be included in t he project formulation as we ll as necessa~J collect ion of further data. The educational input of the pro jeot abould be planned and included in t he formulation.
iy.
Project implementation
Projects should be completed i n appropriate time for good soil conservat ion and management . During the implementation t he project should be divided into phases, each of \o'lhich r:::houlcl demonstrate a. tangible achievement. Hot~ever, attention mu.st be paid to maintain the goodwill , motivat ion nnd Gupport of the local population, This 1ould facilitate the folloN-up and acceptance of the proeramne. 'l*he i mplementation f3hould creo.te a. capable , well -mot i vated, multidisoiplinar,y national team to carry on tho programme during and after termination of FAO involvement.
v,
Project eve.l.uation Repeated evaluations should be undertaken and uEled to correct, if requirecl 1 planning and implementation, The project should be flexible enough to allow neoessar,y modification,
vi.
Project
follow~up
An effective follow-up is the most esDential component for the successful completion of the objectives of a prO(p:'MID'IC Follow-up should include maintenance of soil conservation treatments, aervlelng, training and extenoion 1 finanoed through a programme activity.
- 11 -
Ill.
A.
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Conservation Practices in Agrioulture
~er
N!J 1 by
D.C. Dae
Miniatr,y of Agriculture and Irrigation New Delhi, India
ABSTRACT
Erosion problems Md conservation hazard.l! through fiood8 and drougbte han oooUrred
rrequently over the centuries. Their effect on the national
eeono~
has been more aoute
in recent yeare. Owing to increasing human 1111d 1 ivestoek populations, and other d..Velop.mental aotivitiee, competition for the land has become keen. ~ reviewing varioue factors, nohaa the llllld uee distribution, h;rd=logioal and other soil group zones, ri.oocia', 'droughts and existing delineations of the country for various oonaervetion purpoeae, India has been divided into ten compaot Soil Coneervation Regions. Considering t he latest estimates
of different types of erosion prevalent in various parts of the country, a composite soil
erosion lllllp baa also bean prepared. The erosion problem has been examined for various soil conservation regions in conjunction with the flood and/or drought hazards, and oritioal eooio-eeonomic conditions, Rainfall intena ity and the erosion ratio of the soil along with elevation and total rainfall have been collated and interpreted in order to study the soil conservation practices currently in vogue. Problems euoh as sheet erosion, gully and ravine erosion; torrent,
stream/channel erosion; landslides and roadside erosion; ooaatal erosion; erosion due to
shifting cultivation: and wind erosion are specifically discussed. Experimental reaults and field observations are used to i llustrate the extent of hazards under different types
of erosion in various soil conservation regione. Various praot ioea now being advocated to
treat different types of erosion, national efforts to preserve the life of multi-purpose reservoirs and to solve t he proble111 of ravinous areas through an integrated progr<UtDe of
soil conservation on a waterehed basis, are summarized.
- 12-
SOIL CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND EROSION CONTROL

IN INDIA - A CASE STUDY
INTRODUCTI<ll
Soil erosion in India has eeeu severe for centuries, but i ta impact ou regioual and national economy has only been acutely felt during recent decades. The high rate of population growth, both human (Anon, 1975) and livestock, (Anon, 1976 a), has re$Ulted in over exploitation of natural resources to meet t he ever-increasing d&~~~And for food, fodder and fuel. The inoraased competition on the - lands for theee three essentials ie reaul ting in widespread dBa&ge to our forests, pastures and wastelands as well as to fallow and agricultural lands. Thus increasing mieuse of natural resources poses one of the greatest threats to better land use manageonent, and the problem is compounded by competing demands from di fferent sectors for expanding development and industrial aotivitiea on similar types of land. Erosion problems in India, therefore, cannot be seen in isolation from natural calamities, viz. flood and drought, or without any reference to socioeconomic conditions. An attempt has been made to present the erosion problems and t he current efforts being made to solve them on the baeia of broad soil conservation regions.
2,1
Land Use Distribution Erosion problema vary aeoording to the land use practices. The distribution of are&e under various land uses is given in Table 1. Out of the total geographical area of 328 lllillion ha, about 43.20% is cultivated and 20.02% ie forest. The vut stretch of the Indo-Canget ic Plain, Deocan Plateau and Raj &ethan Desert have very l>t tle forest. This poses not only an ecological and erosion probl~ but also aggravates the shortage of fuel and fodder. Barren and uncultivable wasteland constitute 9.071> cultivable waate 4.81% 1 fall01< llll'lcl 6 . 23~ and perii&Dent graeeland occupies 3. 97't of the total area. The graeelanda by and larp are poor and overgrazed and so are the vaetelands. Both 8\lffer from high erosion hoard.
2, 2
grdrological Soil Group
~nee
~rological soil groups give the relative ability of a s oil to produce runoff and, therefore, to a considerable extent i ta susceptibility to erosion. Tl1ese ratings have been determined for s large number of Indian soil series (Bali, Y,P., 1969) and based on them, India has been delineated into four hydrological soil group zones (Vandersypen et al, 1972). Areas having soils of . "B" group constitute 53 .()0%, " D" 18.49%, "C" 16.82% azul "A" 11.09't only (Fig. 1) .
Table 1
DIS!'RIBU!'l<ll OP AREAS ONDER DIJlPERDIT LAND USES IN INDIA
(1972-1 973)
Cla.aai!ication
Area in t housand heotareo Break-up Total
Percent ~
Break- up
of t otal area Total
'
2. 3.
Area under forest Area not available for cultivati on:
6'; 708 46 4.0:4 16 571 29 873 33 728 1 ~ 079 4 358 3 -97 1 . 33 4. 81 5 . 03 9. 07
20.02
'4 10
i ) Area under non- agrioul t ural usee ii) :SO.rren and uneul tivable land
Other uneultivable land including fall ow land:
10. II
i)
Pera:anent pastures and othe r gra zing land li) Lend under 11is ceU aneous t ree c rops and grov es not incl ude<l in net so' m area.s iii) Cult i vable wsBte
.....
6 . 2~
' 5 841
20
8 173 12 392 140 233 306 223 22 035 328 258
56~
Fellow lMd : i) Fallow land other t han ourront follows Current fallo~<s
ii )
2 .47 3 -76 43.20 93. 66
5
6.
Net a.roa sown Total reporting area Area f or

whie~
1
8.
no return exists
'l'oUl Geographical area
~~
~
~
r>
:~.
FIQ. 1
HYDROLOGIC SOIL GROUP ZONES of I NDIA
LEGEND
'Yo OF TOTAL AREA
A
11.09 e-.3.60 16.82 18.49
D
T. H. TRI Pl,IRA
IU GAt.. AN O
~ c
M,
- Ml 'lOIII: AM
- .!UNIPUR
lof R
N G t. .
[[!III
- N( Gti ALAYA
- =--===-
200
400 Kll'l
Copynghted matenal
2.3
Flood Hazard Floods visit India every year and cause untold ~isery to an average area of 6. 7 million ha, out of which 2. 2 ll ha are cropped. The total affected area is estimated to be 20 M ha. Annual estimated d~ due to floods has been JNt at RB. 1 260 million (One US S RB. 9.15) out of which 701> relates to agricultural crops (Anon, 1971a and 1974a). Areas affected by flood are shown in F i g . 2,
2.4
Drouflht Hazard Like floods , the country experiences drought every year. About 3 million people with their livestock migrate in search of new pastures (Anon, 1973). This migration has often resulted in excessive grazing and the consequent destruction of the protective vegetative cover, leaving the soil bare to the erosive action of both wind and water. The role of drought in coneervat ion land use management in India is very great. About 75'/o of the cultivated land is rainfed and produces 42'/o of the oountry's f oodgrain. It is estimated that even after all irrigation potential is achieved, at least 55~ of the cultivated lBnd will remain rainfed (Anon, 1974b), Vast stretches of non-agricultural land in thase tracts hava scanty rainfall &lid are sul.ted t o grassland development and liveetock :!'arming. After reviewing many definitions and classifications, the climatic crop growth indices, limiting rain:rall amounts for dif:f'erent growth levels and expressed as a ratio of rainfall to different evapotranspiration demands, have been used to delineate the oountry into four drought elaeses, as s~own in Fig, 3 (Das et a,l, 1974) . A comparison of Fig, 2 and 3 and a study of Table 2 reveals that intriguingly the drought has not been a o\trae to arid and semi-ar id ( i . e. low rainfall) regions alone . Many areae, in spite of fair annual rainfall, face drought right wi thin the main rainy season (George et al, 1973), Again, i.n spite of evergraen forest and grassland_s, m any parts, e.g., t he Nil ris, are s ubjeot to regular droughto (Shri lli wllll et al, 1967; Daa et al, 1971a
f. .
3.
SOIL CONSERVATI OII REGIO!IS

Many attempts have been made to delineate a number of zones or regions and sub-zones of areae for the formulation of plans for development and utilization of natural resoureea . Physiographieally , Izidia hae been divided into four major divisions (Singh, 1971) and into six water r esource regions (Khosla, 1949). It bas also been divided into seven main hydrologi eal zones with the problems caused by sedimentation in the multipurpose reservoirs to the soil conservation programme mainly in mind (Bali J,S, 1 969). At t he Soil Conearvation Centre, Dehra Dun, considering major soil groups, vegetation classes, physiography, rainfall and availability of irrigation, the country has been d ivided into twenty land reaouree regions and 186 land resource areae (Oupta et al 1 1970). Again, for etu.dying soil erosion with a distinct bias t ot-lard geologJ, t he oountey has been divided into five first order phys i ographie regions (Ahmad, 1973).
After reviewing all t heae exiating delineations ~~d keeping in mind t he integrated approach for anlll.:;sing soil erosion problems as well as for appreciating the eurrent erosion control practices, t he delineation made by Gupta et al , (1970} has been regrouped into ten major Soil Conservation legions as s hown in Fig. 4 The distribution of areas under various s oil eonservation regions along with t he annual rainfall and temperature ran~& ae well as available data on i ntensity ratio (a measure of erosiveness of rai n), and rilling hazard ratio (a measure of erodi bility of soi~ are presented in Table 2.
1() -
Fig. 2
FLOOD AFFECTED AREAS
T.
- t i'UPUit A
+
M.
NA(U .I,6H 0
AREAS NORMAL LY AFFECTED 8Y FLOODS CURING S. W. MONSOON.
M.
M ~ L.
- Ml ZO IU 1Iil
.. &N I PUR
N[GHAI,.A V 6
E<?:~tl
AREAS LIABLE TO BE AFFECTED FLOODS DURING S. w. MONSOON. AREAS NORMALLY IMMUNE FROM FLOODS.
BY
Copyrigflled m atenal
- 17 -
Fl~ .
DROUGHT AFFECTED AREAS OF VARIOUS INTENSITIES B'f CLIMATIC CROP GROWTH INDICES (DAS ET /AL 1 974)
. ') l".../ ")
' -..,.~
<::, '"" ..>;-d> r.
~.~~- . )
_.>~- /--Y 1 J -./l ~ ( y
c. . , .../rv-,--'/ <., (. . "

/!. I
~
..
,.1 .J
.. " :..- . (.+ t~
lr .
. I . .
r:.'\ ,>_.. ./
..... . .l \ .
" )
D ISA STROUS
;~
pd Pn
[[J]]
SEVERE
>,
L ARGE
Po
Pn
>1
[3] .
Pi
T.
MODERATE
>, -Po Pn
:. 0 .307 PE , Pi ~ O.&l S PE, Pd
lntlutntiol rointo!l for any plant groth.
PE - Potentia l EvopotrontetiroUon .
.. TRIPUR
- NAG:4\. Ar.0
- Y i l O AA N
"
M (; t. ,
P4 Ph
P0
limitino rainfall for d rought tolerant croo~. ! Limiting r ainfa ll permittinq qrowth o r
overoQe crops and poatures .
: 0 .922 PE,Pn
:
"'61<t \,.\J R
.., N( (; H A l, A YA
1.220 PE. Po
AdtQbote r ainfall for qood Qtovtt h of
iI
,o
P0 z = l.844 PE , Pa2 Pn
Plenlih,.,l rainfall tor abundant and

dense Qrotl'l of paddy.
= Normal cainfall ( Anon, 1972 C
- - - ' o:-0<."
-----~~ .~--------------~ .~~-- ------------~ ,y
._j
====~------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2
SOIL C CNSEHVAXI OU REGIONS OF INDIA

(particulars rel ate to erosion a.a.d o"ther ooneervation problema)
s
No .
Soil
Coneervat ion
Area
Aro<\ tiS pe rcent
to!ai.nfa.H
f;IeM
Bl'll\\U!.l
Irltel'l$ i t .y
rati o
Recion
of total
t emp.
Ri ll ine h.aze t-d
rati o
...
~.
f\ydrol ogic...1.l 60il r;roup
Urougirt
PloOO.
C .M;~rd
huardao (after
c l ima.tic
crop
grolo'th
y
Jlha
1. 1.
z.
!lor t bern Hlr:ala.yan Region (A, B, C) j}
...
y
4
10.66
))
b.
AI
2.05 Deh ......Dun
AI
2.13
index)
Pig. 1
21
o.
B
Fig. 3
Flg. 2
3.
34.60
o.
None
200-2500
1Q-20
llone Except a. pocket ir. Jhelum Val l ey
2.
liorth SaGt orn

Hirnal~ an
17 . 70
Region
50 .90
541
1500..2500
10-20
2.04 Agra 2,16

lloroda
1.0
reolad rav ine . Agr&
11 and
N one
Normally aftee1:ed
0>
{G, H)
3.
Indo-GMptio Alluvial Region (D,E,F,L)
15.60
70()..1100
Soale
20-28
1n the Wee get leBn
area
North WeB:t-C
Eastern part _subject to

moderato
Roet-B
drouettt;
~ntral
than 400
).0 Baroda
3.46 _ ,_
part
dabad
Assam V4lley and.
t o lo:u-ge; rest hM
severe d r oug!ri: AseaGl Valley-C aan,.tic Delta.-A
11. 18
3.50
1500..2500
l!J-25
Oan(letic Delta Region (I ,P)
Disper s i on ration/
None
Normo.lly affeotod
5
0
Raja.st han Desert, Runn of Kut ch and

oont igu~e
23.85
aemi-
7.31
150-500
25- 28 and greater

thM 28 in oxt rcm . o
West
arid Mgion (J and K)
33-83%
Ra.ia a than
Weatern part - .l Reat - B
Rajast ha.'l
dese rt And
Ru.r.r. of
Kl:lt ob
su~
~
~
Kot~
31 . /f'J. K\ttch 1. )-0. 5
J!
joot to d.ieR-tJtrous d r oug{nt ; RtH;'t to
(Q
severe
:::r
3 !!i
"'
::0
t\)
-------
. ---
'!'able 2
(cont ' d)
'
6. til.xed Red, Bleck and Yellow Soil R e gi on (~)
11 o5"7
"o
600-700
6o
20-28
7o
So
1o31
Kota 4o57
Sa'Yct it
Y.a.dhop~r
10.
Centrally looa.te<l part o!'feote<l by large d rought ar.cl cactom part by r-evere drought llorth ?.aat pa. --t large; Rect severe l'.azard.t
11
3o58
1o83
Kota
7o
Dloek Soil l."r oo1on (11)
67 o45
20o63
Outer part between 600-750

It'.l'!er pa...-t
20-2&
2o36
llellary
4o49-4 o7#
Jabalp:u" 1oBO llellary 6,14 Dhanlar
Soo-600
8.
~stern
Red
Soil Re;;ion (0)
57o45
17o55
1o::lO- 1500
2D-25
1 o 73
lli.dnapu.r
' 7e-4.10 Rairnu:- 2/ 2.5-21.00

Gullied
D
~Iost ly
);ode ;rate
Darnoda r
hos&ld
River
a belt
behl nd
Ea,ct Coar::t c
area,
napur 2/ 1. 09 ~id
J.rid-
r:.tlpur;4 . 23
Santhal
Par ga:1a
9. Southern Re-.1 Soil

Ret;ion ( R)
34o77
10o62
around
750
20..25 (1D-15
in the
1o73 in t he
llil,;irio
mu.~ (~or
1,00 !olini -
Most ly
D A belt be hind
We!:t
llil;;iris)
abed, t he llilgir io)
A belt along the .N ornnll.)l t-lestcrn OhM D.:Y.i t ree also Eust part
expoGed to :~~ode-
"' I
rate one. Rest

exponcd to severe droUGht
ooaet
lll\d patohe$ C; nmat l pookete
D
10. EaGt~le$t Cot'lotal 1 16 .20

and I s l MdG Regior. ( Q,.S, T)
12 o60
Ea$t
20-25
W es t cottt:t and
most i cl ZL."tds
ooa.at
a:bout
Su,bjeot t o flcoC
1000
325o67
100o00
for
t;
hnz ard free f rom d rought; cent ral liable t o l3rge .
IntcnGi ty Rat i o
.3 ::0 1[
~
3
!/. I/.
5 minute s 7. 63 "'"' 1Ull in,g Hazard R at io ~ Erosion rat 10 of eoil of &> a rea L.imiting nate value of' erosion l"Cltio - 10 >j aupta, R.S. 1958 otter Gupta ot <>1, 1970 rI llshta ~ aJ., 1958 2/ fla"\ODt 1972b >ftcr Slla.~inathan, 1973 Dallal, 1954 Y, Do.o ll...!lo 1971; D<u>, 1 ' 2/llllatteoharya , 1957 ~ V'&nd.er~JPcm et a.l, 1972
tJ/
minutee !'or 10
tJlt;:it~ z - or
.!I
~. "'
fiQ. 4
SOIL CONSERVATION REGIONS of IND IA
M A 0 H 'I' A
0 0
t
0
.I
0 0
~/"
'
0:'\.
0
o) o
~0
0
0RI$SA
~~,
0 '
LEGEND
NORTHERN 1 HI-MALAYA REGION NORTH- EASTERN 2 HIMALAYA REGIONS INDO- GANGniC
1.
fl .
MIXED REO, BLACX II 6 YELLOW SOil REGIONs
7 Bl ACK SOIL REGIONS
- Tllti PUAA
- !ttAGAl.ANO
3 II OTHER
ALLUVIAL PlAINS
S EASTERN RED SOil REGION
M.
Y II'
- MI 20111AIIt
- MANI P UR
ASSAM WILLEY 4 II GANGETIC DELTA REGIONS RAJASTHAN DESERT, RUNN Of XUTCH 5 II BORDERING SEMI ARID REGION
l(fl'
9 SOIL REGION
SOUTHERN REO
S ~
10
EAST II WEST COASTAl REGIONS
0
I
oo! l
zoo
' -
coo
1
A, B . S
LAND RESOURCE REGIONS
- 21 -
4.
SOIL EROSION
4.1
Pant Estimates T11ere seems to have been no coordinated attempt to document the incidence of various types of erosion and their extent and. distribution throughout the country. In t he late forties K aith et al, (1948) submitted a brief report to this effect which ur~d consideration of t he problems and t heir solution on the basio of natural units. Later on tne Planni ng Commission (Anon, 1964) made a quick estimate of agricultural land subject to erosion\ wh ile t he Working Group on Soil Conservation of the Fourth Plan (Anon, 1966 } attempted to estimate the extent of erosion and other conservat ion hazards on all types of land. Dali 1914 outlined t he distribution of areas under various conservation hazards with specific stress on t he erosion problem and sedimentation of multi-purpose reservoirs. According to hie estimate, a total of 175 million ha can be considered susceptible to erosion. In Mother attempt, while ~vin(: the macro view of land and water management problems in India, Vohra ~1975 ) indicated that 140 million ha are seriously affected by water and wind erosion. Ahmad (1973) gives some detailed estimates of areas s ub ject to various types of erosion.
4.2
Extent of Different TYpes of Erosion The National Commission on Agriculture (19"15b) provided the latest estimate on the basis of available information from various sources. Many parts of the country are subject to more t han one type of erosion, The extent of erosion has been estimated ae follows:
(~lill ion ha)
Total Geographical area Total area subject to serious water and wind
erosion
Area at critical stage of deterioration due to erosion
Area Ares Area Area

4.3
subject to wind erosion effected by gullies and ravines, about effected by s hifting oultivation\ about under rainfed farmine (non-paddy}
M~
69 32 4
3
10
Erosion
On the basis of various erosion maps prepared by Ahmad (1973) and with the necessary modifications called f or l>y the latest figures avaUabl e, a composite map of India showing the extent of various types of erosion i s presented in Fig. 5
SHEE"r EROSIOtl
Sheet erosion exists almost throughout t he country. Areas subject to s i'>eet as well as gully erosion and areas subject to notable sheet erosion only aro indicated speoif'ieally in Fig. 5 It has been estimated that abou.t 6 000 mill ion t onnes of soils are eroded every year from about 80 mill ion ha of cul t ivated landu;about 6 .2 mill ion tonnes of nutrientf.l (2. 5 of' N', 1. 5 million t of P and 2. 2 million t of K) are carried away. The nutrients lost in this way are JIIU.ot greater than the quantity that we are using at present (Swaminathan, 1973). The diff erent rates of soil loss under vari ous land uses in different regions are g iven in a recent compilation (Tej wan i et al 1 1975 ), and t he figures were obtained from ICAR rccoarch o:ta1. ions.
r-- -- -;"'--------- 4~-----~---

Fi Q . 5
of
2r ~--------~~------,
SOIL EROSION MAP
INDIA
....
I
iU oi AA A l
.)
A REA BOTH OF GULLY SHEET E ROSION
t, ,
'? / t
( (
ZONES OF SAND DUNES
~
~' / ,,, .
/
/
ZONES OF GLACIAL ERCS\ON

AREAS SUBJECT TO EROSION OUE \T ION TO SHIFTING CULTI V~ OTHER AREAS Of NOTABLE SHEET EROSION LIMIT Of COASTAl N, E WINO E ROSION EROSION
'
rlll t PUft A
NAG .O.LAN O
MllOIUM
- 16A HIP Uit
M G t. .
I..
' I
- M[CHill.. fiYA
---
> s w.
MONSOON MONSOON
0 t
200
9
400 11'111
-t-It.- ~
';\;;.-- - - ----.':';;--------- --7oo --------. .~ ,...--- ---- ---. t..
.,.
.. . '"
5. 1
Perfo.nnanee of Conservation Practices The conservation treatments meant to reduce or prevent sheet erosion while achieving the desired moisture conservation and/or runoff disposal, range from contour farming to bench terracing. The perfomanee of different conservation practices for controlling sheet erosion hao boen evaluated at ~number of researoh etatione ('l'ejwani et a.J., 1975) and a.l.eo reviewed elsewhere (Das, 1974), Tb illustrate the relative effectiveness of a few practices, the results from the Nilgiri hills in t he southern red soil region are given. On these hill slopes, that have lateritic soils, up and down cultivation of potato caused a soil lose of 39 t/ha/year where"" nutrient losses were Ra 333/ha (at the market priM of 1967). Simple contour cultivation reduced t he soil loss to 15 t/ha/year and nutrient losses to Ra 130/ha, When the cultivation was on non-padd.y benches the soil loss was reduced to about 1 t/ha/year 8lld the nutrient losses to Ra. 10/ha/year (Raghunath et al. 1967). Terracing is by far the most effective and widely practised field measure for controlling or preventing erosion in different soil conservation regions. Tel'l'I'CiJ>8 has also been adapted in different ways to lll8et varied physiographic and olim&tie conditione, In a general w~, it can be defined as a series of mechanical barriers across the land slope to break the elope length and also to reduce the slope degree 10herever necesoar:y. <n the steeper hill slopes there are graded (non-padd.y) or levelled (paddy) benches constructed by restricted levelling and "ith provision for disposal. The syetem also applies to lower slopes wltere it is developed by raising bunds and then achieving the levelling through puddling, Fbr rolling and flatter lands, with high rainfall, the systeJn means graded bunds or banks (narrow base graded bunding) and for lands with scanty or erratic rainfall, narrow baee (level) terracing (contour bunding) is practised to conserve moisture an well an reduce soil orosion. For better moisture conservation on larger areas as well as for control of soil erosion, it was observed that land treatmont between t he bunds , e.g. partial levelling (Saha and Patel, 1970) or cultivation along the contour, offers better protection as well as moisture conditions for higher production. Fbr rolling lands and bill slopes "ith inadequate soil depth, graded trenches or contour trenches are used for forestation or plantat ion crops like tea or coffee. Field as well as experimental data show t hatterracing oontrole runoff, oheokc Goil erosion, helps to ~rove moisture conservation, groundwater storage and crop yields (Sat9ute, 1972; Das, 1974). Treatments vary considerably from region to -region, for in_ s tanoe, the high elopes of t he Northern Hirnal~as are being put under good forest cover through afforestation and better forest management.
~.1,1
Na,rroo,, ba..e terraeing (btmding)
The Indo-0eagetio alluvial plains have an erosion intensity ratio Y&lue of about 2, wr.ereas the rilling t.azard ratio varies from 3 to 7. A stlO&ble o!"t of tl'~ rer-fon ie li,.ble to reguler flooding ae Y.ell "" mo~erte to ~evere drought (Table 2, 'Pig. 2 and ~ ) . ~e problem ie, therefore, one of eros ion ~ontrol, dispos;al of runoff and conservation of moisture. Contour lnmding, or narrow base t e rra~ing on t~e contour, at a sui table spacing and of a euitable oross section, ie widely used to .remove exoeeeive nmoff result jng from righ intensity storms and surplussing arrangements a re m~de wrerever ne~eseary.
- 24 -
Tile eastern red soil region has an intensity ratio around 1.73, whereas t he r illing hazard ratio ranges from 1.09 to 4.23. The region is subject to almost recurrent moderate drought in s pite or good raitlt'aJ.l (C.orge et al, 1973). Tile southern red soil region, on the other hand, has a eilllilar intensity ratio but generally a low rilll.ng hazard ratio. However, the region is by and large subject to severe drough hazards (Fig. 3 and Table 2). Contour bunding with a surplussing arrangement often proves adequate. A typical contour bund cross section wi t h a loose rubble wasteweir is shown in Fig. 6 . Small tanks for storing and utilizing water for paddy cultivation on banches are also extensively used .
-
I
'
Fig. 6
Contour bunding (narrow base terrace on contour) with dressed rubble wasteweirs , in black soil region (shallow black soil) Tile black soil region has a very high intensity ratio (2.36) and the rilling hazard ratio ranges from 1.3 to 6 .14. Tile north-east of the region suffers from l arge droughts whereas the rest to severe ones (Table 2~ Fig. 3). The probl em is not only to conserve moisture 1 but also to remove exoeea rainfall which cannot infiltrate due to l ow intake r ates . Tile acounrulation of water on land causes damage to t he standing crops besides resulting in mechanical failure of the bunds and other structures . In the northern part of this region, the removal of excess water faci litates a more f lexible rainy season crop and gives t he possi bility of using the excess water to grow a profitable winter crop. On the res t of t his region, the rainfall is low and erratic; this area re01ains fallow during the main rainy season Md thu.s subject to heavy erosion. Contour bunding has not been effective in t he region (Das, 1974).
Cupynghted matcnal
- 25 ~e latest findings in t oe black soil and the semi-arid southern red soil region indicate that some sort of graded bunding (graded narrow base torraeing) with small ponds for stor~ and rcuDe o~ the runoff water for assured cultivation ie more effective. Cultivation of orope on broad ridges &nd .furrows seems to hold promise for t hese regions w~ere stress is laid on saving crop residues, propor tillase and wat er harvest ing besides erosion control (Anon, 1974b and Krishnamoorthy et al, 1974). The di fferent types of small ponds which could be used on existing farm holdings are being tried presently at tho All India Coordinated Dry Land Rssearoll Centre as well es t he InternatioMl Crop Research lnst i tut.e for Semi- Arid Regions. Some possible changes in t he design det ails for higher capooity- oost ratio have been developed ~ Sharma and Kampan (1975 ).
5.1 .2
Design detai ls for bunding .

The spacing o f t he narrol'l ba.ae terraces can be more rationally determined from t he modified Stewart or Ootacamund formul a . It provides more flexibility over space and t i me and involves easily determinabl e factors as compared to t he adjust ed empirical formulae i n use. 'l'he formula is :
Vertical Interval
and Horil><>ntal Interval
V.I.
~~
/2s , m
m
2i1
Whore,
s
n .. I =
Average slope percentage
I.R.P.C.
Intensity Ration (defined at the foot of Table 2) Ril l ing hazard ratio '' n " u ) Proportionate protection offered by s upporting conservation practices Proportionate protection offered by cropping management.
~~h en
R P
The formula is also s.ppl ie a"bl e
t renohing.
Concerning the cross-sect ion, t he design depends upon t he amount of exoees r!linf!lll and the depth of impoundine; desired upstream of t he terrooe. In t he case of graded bunding, it is t he channel t hat ie more important and t he downstream bund i s a spo i l bund. For tho semi-arid southern red
noila 0.2% longitudinal gradi ent was found to be effective, whereas for the Northern Himalayan foothills the gradients of 0.4 and 0.6~ were found
to be equally good (cited from
Das, 1974).
There are different types of structures; for removing excess rainfall from bunded area$ some of the common ones are given in t he book, Soil Conservat ion in India (Ram~< !leo, 1972). They are: 1. 2. ). prefabricate<! escapes dressed/undressed loose stone wastewe i rs with end p itching
ram~c~weir
5
6.
7.
4.
pipe outlets ringwell and pipe outlets ehannel weir

atone/briok masonry low drope/ohutea
- 26 -
5. 1 3
Paddy and non-pad.dy benoh terracing
In the llorthom llimalayu, paddy orops are raised on benoh t erraoee. There are also traditional irrigation syst...., using the hill atreama. In
the southern hills, namely, the Nilgiris, lying within the southern red soil zone, a syste10 of non-paddy benches has been developed (Lalcahmipathy and Narayenswamy, 1956) see Fig. 7. These benches are provided with a longitudinal gradient to drain into cross disposal drains. The vertical &pacing is determined by t he depth of the out available end froiD tile formula VI 2 (T- 0.15) m, where T is the depth of productive soil in llleters; VI, computed "" above, ie again tested with the minimum width vis-~vis the lend slopes end eue for farm operations (Lakahmipat~~ and Jlare.yansw811\Y, 1956). For effective runoff dispOsal as well as better moist~ro conditions, these benches should not be longer than 100 m (!las , 1974), whereas they can have a longitudinal gradient upto even 1\1\ under Nilgiri conditions (Kurian et al 1 1975). In the Northam Himalayan regions, non-paddy benches of the southern type are being introduced. However, due to heavy rainfall, e. more elaborate disposal system is being provided.
Ck> the steep Himalayan slopes, narrow benches are being oonstr\\Oted
to r~ise belts of orchard trees. Such benches are also recol!l!lended for r aising other plantation crops, and medicinal plants. 5.1.4 Develop!! low oolt benoh
te~!!s
Even though there is no substitute for bench terracing when growing crops on hill elopee, it is expeneive and initial orop yield ia low due to disturbance of the top soil. In order to obviate these dieadvant&Bes, benches could be developed over years behind graded barriers of grass, or earthen bunds or stone walls. A typical bench devel oped behind t he graded barrier of Tripee.cum laxwn is shown in Fig. 8 . In Kerala, benches are developed Qy putting earthen bunde with downstream pitching across
the land slope, whereas in the northern Himalaysn region, as well as in the low hills of t he eastern red soil region, benohea are developed by
building stone riser11 (Murti1Y, 1969).
5. 2
Vegetative Stabilization of Concervntion Mea.cures
All bund channel sections as well as the riser face of benche s are stabilized with grass. Qo locat i ons subject to hot winds Eucalyptus, and Eulalio2sis bin~ta grass or Ricinus coiii!Jtlllie are grown on bunde imd they provide an additional incollle over years bee idee servine: as wind breaks (Singh and Srivastava, 1973; Tejwani et al, 1975).
6.
CULLY AND RAVINE EROSION

This is pOssibly one of the most spectacular types of erosion . Ravines N!miBJ.ly ravap 8 000 ha throughout the country where approximately 0. 5% of the ravine catchment area is being eroded. Annual damage to the tablelands accounts for RB 40 million (Anon, 197aa). Gullies and ravines damage l and, habitations, roads, railways and other public properties , thus adversely affecting rural economy (Anon, 1976b). A t ypioal picture of gully erosion is shown in Fig. 9. They &leo provide shelter to unsocial elements causing law and order problems. The ravines are .mostly found along the rivers of Jamune., Ch&ll!bal, Sab&rmati, Mahi 1 Ownoti. and in the catchments of the Mayurakshi, KangasabaU in the eastern red soil region. Generally, ravines originate within a short distance of the river and
- 27 -
...'lr. ~-1
Fiff. 7
!lil gi.r i l' illu {pl4 oto P.K. Thomaa)
.... .. .- ~
'.
Bencl torreoin~ (non-paddy} in t he aout~orn red soil region ot' tl o
Fie;. 8
'
,.
"'
..
__,..
'
'
Developing non-p~ddy benol\ea alon11 t ho eraded strips of Tripa_ ~!". l'}.:X:'.'!' . on tl e elopes of t l e Nilgiri !-ills
- ?A -
near- or around t he eon'fl uoncea of h ;o channel f l ows . At a conservat i ve estimate, t he countcy is losing a total output of 3 mil l ion tonnes of foodgrains annually due to degradation of l and t hrough gullies and ravines (Anon, 1972a).
Fig. 9
Severe gully ing in t he oatchment of the Ma;yurakshi on highly erodible soils in eastern red soil region
6. 1
Fbrmation of Oullies and Ravines Opinions vary on the causes leading to gully erosion and ravine formation . The popular belief is that due to excessive exploitation of t he land b;y continuous deforestation, over grazing and faulty cultivation, gullies and ravines have fonned. Ahmed (1973), however, argues that in the areas where ravines ' are very severe there has not been luxurious vegetation in the recent past. The areas subjeot to severe gully erosion are located in western, central and eastern India and along the foothills of t he Himalayas. The difference in elevation of t hese areas ranges from nearoea. level in t he west to about 300 - 1 000 m in the east In t he foothills of the Himalayan region , gull i es are being ifo~~ at el evat ions
Copynghted matenal
as lli gh "" 1 COO - 1 300 m. The t ype of soils, rainfall received Md topogrnphioal features are alao considerably different in t he~e major regions where gully and ravines are found extens ively . Table 2 reveals that in t he ravines in western Indio., t he intensi ty ratio is 2.1 6 wl)ereas t he rilling hazard ratio is between ) .46 and 5 The bulk of the ravines in Central India are in t he Indo-Ganl!"tio alluvial region and have an int ensity r atio of 2 .04 and r i lling hazard rati o for ravinous areas as high as 7. A part of the ravine system in central India f alls in the black soil region aa well a.e in t he mixed red, black Md yol low soil region. In the latter region, t he rainfall intens ity rat io is 1. 8, , whereas t he rilling l>azard ratio ranges from 1 ,31 t o 6 .5. In tile red soil region of ea.st"rn India, wbere ravines are ver-.r conspicuous, t he intensity rat io is 1, 73 and t he rilling hazard ratio ie high, Ahmad (197 3) contends that t he incidence of gull y and ravine erosion is possibly due to ~ologic uplift . Roy and M i s t ra. (1969 ), from their field observationa, oonoludod t hat ravines are a function of depth of t he river and are invariably confined to the vicinity of rivers and tri butaries. Gull.v is a function of overland flow and therefore, of catchment characteristics alone, he:reas ravine is primarily a function of channel f101< and its ingress into the catol"'.ment . They hold t he v iew t hat the ravines proceed from tho rivor or tributBI'ies to t he agrioul tural lands.
6. 2
Treatment Considering t he complex physiographic background of the regions where gully and ravine eros ion are prevalent and t he involvfi\ment of soeio-eeonomic a.spects, attempts have been made t o take appropria-te t.tetion to control t hia eros i on arJ well as to restore the land to better land uce management. Tho earliest attempts were made in the erstwhile CMalior S,tate in 1919, there revenue concessions were granted to cultivators who would reclaim the ravines along the ChOIIIbal, (Rege !llld Yaeh Pal, 1973). In the post-independence years, the Government of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya. Pradesh took a number of pioneering- steps to control and reclaim ravines: along the Jamuna and Chambal (Anon, 1971b; Reg<> and Yash Pal, 1973). 6 . 2.1 Central gilot orojeots During t he .Fburth Plan, Pilot Projects were started in t he four major States covering the ravinous areas of western and cent ral India to develope suitable technology for reclamation and control of ravines for agriculture and hortictuture and for stabilizing deeper ravines. During the Fi ft h Pl.n, the Pilot Projects were extended to more locations to cover the varied physiographic and climatic conditions prevalent in the oatcl~nts of different rivers and al so to teat the feasibility of the technology as well as thtl viability of t he eeonomico of ravine control, reclamation and the stabilization programme, The entire concept for tackling this programme wae .outlined in the Report of the Working Group on Ravine Reclamation (Anon, 197?.) ; they examined alternatives, e. g. putting t he ravines under complete vegetation and recl ai ming them for agrioul tural purposes, and a. combined progrMI!Ie on a definite -terehed basic. The eonelus_ i on was t hat afforeotation alone or reclamation f'or agricultural purpos e a l one could not solve t he p roblem, It needs to be solved from t lle b.'leis of a watertJlled and from the tabl elands to the confluences of ravines forming a natural drainage syGtem . As a result, normal eo_ naerva.t ion measures, e.~. terracing, bWldi.'\8'1 etc. are being provided on t he tableland draining into the ravines. 'B-.! building periphery bunds and drop structures at t he gully heads, the i ngress of the gullies into the tablelands is being arrested while providing safe ways to take away t he runoff through t he ravine system. Shallow ravines, up to a deptll of about 2 m are being recla imed f or agricultural and horticultural ~urpooes where i rrie&t i on could be provided and cash crops grown (Fig. 10). Deeper ravines wit h eteep a i des a re being st abiliz~i with the help of vegetation and eng)neering structures o f various t ypes (Fig. 11 ).
- 30 -
Fi g. 10
Reclamation of ohallow ravinee f or agriculture with fiel d i rrigation channele along t he ChiUIIbal in t he mixed black, red """ ~11...- eoil t<lgio" (phot o Y. P . Bali)
Fig. 11
Ravines along t he Cllamba1
River, near Kota, i n the mixed bl ack, r ed nnd yellow s oil region . Deep tail gullies and ravines are bei~ put under
afforestation (photo Y. P . Bali)
Fig . 12
Controlling erosion and restoring eullied lands by creating small ponds and developing padd,y benot es in ti-e :..yur aksr i ""to~ment in t l e eastern red soil region
o ynaht
11
't 1 -
In t he eastern l'ed soil region aull icC. a rcac a.rc being r eclAimed by put t ing earthern et~ eekdatns in a t>eri eG or sin8l.Y to <levelo9 micro storage ponds (Fi g . 12). On t he dmmstrea:n side of t he stor"'), pa.dd,y benches are developed. Incidentall:r, this s,ystem ensures holding up most of the potential sediment in a zone where soils have a r illing hazard ratio as high as 21.00. The sys1em improves tle produotive capability o:f t he area Md t hus encourages considerable cooperation by t he people.
6.3
Performance of Treatment
The effect i veness of various treatments is beinr, tested. at research stations e.s wall as on t ho Pilot Projects. The combined package of pra.ctir,es on the wnterahetl basis l' o.ve , by and large, bCen f otmtl effective. In t he eas-tern ravines
engineering and b iological mensures increased rain >rater retention by ;;3'/. ( Singh and D aye.l cited from Anon 1 1 97~c). In >~estern as >~ell as central India t l> o system of treating ravine , ;atersheds Hith a combination of biolog ioal sr.d engineorinc mem;urcs e . g . raising f'uol foddor plantat ions, eonGtru.eting peri pherFll bunds . drop structures, etc . r esulted in a reduction of t he peak discharee a.s well RS soil loes over t he yearG. I -1ore information about d ifferent types of s truoturos, construction of bWlds, selection o f grasses and trees w hich have been found
suitable for the purpose, through experimentation nt resea.rc:b st ations, are
given in detail in an ICAR publioation (Tejwani et al 1 1975). Regarding t he econom i es of rav ine reclamation, an evaluation report on the U.P. showed t hat by reolaimin~ t he ravine areas for agriculture, yield could be increased by 16jl\ (Anon, 1971b), The analys is of the integrated proj ect outline<! in another report (Anon, 1972a) indicated that the annual direct benefit from tho eeven year plan for 330 000 ha would be at t he rate of 11.2% on t he investment. This project would create employment opport<mitiea to the tune of 339 million man days. The economic viability from the areas treate<l with grass, areas reclaimed for agricultural purposes and areas stabilized by afforestation, have also been analysed at ICAR research stat ions, It was observed t hat the investment in treating
gullies, including roelo.iming the D.Na.&, could
Qo
recovered within a period of
2-10 years (Toj wani et al, 1975) .

Ravines affect habitations, communications and the agrioulturel productivity of regions whore sizable populations are located. Any improvement measures for
the area, even on the basis of watershe<l, therefore require
the closest involvement
of tl1o people , i.e., beneficiaries, for the i r maintenance and appropriate follow-up
a.etiona not only in respeot of agricultural lands, but also in respect of the deep ravines which will be put 1mder f uel-cum-fodder plantations. If the areas are not treated with a view to providing appreciabl e economic returns to t he beneficiaries , any treatrr.ent is lilcely to meet with ultimate f ailure. On t he other hand, Kamnavar et al, 1975) obeorved that ~of the initial investment would be required for maintenance and to stabilize the treatment measures during the
f irst two years;
in subsequent years it would be nominal.
The cost of maintenance
could easi l y be met from t he sale of produee, such as grass, fire-wood, etc. from the treated area. Keeping t his in mind , the National Commission on Ag:rioulture recoiM\ended emphatically that t he economic cond itions should not l>e t he sole baeis in the reclamation of ravine lands. Poverty azul t he o bjective of ourbing t he activities of anti social elements s hould receive due consideration . Rnvine reel~ ation as such, ahould r-eceive national pri ority and investment should not be donied on account of an unfavourable benefit cost ratio (Anon, 19?6b).
- 32 -
7.1
Torrents T!:e problem of torren t erosi on, i n botl t he foot hills of t le no rtN>rn Himal a;\t> -'1 D nd. t~e north- ett.stern Himal ayan rcg-ior. 1 has Qeen inereacing. I n t ho f.'om~r, the t orrents a re popularl ..,. lo'to\m as el.os1 anct t l.G r a: t e of t he i r !)rogreee '" '" oe realised !'rom t i e <]:,.t o ~iven by K a.i t l; ot oJ., (1948 ):
13'2
1 1);)6
19 ' 9
for t he Jlosr.iru-pur d.ist riot of' Pun.iab alone
The lla.tional Commi ssion on Agrioml turo (19761>) oc sarved tl'a.t Ue devastation h;; cr os in t he Punj ab r-lon e is over 2. 5 million ha . Simil er inf ormation for t he nortl1 -ee.stern Himal ~~tan region i s not .a va.il n.hle .
Tl o m a.in e#).na e of t he problem i 6 tho higl runoff d own 1.r e li ll slopes >~itt he aV' J silt loeds t hat f i ll up t he c~annel beds t heNby reducing t1:eir capa~ity to earr ,y t ho runo ff and sediment. In oonsequenoe, the flow e)*ifte from t he original oourae. Tt>e prooe&s ie repeated many timea until VllSt at retchee of fert i 1 e 1 Md are c ries-crossed by ooureee swamped with coarse eechment s and detritus. 'l'l!e 'c)-.os' break u p ha.b itations, affect conununi,a.ti ons, e~ieulture. re c}; ~,rge: of s tall ow wells and other social amenities.
Tr e solution, 1 ies in regule.t int t he qu:Mtum of nmoff eoming down tle J-i ll s l opes and t he aeeompanyi ne; s i lt l oad (Pathak, 19 75). Treatments most tlerefore c over measu res in t Pe catchment to moderate the runoff peak and volume and to reduce the soil erosion and consequent silt load. The mai_n packa~ of amel i orative praot ioes i nclude aff orestation and gra.eeland dewlopment 'lit h trenching across the land slope and growing sgrioultureJ. Md hort ioul tural orops on terraced lands. As far as the main torrent is concerned, remed ies are: i, ii. control of grazing and deforestation ; protection of banks from erosion by providing marginal bunds at a reasonable d iatan~a from t he edge; for s ections su b ject to serious erosion, 'riprap or loose reta ining walls can be used; construction of rivetments, spurs and jetties to con~ine the flow and protect the bank from scouring. Training wl!lla, made. of flexi ble $ami-permanent materials, ~an also be used in a douolo line, parallel to t he banks, to facil itate settling of silt and growt h of vegetation; c onstruct ion of temporary or permanent struotu~s in seetions where t he gradient is steep, to f acilitate sil tation and t hereb,y stabilize t he grades. Fig. 1) illustrates some control measures.
i ii.
i v.
Certain plMts are suited to torrent control s o hemee, particularly t ho outsprouting types w~ ioh grow profusely near stre~ beds, e.g. Salix species, Vitex nugundo, Populus species , Arundo donaxt I2mea oomea, Jatropha. ourcae, Pennisetum purpureum (Napier) etc. A series of cheokdams ~e of tree logs, buttressed by ~rmanent o hoekdruns nt wide spacin~, t:an be ua(!ld to r,ontrol torrent s rushing down steep slopes. The torrent banks can be proteo:ted by pl anting t<o.tex-lovi.ng vegetation (Sin~;h et al , 1974 ; Tejwani ei al 1 1975 ).
- 3} -
Fig. 1.,
Torrent control by rivetments, with shell s t ructures supplemented by contour planting of Salix in the RMganga catchment of the northern atmal~an region .
7. 2
Stream Channel Erosion In t he Indo-Oanget i c alluvial and A ssam Val l ey regions, t he problem of stream ero sion is seri ous:& classic example is t he age-ol d ease of the f l ooding and shifting cou rse of tl> e r i ver Kosi, In U e process of building up inland deltas , t he Kos i i.aa s );if t ed over 167 km from eas t to west d" r ing t l:e period f rom 17'8 to 1964 (Anon, 1971!>). Tre cause of t hi s shift has been att r ibuted to tl;e enormous load of sancl >~l>iCP t he r i ver is unable to transport and unloads into t he main drainage channel. In 1941 , llr. C. C. lnl)liS, Director of t he Centra l Irril)"tion
and 1\ydr odynrunir. Re search S t at ion , ident ified t ho buil d up of t ho sub-mount ainoua
delta , by t he excess c harge of sand brougr.t from the hills, a s the main cause of t hi s shift. In subsequent years, attempt s were made to confine t he river course by constructing embanlanents . It la s been observed t hat though the river i s being kept confined >litt.in t he flood embankments, its nature of shiftin g its cour se has not c hanged at al l. Fbrmation of new 'chos' is going on wit hin t he embankments and t he river configuration changes every year after the floods (Anon , 1976d). The same story applies to stream bank erosion due to t he heavy s ediment load of t he r i vers dr aining into the Assam Valley . The National Commission on Agriculture has also recorded t he problem of riverine lands. Heavy sediment loads carried by rivers through steep slopes result in m eandering and serious bank erosi on; t his is especially ao wi t h r i vera originating in t he Himalayas. The Teesta i n the nort h-eastem Himalayan region 1 carries possibl y t he world's largest sediment l olld of about 98. 20 ha m/100 km2fyr (Gupta, 1975 ) . In the Indo-Gangetic all uvial and Assam Valley region, fertile areas witt. rlourishing crops, orchards , towns and cities are often destroyed .
Copynghted materi:JI
- 34-
These lt.mds aN known by variou" names in different parts of India, suoh as, 'k.hadar in northem India, 1 diara in central India. and 'ghar' in eastern India. The estimated riverine land is about 2.4 million ha in the Indo-Gangetic alluvial region alone. Such problem lllllds also exist along the 8-10 km wide streu bed of the Sutlej wr.ich was confined ~ raising embankments during 1962-65, as well as in the wide bed of the .Beas. Suoh lllllds, COGIIIonly lalown as 'rao', are &leo sizable in a number of bigger torrents. In order to utilize t hese wastelands profitably, t he fir et necessity ie to provide adequate protection from flooding during the high flow years. After this, soil con~ervation treatment& could be applied to improve conditions gradually fo r better land use management, There has not been much concerted activity in this respect yet. 7. 3 Torrent lllld Stream Erosion in relation to Flood Control The problem of 'ebos', s tream erosion and riverine lands needs to be viewed in conjunction with the problem of fl oods. From Fig. 2, it will be clear that the regions eubjeot to regular flood havoc are tl1e Indo-Gangetic alluvial, Assam Valley lllld Gangetio delta. The damage done i s largely due to the sediment brought down, from t ho hills. It is, therefore, necessary that the plan for controlling 'oboe' lllld other stream erosion should form !Ill integral co121ponent of fJ.ood control progrMIIlee. The current attempts t o control floods by protection etructures downetream need to be supplemented ~ lone-term catchment treatment measures. The expensive flood control structures on the Kosi river have not yet been successfUl in preventing s hifting of the river course and formation of deltas ><hicl> now threaten the very protection ernban.'<mentB (Anon, 1976d) , Banerjee and Lal (1972) reviewed the problema of flood and sedimentation of four major river systems, i.e. nortl~wastern rivers, Gllllga, Brabamputra and the peninmolar rivers. Considering the amount spent on flood proteot ion and the flood damage over the years, it can be observed that, while flood proteotion activity increases, losses due to floods paradoxically also inorea.B-e, Such is the ease even in a developed country 1 ike the USA, It al eo clearly shows that struotUNs downstream alone are not sufficient for the conditions obtaining. While acknowledging the important role of structural means, Ballerjee and lAl (1972) said t hat the following measures s hould also be taken: i) iarprovement of the oapaoity of channels to carry floods and improvement of drainage generally; ii) raising of low lying villages, and i ii) soil conservation work in catchments. There is a school which abaree t he view that high floode cannot be controlled or moderated by cater.ment treatment as the coincidence of the factors causing floods are beyond human control. There is no denying the fact that wrong land use, e.g., large-soale felling of trees or excesoivo 8'1'azing at higher altitudes, and 1msoientific cultivation of hill slopes, oontributes huee amounts of silt from t he watershed. Afforeetation on steep slopes and conversion of steep cultivated lands into l>enches in the NUgris (Region 9, Fig. 4} have, however, i ncreased the annual basin retention capacity of the eatct~ent by about 28 om (Raghunath et al, 1970; Das et al, 1975 ), In the northem Himaleyan region, at Chandigarh, 1"\lliOff' from degraded watershed was reduced by 54.2% by treatment with earthen debris basins, pondage banks, staggered contour trenches and at'forestation (Patnaik et al 1 from Anon, 1974), Another package of conservation measures in a watershed reduoed the sediment production rate from 80 t/ba/year over a decade (m> umbla, 1976). At llehra Dun in the same region, replacement of scrub forest by Elitcalyptus resulted in a < 0 and 77% reduction i n water yiold and peak respectively , while narrow base terracing (contour b\mding) reduced runoff peak by 40'.t (l~atbur et al, and Ram .Beby et al, from A:1on. 1974).
- }5 -
All t his demonstrates t hat the saturation of. watersheds requires a far greater input of conservat i on maesures , including amall hydrologic structures if pea.k floods are to be moderated, even w hen t hey are large scale. Therefore, it may be s&.id t hat by treatrnent in oat ohment s , floodn due to a 100 years' rainfall event could pos s i bly be moderated to t le scale of 70 or 50 years. :art t here are no dat a available to prov~ or t.l'i~ip rovo t hi a.
8.
B. 1
LJ\NDSLIDZS !llill RO!UlSDlll EROOIO!l
Iwdolides Landslides and s lips are a s erious problem occurring extens ively in t he northeastern And northern Hi malayan regi on . They generally represent a downward mass movement of earth and boulders and include soil creep, flowslides Bnd land slips. Landslides cause disruption of coiiii!Ullioation lines and transport, dislocation of public utilities, loss of land and buildings, siltation of roservoiro, cto. and loso of lif'e. Geology co" pled .ri t h high rainfall is t h e pri mary cause of Indian land slides . There are m any cau {;eS but tl'IO common phy sical ones a.re: instability of slope and inli<lequacy of draina~ i n t he slid ing mas s . Ho>~avar, t he de&ree of hazard is accelera ted t hroue.h defores;tat i on, over~azing and other human a.otivities, e.g. road building and mining materials from l: ill s l opes . 'i'he variou~ t ypes of l anu s l itleD and t heir oauseo have heen briefly described by Tej Hani et a l 1 (1 975 ).
0.1.1 Treatment
A e a.tollloent-based operational proj ect at Dchra Dun in t he northern Hime.layen region sl:owed t hat lan<l slides need to be controlled on the ba.aia of a \rell defined watershed, and treatment to t he alopine; areas as ell as ><ater courses needs to be provided in stages . Protecting t he watershed against biotic damage by a closure is often a necessity . To prevent toe cutting along the water course, retaining wo.ll~;: a.re constructed. To facilitate t he g:ro,rt h of vegetation, slopes are broken by contour \rattling, preferably >rith plant spec i es that OIUl be vegetatively propagated. These temporAry supports coupled with protection against biotic int erference provide condit iouc conducive to a natural suceecnion. The steeper s lopes e.re broken O,y stone retaining walla . In some of the sliding fe.cea, where moisture become s critical in the po stmonsoon season, the strA\ol mulching tied with t hin wires helps i n the establishment of ve~tation, Bes ides stabil izing t he earth :faces, it is essential to stabi lize t he sll'.all an well aa big water courses in t he watershed. 'l'he erosive gradients of t he main nater ooursen a.re rectified by a nericG of ohookdams and thei~ banks are protected from scouring by build i ng jetties and spurs. Small ones aro treated 1<ith a ser ies of log or crib oheckd~.ms or c hecks of live material, e.g. Napier, at close intervals (Fig. 14).
8 . 1.2 Select i on and establis hment of. vegetation
PlMt speci~s shoul d be selected wbi~h have a deep root system that will penetrate and bind the profiles together. Vegetation with shallow roota which is good for cover protection e.g. 1 Kudzu' (Pneraria hirsuta) , is not suitable in such sites. FUthei'IIIOre, 'Kudzu ie ag{tl"'''"'ive and eao'\bere other ~ypeii O veget~t ion which require. aome yeo.rs to eete.bliel> tl'>emselvee. WJ-en pl.,nting N&.pier or otll<tr vegetation that can be vegetatively propagated, it is more effective to plant it slanting, thereby ensuring greater sprouting for better anchoring on the ooil mass.
- 36 -
Fig. 14
Stabilizing torrents on hill slopee subjeot to landsl i des by a seri es of log and wire-erated (gabion)
checkdo.ms, m ulching and
afforestation at Debra Dun, northern Himalayan region

8, 1 . ~
Structure types and selection Rega.rding t he material for c heck dame, spure, eto . , a lot of experience has been gained . Field observatiops of t he rigid structures, in~luding RCC ones constructed along hi ll roade, have shown t hat often
t hey do not perform satisf'aotorily , mainl y due to seepage of we.t er t /lat
generates heavy pre ssure and ul timately oaueee their failure . be poor and a prope r foundation is difficult to ach ieve;
locations r igid struc-tures do not succeed either.
Also in
t he case of eheckdams along t he main water course, s ite condlt i ons may
in suoh
In addition , t he
accumulated sed iment behnd tile c heckdsms permit s large s cale seepage and tle removal of t ile seepa8') water from bel'ind t he c heckdsm is an absolute necessity . Flexible structures , e . g . wire-crated c~eckdams or reta ining walls, or checkdl'ms m ade of gabions endure better. They eM take differential sinking, stand l ocalized buling due to pressure of debris or water and permit t ~ e escape of accumulated water from behind
t he structure.
~rtl':ermore ,
if a gabion i s broken or dMlaged , it can be
repaired without reconstruction of t he entire structure .
The gabions and
such st ructures a.re m ade on c i t e by s emi- s killed labourers t hemselves
(Gupta and Dal al , 1967) . These s tructures a,re also becoming popular along mountain roerls wtd are commonly known as s ausage' structure ( Fig. 1<; ) .
For & mAlle r water cour se s , oheokdama m ade of wooclen logs o r loose stones or s l ttbP. o;m ::..lso act-ieve t l e sAme re sul t s .
Copynghted matcnal
- 37 -
Fig. 15
Sta.bil iz ing steep hill slopes tritl' ser ies of ' sausage ' >fire-crated bmdder retain ing alls in the Teesta ~atchment (Sikkim) in t l'e
nort t-e~stern Him alaya~
region
In the entire concept of treating land slides or slips t l>e key factor s are: i) treating t he catchment area and t te water courses toget her; ii) using vegetation and engineer ing structres in combination; and ii i ) preferring flexible structures to rigid structures and a system of
small ones t o a s ingle large one.
8.2
Roadside Eros ion Erosion along t he r oad or r ailwa,y lines i s a regular phenomenon as t he alignments cut across t he natural phys iography and thus disturb t he balance (Fig. 16) . The stabilization of a road or railway embankment takes some year s and witP t he construction of extensive road systems in t he plains as well as in mount ainous areas. t be problem , a. s become more acute . In the northern and
eastern Himalayan reg ion. erosion al ong t he cut and filled faoes of roads is
extensive.
Tile inadequacy of cross dr ainage structures often results in

formed, which
defective drainage of water and as n. result roadside gul l iea are
not only t hreaten t he st ability of the roads but also set in motion t he chain of severe erosion in adjoin in~ good cult i vated l ands, wh ich ultimately necessitates expensive remedial t reatment (Pig. 17). Erosion along railway lines is al so consi.derable . It differs f rom place
CoiMl.on measures
to place depending upon the amount of ra.inf'a.ll and type of' soil.
to check such erosion are turfing , pitching, retaining walls and even terracing t he slopee of t he fill section. To check erosion by meander ing r iver s wh ich t hreaten t he r ailway lines, protect ion is provided in t he form of guide btmds wit h pitched slopes, toe guards of 'sa. u sage' st ruct ure or concrete blocks , spurs and
revetments .
Arnone the local items, bamboo screens, bamboo bundlea and tri angul ar
permeable screens of bamboo a re used with great success . (Palit end Kapoor, 1975).
To prevent erosion along
cut faces catch-,..-ater drains . deep boulder drains, cross bunds, etc . are us ed
Copynghted material
'
- 30 -
Fig. 16 Roadside gully erosion in t he
l~yurakshi
eatohment, east em red soil region
Fitr 17
Gully ing along the road due to inadequate erose-drainage and stabilization, e . g. closuring , drop structures, earth bunds , a.f"foreat ation, in t he lttayurakeh i oatohment, eastern red soil region
Copynghtc>d matenal
- 39-
EROOION DUE TO SHll''l'DIO CULTIVATIW

Shifting cultivation or 1 jhuming 1 is practised mainly in the north eastern Him&la,yan region Olld marginally on other non-Himala,yan hills (Fig, 5). The practice, evolved over centuries, incorporates a mixed land use pattern appropriate to the physiographic remoteness and lack of oommunioation. This remoteness ha.e foro-ed the people to adopt a. system that is eelf-oontained and involves the Dtinimum number of itemo. The problem of 'jhuming' has engaged the attention of various agenci es for quite a few decades; the National Commission on Agriculture (1976c) cites about 19 references and thougl! these reports differ on many points, there is agreement that improvement in land use management in the area s subjeot to this practice is urgently needed. The latest estimate by liss Wadia (1975) indicates that about 2.7 million ha are af,feoted by shifting cultivation in the northeastern Himalayan region alone (including non-Him&la,yan hill ranges) and the average area cultivated by a famil y is 0.92 he.
To ""'et the exigencies of collective security and to adjust individual
needs and responsibilities via-8.-vis community ones, the system seemc to have served the people of the area remarkably well . The question does arise as to w ny it has become urgent to review t he effectiveness of this system, whioh has not only evolved in India under certain conditions, but also in many parts of t he world with similar conditions.
9. 1
Degradation Hazards Opinions differ on the associated hazards of soil degradation and consequent sodiment and flood havoc caused by the practice of 1 jhuming' on hill slopes. Some people hold the view tt.at shifting cultivation, lfhich does not involve ploughing and other intensive agricultural operations, does not di~urb the soil greatly. It is true that there are no system atic studies available to illustrate the sediment hazardo from the areas subject to shifting cultivation, In the paat when t he 1 j bUI!Iing' cycle wa.s long, about 20-30 years, it is possible tha.t there was no appreciable degradation of land or ecology; but t he cycle has now become as short aG 1- 3 years which does not permit any natural recuperation by the land, However, from Table 2 it can be seen that the area receives between 1 500 2 500 I!DD of rainfall and the slopes are, by and lerge 1 steep. The area is also s ubject to heavy landsl ides, accelerated ~ an intensive road development programme. Floods with a heavy silt load create havoc almost annually in the Assam Valley. To set aside any doubts, dat&. from the Maohkund catcl1ment (llo, 6 in Fig, 18) can be cited; it is close to the e~U~tern coast and aovers slopes .in the eastem Ghat , The entire area is populated by tribes who have practised shifting cultivation (looally oalled 'podu') for centuries. Sinee the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Soil Conservation was launched in the ~AO~~d catchment during the Third Five Year Plan, about 40% of the critically eroded areas !1 ave been treated up to 197~76 , and as e result, the siltation has fallen from 3 ,38 to 2. 51 ha m/100 km2/yr (Table 3). In addition, it can be ooncluded from field observation that areas subject to shifting cultivation become depleted of better flora and fauna over the succeeding cycles,
9,2
Treatment
To tackle this problem, Dhebar's Commission (cited from Anon, 1976c ), suggested that a coordinated approach be taken to prov ide employment opportunities in forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry and industry for at least 300 days in a year. This needs to be examined within the background of multiplicity of voeationn and t he rising aepirati ons of the people of the area to adopt better vocations and a higher standard of living with the opening of the area ~ a
- 40 -
Tl'lble ? SEDDl.ENT PRODUCTI<l! MTES VIS-A.-VIS SOIL CQISERVATI<li liORKS HI A Flll SELEC'r ED RIVER VALLEY PRO.TEC1' CATCHf.!J!liTS
llo. Reservoir Catchment
Cetchment area
1 000 lla 56 87 000 Total
Sedimenl Produ~}ion Rate ha m 100 km ;rr Assumed Original Reduced ( Yoar) (Year)
1.
Jlhakra biaitl10n DVC Panohet DVC
37 160 (within
India:)
4.28 1.62 2. 47
3. 57
8 . 38
6.14 1},10
10.30
2.
521
9('.1
1). 4) 13.32
3.
4. llo.ohktmd
195
3. 38
2,51
m o<lern oommtm ica.t i on system and t he introduction of ourrenoy. Therefore, it nrust be earot\tll,y oonnidered >thet her t he same f=ily , 11 ho may >tant to aend some if i ts members for education and other vocations, will be in a position to cult ivate or manage larger areas ~<it h the labour available without subetantial support from i mproved inputs, euoh ae irription, fertilizer 1 better seeds Md appropriate tools, implem ents and machinery, Tbis integrated development is bein,~ tried on a pilot scale in t he north east<Om Hirr.ala.yen region >~here a famil y is being provi ded with a hectare of i rrigated land and another hectare of dr J la.. '1d Hit l> additional support for r ai s ing !)rofitable forest, l:orticulture or other plantation crops . To in1prove the ability of f!llllilics to man~ these enhanced a.reas, demonctrationa. e.re being given on t he use of appropri ate tools, implements and mc.ohinery . Considering t he levol of present development, big trnctorc or equipment cannot be i ntroduced in t hese areas to bring c.bout P.r. agricultur<ll revolution within a short t ime: the process has to be gradual and in et~e. To begin >ritl1 , t he large number of indigenous tools s hould be studied and,
i'f f oun<l ouitnbl o, their decians irnpt"Oved.
The otorage bin, aimilar to t hat
which bas proved useful in the Punjab , >rinnO>ting and t hresh ing maehines ma.y be
of inlnediate use.
Unless the 'jhumias ' or s hifting cultivat ors ean be weaned from t he practice by a proritable alternative vocation suiting their eooi~ultural background, tl:e probl em eNmot bo solved. A."!d if t hi s goal oannot be achi eved, t he direct objective of reducing erosion and consequent sedi mentation accompanied by heavy floods cannot be fulfilled either.
10.
SOIL CONSJ:."RVATltll IN TilE C.'YrCJOOM OF RIVER VALLEY PROJECTS
India has been b1ti l ding U!' her irrigation and 1\)'dro-electric potential steadily over t he yearn. These proj ects ere mostly multipurpose , The s i tes of t he reservoirs are t he gift of nature and t herefore not profuse in nUinbers. The !)rojeots provi de >rater for irrigating the downetream areas and thereby increase agricultural produc tion. The stored water iG also used to generate electricity f or developing industries and intensifying agric1~ture . It is , t herefore, essent ial that t l:e reservoi r oapa.city created al:ould be preoerved as long as possiblB. Even t hot'8i1 allo>rsnee hac been made for unavoidable sediment flowing wi t h the wator, t he rate of sedimentation in most of t he reservoirs has been ver,y high;
Copyrighted mater al
41 -
a few of examples can be seen in Table J. The sediment production rates of some of the multipurpose reservoirs at present range f rom 2. 5 to tO ha m/1oo m2/yr (Gupta, 1975); he also draws attention to t he higher oilt load of Himalaynn riverG than non-Himalay6n ones. 10.1 Effect of Sedimentation
Tl-~e a.eeelorntcd sedimentation of the reservoirs has, in man_y .-:::aaes, already affected the irrigation potential created, Fbr example, in Ni2amsagar reservoir the present oapaoity of t he reservoir is 338 million m5, agninst the initial 896 million m3, With thi s loss of capacity, t here i s not enough water available to irrigate t he designed oomand area of 110 000 ha for growing sugarcane and paddy, The la.ek of supply of sto~aroMe has already t hreatened t he functioning of sugar factories including that of t he Bodhan Sugar Factory, t ho largest in south east Asia (Subn Rao, 1974). FUrthermore, sediment comine from the oatohment i s degrading it at a fast rate, t hus reducing the all-round productivity.
10.2
liatershed Approaeh The problem of preservinz- t he reservo i r s i e combined with improving productivity in the catchment area. and j:)roserving the existing productivity of t he command area. Realizing a nomplex nature of t he problem, a scheme was launt::hed during the Third Five Year Ple.n to treat a few of the oatohmenta in t he r i ver valley proj ects. To date, t his scheme is operating in 30 such catehme.n ts (Fig. 18), which cover an area of about 79 ba ear>h and almost all types of erosion and conservation problems are present in t hese oatc}Jnents, Because of obvioul< tinanoial eonetrainte and lack of technical persoMel, it is impossible to treat . all areas immediately and 1 indeed, it may not be necessary to treat all of them to prevent considerable sedimentation of t he reservoira and degradation of t he catcP~cnt, A priority survey i s being conducted by t he All-India Soil and Land Us e Survey of the Government of India to ascertain the critical areas of degradation in t hese catct>.ments. The methodology developed takes into considerat ion the erodibility of s oils , topography , veget ation, c hannel system, status of erosion 1 eroaiveness of the climate a c well as t he proximit y of t he watershed to t he reservoir o r main tributaries draining i nto the reservoir (Bali and Karale, 1973 ). From t he area surveyed eo far in va rious catchments, it appears t hat about 15% of the le.nd can Oe considered a s hic;hl y critical and s hould be treated imcdiat.ely. S"ch a reas e.re be ing i dentified "" aonal l watersheds having a national treatable area ranging from 2 000 to 4 000 ha,
The m acro plans are drawn up first on t he basis of su~atchmont/su'b-basins and t hen more detailed micro pl ar.s are prepared f or small watersheds or s ubwatersl,eds within t he sub-catchment/sub-basin, although, t he actua l i mplementation of works should proeeed from t he mi cro level, i.e. on the bat; is of watershed/ cub-watersheds . This helps ut i lize t he available resources to the maxunum, and aeeommoda tes inevitable c hart&"S ocourring w b ile plann i ng detail s or even while implementing t he plan.
10,)
Implementation of t he Programme During the Fifth Plan, about 240 sue! watersheds are receiving saturation treatment, i.e. remedial measures for all t ypes of land and associated drainage nystomo. Tho rnottsurG& for treating 48J"ieultural la.nd oompris.e bunding, bench terracing and grassed waterways and sometimes ponds, non-agricultural lands are provided \oli t h elooures for restric t ing grazing, afforestation and grassland development, Oul lies and stream bank erosion are treated with structures, periphery bunds and vegetative measures. In extremely degraded l and, contour dyking and ditching is done to improve soil and moisture conservation, also enclosures are built for regeneration of grass and s hrubs. Sediment trap basins
.,.
Fi Q. 18
.,
.,.
...
RIVER VALLEY PROJECT CATCHMENTS COVERED BY CENTRALLY SPONSORED SOIL CONSERVATI ON SCHEME
...
~ .
;) H
PJt a
rl S
RA
,..
S.No. -~CA~:t'~C ~H!!!M !!:E~NT.!__
1 2 3 4 SUTLEJ ( 8 HAKRA ) RAMGANGA MAYURAKSHI KANGSA8ATI D. V. C MACHKUNO SILERU HIRAKUO TUNGABHADRA KUNOAH CHAMBAL OHANT IWAOA GHOD NAGARJUNA SAGAR NIZAMSAGAR POCHAMPAO
S.N o.
17 18 19
CATCHMENT
8EAS
MAHI
LOWE R BHAWANI MATATILA UKAI DAMAN GANGA PAGLA01A RENGALI MANDIRA TAWA TEESTA GIRI - BATA SUKHNA LAKE GUMATl SONE
20
21
...
T. H. M.
.. TftiPVJl..
- lrfAGA l. AN O
S
6 1 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16
Mll OI UM
,_ AN IPU ft
- N(GH.!_AYA
22 23 24
25
..
~
MGL.
26 27
28
1:.--------=-------~-------:::------=..7$0 aoc . ,.
...
29 30
...
Fis. 19 Sediment detention t 8J\ka in
~<atershed
of the Damodar Valley
Corporat ion, eastern red soil region
Fie;. 20
Good vegetat i on restores t ile oro<tod l andscape owing t o bett er aoil and mo istur e condi tion o created by sedim ent detention tanks - Damodar V a lley Corporat ion , eaatem ro<t ooil region
- 44 -
on upstream 11.J.tershed c are construct ed to hold s ed i ment, reclaim b:.u.l.ly eroded l and an<i improve t he all rowt1i moisture cond ition (F'i~. 19 ); t hey a.lao moderate f loods and recharce B'l"'undtra.ter (Bhurnbla , 19 76 ). These oma.l l ponds help in reclaiming do\mstrenm land f or paddy cul tive.t ion and can be us ed for i rri gation t oo; they a l so provide condi tions condueive to t hQ grotrth of batter troes :md other vegetation ( F'ie. 20). The eff ectiveness of the scheme ie reviewed from time to t i me and in a number of cases Hhere it has been in operation for a considerable time there is an i ndication that sediment production rates are falling in spite of t he faot that the areas treated were not very large (!las and Kaul, 1976); this is also evident f rom Table 3, However, the pace of tho conservation progrSillllO needs to be accelerated considerably in order to reduce sed i mentation rates below the pcrmioo ible onee qui c kly, t hus increasing the useful li:(o of the r-aoorvoirG.
10. 4
Catchment Area Authorit.;

It has been \'lell established t hat , /hat ever t he t ype of erosion or conservation hazard, t he source area as well as t he affected problem area must be treated together. Thus, irrespe ctive of t he type of erosion, the planning and implementation has to be on the basis of a natural unit, i.e. a watershed or catchment. The solut ion does not only oover protection and stabilization, but also its continuing effectiveness through appropriate maintenance and f o llow-up practices. This i s poss ible <hen the beneficiaries are involved i ntimately in managing the treated land by a jud icious land use plan whioh gives sizable direot and indirect benefits (Bhumbla, 1976 ). Considering this v i tal need , catchment area development authorities are being constituted for different catchments in different States embarking on d evelopmental activities in an integrated manner on a catchment basis.
11
COASTAL EROSI(}I India has a coastline of 5 700 km, along the east and we st (Singh, 1971) where sea and wind erosion ca..IBe p roblems in certain places, especially during the monsoon. The various stretches eubjeot to erosion are shown in Fig. 5 The problem is acute in t he north o f the eaot coast and the southern port ion of t he west. Littoral drift at about 1 million tonnes h u been observed to be north-east durine; the south-west monsoon, and south-west during the north-east monsoon at about 0.25 million tonnea; this leaves a net northern drift of 0,75 mill ion tonnea/year. T'nis infonnatian relates to Pondicherry only (Deivaein~, 1975 ). The are& effocted is rougHy between 50 and 80 thousand krn2 (Anon, 1 976b ).
11 ,1
Treatma~t
50 :;;ear e ago , F-reno)\. engineer s , for t he first time, built a ve rtical coas t al Hal l t o safeguard t he t er r i tOr ,/ in ?ond ioherr;y, hut even t t;~o decades ago, t he sea i n Pondioherry uns about 400 m from its !)resent position. Ovor t he years, t he follold?i~t.!' measures J~a.w been taken t o c heck t he problem of sea. und ,rind erosi on aJ.oncs t he coc.st :
I~.1>out
1. 2.
creation of' protective sea t-re.lls \'Jhereeve:r e s sentia.li ple.nta t i ona o!~ c asuttr inn. on t he sandy f orcel,ores, but tressed by inland !)l antc:t ionr;;: o.f c.n.r Jcunu.t, euca l yptus M et coconut.
The No.t ional Commis Bion on Ae;ri m.l t ure ( 1976 ) rec ommended a aimil ar tochniql<o,
4 ') -
In oerta.in oookcts along the \test coact, i'ort ile lMcls are in1.mdated. by sea
water; special attention should be paid to the prevention of sal t water incursion throusth appropriates drainage and proper follow-up and. maintenance works to enable the growing of profijable erope. A oo~po~ite treatmant for thooe lando hae yet to be evolved.
12. IUJiD EROS! ctl
A vecy nizable portion of India comprisi.!'lg' semi-arid and ari d regi ons is subject to vary ing degree a of wind erosion; the area is sh01m in Fi g . 5 and it includes the desert of Ra jasthan, t he Runn of Kutch , coastal areas in the south and contiguous areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It also extends deep into t he Indo-Ganget io alluvial, black soil and sout hern red soil regions. In tho early 1950s, it was estimated that the desert had been encroaching upon adjoining lands i n Uttar Pradesh and llar:tana at t he rate of 0.8 km/year and that for the last 50 yearc the encroachment wan estimated to be n 000 ha. There may be differences of opinion regarding the marching of the desert 1 but the damage done by blowing eand-laden winds to the adjoining lands cannot be ignored . The great Indian desert in reality does not fulfil t he ueual idea of a desert - a great ctretoh of sand, a tract entirely devoid of streams with few rooks and a large number of sand hills. The Indian desert contains a subatantial number of flora; ite population, though thin compared to many parts of India, is considerable and it has large herds of camel, sheep, goats, etc. (Blanford cited from Misra 1967 ). The air over this region oontains a quant ity of precipitable moisture comperable with
that of many other locations in t he oountry with a less severe envil"onment. It
eould therefore, be said that, apart from the continuous interaction of meteorol ogical, geological and ~~rologioal changes over the centuries, for which evidence is available, the desert condition has definitely been accentuated by the activities of mM. The arid land of Oujarat 1 particularly the Runn of Kutch, on the other hand,
has the twin problems of excess salt and an acute shortage of f'resh water.
The dispersion ratio for desert soils ranges from 33 to 83 and that for Xuteh is 65 {Table 2), "hich indicates their high erodibility.
12.1 Appro.ch to t he probl em
Considering the inherent limitation of precipitation and high t emperature, it may not be possible to d.e velop the greater part of the region to the oxtont t hat i t can provide a sizable area of intensive agriculture, in spite of the fact that the Rajasthan Canal scheme is bringing a total c hange in environment to a port ion of the desert. For the reet of the area, in the future, the solution need s to be ba sed on principles applied to arid zone development. Any programme planning
should take the follot4ing into cons idera.t ion:
i.
reoources in the great Indian de sert area muat be manag ed under arid
and semi-arid condition and not under the extreme l i mitation of
desert nonditions i
ii.
a. l i veatook-cum-a.gri culturfll economy prevailed in the region f or ages and still, in spite of the advancement of technology, will hold t he
key for any sustained solution; t hereforQ, graasland or pasture
development will play a very important role;

iii. the del i ca.te environmental bulAnce ntJedu to btJ re u1w rcd t\nd .,et.yu t\nd
means ound to prevent frequent d isturbance of t hiD delicate balance.
- 46 -
12.2
Treatment
An integrated desert development technology in being developed by the Central
Arid Zone Researoh Institute a.t Jodhpur to ta.ckl e the problem. The main thrust is on stabilization of sand d~mes, afforestation , raising of wind breaks and shelterbelts 1 and cont our bunds and stubbl e mulch .farming. Work on development of water harvesting techniques i s also in progress. Among the plants becoming effective in the Rajasthan desert and adj oini ng area" are t>ea.cia tort i lia (Kaul , 1970), Eucalp!!tus species, Aoaeia nilotica, Dalbergia Ginsoo and grasses like Cenchrus ciliaris, c. setigerus Lasiurus aindicus and Di chantlliUI!I annulatwn (llh imaya et &1 1 1'%8). The techni que of otabilizing sh ift ing sand dune s by afforestat i on consists of: ( i ) protection against biot i c interference, ( i i) treatment of sand dunes by f i xing materials in parallel stripe or oheea board design using local shrub materials and starting from the crest dotm to the heel of the dune to protect seedlings from exposure or burial , and (iii) affores tation of such treated dunes by direct seeding and pl anting (Knul, 1970) . Along t he coast in the southern red s oil region, t here are t he problema of ooaGtal sand dunes and cons iderable wind erosion . Here, sand chme f i xation and prov i sion of ~< ind breaks are the common practices. T'ne species usually used are Proeopi a julifl ora, Azadiraohta melia, Acacia nilotica, Cacuarina equisetifolia, Jatropha speci es, etc. (Sivaoundaram, 157).
- 47 -
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1964
Anon. 1966
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An eval uation of ravine reclamation programmes in Uttar Pradesh P.R.A.I., U.P.,

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IC-~,
1974a
Anon . New Delhi.
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Anon.
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Anon .
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Anon. 1975
Anon.
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1976a
Anon.
1976b
Anoh . 1976c
of the ~Iinist~ of
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CormJi s s ion on Agriculture, Part v. ~iculture and Irrigation, New Delh i .
Cha~ter
17 and 18 .
MinJ.atry
Report of the !~at i ona l Commi s s ion on Agriculture, Part IX Chapter 42. o f Agriculture and I rrigation, New llelni .
Anon.
1976d
1973
Kosi pro jeet and i t & ach i mrcment . llote prepared by Irri gat i on Md 1!. 1 ectricity Departmentt Government o:t' Bihar, Patna . Soil &-osion in India. Asia Publist> ir:g House , Bombay .
Ahmad, l!hayat .
Bhattacharya, J .c. Sr-Qaion studiev in late ric area& of 1957 Sc i . 5 (2): 103-10 [!.
H.n.
J . Ind. SQc . Soil
- 4G -
Bhim a.ya, C.P.t K aul, R.N . and A huja, L.D .l"orage, production a.'"td utilization in arid and s emi-arid ran~ lands of Rajasthan. Proe. Symp. Reclamation and Use of Wastelands 1968
in India, National Institute of Sc ience, New Delhi, 216-223.
Bhu.mbla, D.R. Soil conservation in s iwal iks. Indian Faming; March , }lew Delhi.
1976
Bal. i , J.s.
1969
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1975
Director, Economies and Statistics, North Eastern Counci l Secretariat, Sl>illong.
- "1
'
Paper No. 2
TRADITIONAL FQRMS OF LAND USE IN RELATION 'LO SOIL EllOSION by Anthony Young University of East Anglia, Norwi ch, Englam
1,
IN'I'ROWCTIOJI Many of the relationships between traditional land use and soil erosion are, as generalizations, widely known. There can be few students who, on being required to write upoa the topi c , would not instantly produee the statement that methods of shifting cultivation, if continued u,n ehanged under i nc re<tBing population pressure, wil l lead to soil degradation ~I ultimately erosion: or that postoral nomadism, with grazing land C01111Dl1!1&lly owned 1 ie nowadays allllOat invariably accompanied by vegetation degeneration and often also erosion. Equally well r ecognized is the role or insecure tenancy in removing the incentive for soil improvement and conservation. Yet these statements, whilat they may be over-generalized, are nonetheleaa very true and indeed are &ol!l& <>f the most important things that can be said upon the subject . In contrast with generalisations, case studies are comparatively few and mostly descriptive. Many contain accounts, maps and often spectacul ar photographs of the nature of the erosion. Only few inolude meuurements of its rate on actual farmed lands, as opposed to experimental plots (Rapp et at , 1972, is a noteworthy exception). But few go into depth about the technological, economic and institutional eondi tions tllat have led to the onset a.nd continuance of the erosion. In part, tbe gap between natural and social scientis ts may be hel d responsible for this deficiency, in part the political sensi tivity of studies of such a type.
So in approaching this reviev, one encount ers on the one h3nd, Q body of received trutbo, aver-generalized but fundamentally correct; and on the other, a l ack of case etudies which encompass the whole range of the problem for it is indeed broad, starting from the tech~eal aspects of erosion resistance, extending through lan:i management practices and economics, and reaching into questions of l ard. tenure and ultimately politics.
Two terme in the title call for interpretation. Under "tradi t i ona.l" I include not only l ong-established practices that continue relatively unaltered but also the modifications of them brcugbt about by popu~ation pressure and other modern changes, "Land uae11 is taken t o incl ude both t&chnolo~, e.g . c ropping systeiDS, and social or institutional aspects, notably land tenure. To do otherwise would be neither realisti c in the forroer case nor useful in the latter. Two com:non forms of land tenure i!'l the deve loping w orld aro excluded as not traditional: plantations and state farme. Forme of cplle cti~e lar:w:i ownerkhi .? found i n sot:ial ist countries are, howevert inc luded, fo.r they are a modern adaptation of traditional l aro \lee and some expli cit l y i ncorporate features of early types of communal responaibility. 2. TRADITIONAL LAND USE
Types of lani Ube ca.n be olaooified by~ wide rlU\~ of criteria~ these f!.re listed, for example, in the methode fo r descri ption of a land utilization type as set out in the FAO Pramework for land evaluation (FAO , 1976) and i n the International Geographical Union TypolOQ of world a,?,riculture (Kostrowieki, 1974). Given the restriction to traditional uses in developi ng count ries, certain features are common to a ll or moat of the types: small farme (or, i n communal holdings, low land per capita), low incomes, a l ow degree of mechani zation and, often, of co~uerciAlization.
'
- 52relation to soil erosion: technology of use, ar>l lar>l tenure. Under are included types of crops or other produce together with lar>l use intensity; ur>ler lar>l tenure, all traditional ar>l legal i nstitutioras ~ir.h control rigbte to the use of lam, the provision of inputa to it, and the benefits from its production. Tables 1 and 2 show uses classified separately by theae two eriteria. In the classification by technology (Table 1), annual cropping includea both cereal and root-based ayetema, usually tho former in the savannas and the latter in the forest aone. These are subdivided according to intensity of cultivation, using the limiting valuee of Rutheriburg (1971). Semi-permanent and Perftanent cultivation eyetea~~ may include supple11entary livestock ; a claaa of mixed cro)>-liveatock farming io included to cover eyatemo in which livestock ia an essential eo11ponent, e.g. smallholder dairying in upland ICen.ya. Since plantation~~ are by detinition excluded, perennial croppi ng refers to cultivation of perennials by smallholders, usually in association with subsistence crops (e.g. oil palm/cocoa with yams/sorgnu.m/plantaina iD West Africa, rubber with rice in llalayeia). SyeteiiS dominated by ewMip rice cultivation are for convenience grouped under irrigated agriculture: a further class of smallholder i rrigation covers areas eueh as the llixed eropping based on wbeat in the Punjab. Both claseeo of i rri gated agriculture contain, however, their own n~echaniei'DS for prevention of erosion and will not be further considered. Pastoralism is di vided into the "110st tradi tiona!" form of total nomadism, and the nowadaye 1110re
common semi-nomadism in which at lept part of the family renaains static for part of
Two criteria are of greatest
l ~portance in te~hnology of use
the year and there io supplementary cultivation. Where pastoralism beco~~&s fully sedentary, and cultivation an essential component, we reacb by a different route the mixed crop-l i vestock farlling listed under annual eropping. Pastoralism could be furthe r subdivided according to intensity of etocking, as hectares per livestock unit.
In relation to later discussion of erosion, it is relevant to make some comments on how the actual situation today differs from the stereotypes of older textbooks.
Fi rst, sb.ifting cultivation is fast giving place to aemi-permanem and pertJta.Dent cul tivation. 'lbia change took plac e long ago in the Deccan of India ar>l baa occurred in this century in 111an.y parts of Afri ca . I believe that much of the )6 million square kilometres of land recentl y l i eted as under shifting cultivat i on (FAO, 1~74, pp. iii,l) has an R factor over 30 percent, and no emall part is under quesi- permanent cultivation. I now teach atudente that the "normal" form of agriculture in the savanna zone ie per~nent annua l cropping, and that in many countries shifting cultivation ia a rare survival, deserving to be listed as a tourist curi osity! A second comment ie that the ~textbook" view that cultivating peoples do not own cattle, and vice versa, is vrongi no\ only in India but commonly in Atri ea the eultivatore, or at least the slightly better off among them, possess cattle, often herded commnnally. Thirdl7, a state of semi-nomadism to sedentary orop-liveetock farming ia steadi l y replacing (if not without oppoai tion:) the 'wandering nollad' ; the Fu.lani of Wea1; Africa provide ex~ples of all etaps in the transition.
'!'able 2 ahowe traditional lar>l use classified by form of land te1111re. 'l'he primacy division ie i nto priva te ownership, tana.ney and COillllllnal ownerehip (plus the non traditional" state ownership). 'l'he main form of private ownerhip is the family farm (also called owne~coupier and peasant smallholder). The latitu.ndi a, or large estate worked by tenants, is characteristic of Latin America and so given ita Spaniah name: it ia "traditional" by virtue of four centuries' etanding. Tenancy is divided according to whether landlords receive a fixed cash rent, a period of labour (as com;uonly on latifundia) or a share of the crop. Under eollllllllllal ownership, co10110n land refers to land which may be nominally held by the state but which in practice is open to a wide range of usere ard the responsibility of none. Vi llage ownerehip refers to the system often found in Africa in whi ch ownership is vested in the chief, heaiiman or village council, and this authority allocates rigbte ot' use to iohnduale. Collective ownership refe rs to village-based syetelllB involving COIIII1Wlal working of the land, w hich are the standard form of tenure in communist countries and oeeasionally found , 8s owner-cooperatives, elsewhere.
- 53 -
Table 1.
CLASSIF'ICATI <li OF LAll.D U5E Til llEifB;LOPIJIC COUFITRii*l BY TECIB.JOLOCY OF USE
Non-tradit i onal t ype s in bracket s. R = ~~ears cul tivnt ed / yeara in t he oul~ivation-fallow cycle , expresoed as a percentage (Ruthenburg; 1971)
.AllliUAL C!lOPPI!ill
SHIFTING CULTIVATION SEMI-PERMANENT CULTIVATION PERMANENT CULTIVATION

IIIXED CROP-LIVES'roQ( F'A!DII!ill
R .:30
R
R
3G-70
'1'70
PEREIIlUAL CllOPPI!Itl
ASSOCIATED WITH SUBSISTENCE CROPS ( COJOO:RCIAL MOlJ:ICULTURE}

SWAMP RICE CULTIVATION OTHER SMALLHOLDER I RRI!lATIOI'I
IIOMADISM
SEMI -NOMADISM
IRRI!lATED A!lRICULTURE
PAS'roRALISII
( RAIICHII'IG)
Table 2. Claeaification,of l and tenure in developing oo~ntries
Non-traditional types in brackets.

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP F.AJIILY FARM
LATIPUNDIA (ESTATE)
(PLANTATION} CAS!! REJIT
LABOUR TEJIAliCY
COMIIJNAL OW!IERSBIP
SHARE CROPPING COMI()N LA!ID

VILLAGE LAND
COLLECTIVE (STATE OWNERSHIP)

(STATE FARM)
- l:ji! -
Maey of the stereotypes, such as the indebted share-eropP<>r or the i NOecure tens.nt, are regrettably still true, notwithstanding efforts of governments to change them. Two co~,ents on the standard picture may, however, be made. First, it is wid ely found that the village ownership system is giving place to a situation approaching freehold , the r~ange being associated with the transition from shifting to permanent cultivation. The "ri~t to cultivate" nowadays often covers the same plot of lam throu~out a lifetime, and is retained on transfers through marriage am inheri tllllce. There ia de facto security of tenure, the main difference from freehold being absence of the right to sell l and. Secondly, the frequent association of this same system with grazing land held and used communally by the village may be noted, for it has important consequences .for erosion. The number of combinations of technology and tenure is considerably less than the theoretical 72 poss ible by combining Tables 1 and 2, since ~ types of technology are linked with s;retems of tenure. Moreover , where areas as a whole are being considered, as opposed to individual fariDS, private ownership is nearly always mixed wi th tenancy. Some examples of co~binations are given in the discuesion of erosion below.
3. RELEVAll'l' ASPECTS OF SOIL EHOSION
As a basis for relating erosion to land use, it can be noted first, that erosion is frequently preceded by degradation, of soil, vegetation or both; secondly,
that eroaion ~be continu.ous, eausing daJZ~a.ge over a period of yeare (often sheet
erosion), or catastrophic (often gullying): and thirdly, that we are concerned both wi tb. the prevention of erosion and with remedial measures where it has already occurred. Given this basis, soiD8 aepecto which should be taken into account when studying a given la~ use system in relation to erosion may be expressed as a sequence
of questions:
a.
Fact finding. Is there oatastropic erosion taking place?
Is there continuous
erosion, at rates believed to constitute a danger of soil degradation? If so , is

adequate action being taken to prevent i t? If the answers to either of the firnt two questions above are yes, and to the third
no, then an erosion hazard exists. area concemed is "cleared".
If there ia found to be no serious erosion, the
b.
Recognition. Is the existence of an erosion hazard, and the need for action, recognized: (a) by farmers, or other land users? (b) by government?
Ir recognized by government but not by land users, then a campaign of education
of users is called for. If not recognized (or not admitted) by government, then other than by representations there is little hope of progress. I f both users
and government aocept there is a problem, then an erosion hazard is recognized.
c.
Reasons for inaction.
If an erosion hazard exists and is recognized, but there
is present ly no or ins uf ficient action taken to control itt what are the reasons? These may include, in varying proportions, the following:
i.
Lack of techn i cal knowledge. lf this is the main reason, i t i s a simple one on which to act, calling for tec}mical assistance. I t ie almost invariably the case nowadays t hat appropriat e and suff icient technical measures for control o f any kind of erosion are known. Lack of finance. Where t his is the main reason t he eolut i on is again straightforward, l y ing in financial aid for conservation m easures, to farmers or government organizations. In this respect a difficulty may be to just i fy investment of scarce capital in erosion control , rather than in development measures which show more immediate returns. Action is not in the perceived interests of users. In developing count ries
ii.
iii.
users frequent l y treat land resources on a s hort-term basis, sometimes by force of necessity. If it i s indeed in the best interests of the present
land users , say over 10-20 yeare 1 to cheek erosion , then an education/ public i ty programme may help. In addition, however, there will almost certainly need to be action at government level. iv. Institutional block. This refers to matters d i scusses above, whereby for reasons associated with tenancy, communal ownership, or other institutional or social factors, responsibility for care of soil resources lies wi th different individuals or groups than those who derive immediate benefit from t heir productivity. This m~ often be associated with reason no. 3. It ie likely to prove t he hardest reason on whieh to act, since l&nd :reform and/ or l egislat ion m~ be needed.
LARD USE Ali"D EROSION: SOKE EXAMPLES.
A few examples may be taken, combining the technology of land use with l and tenure and commenting on their relation to erosion. These are type-situations rather than case studies. Semi-permanent cultivation of anpual crops under communal v i llage ownership, with supplementary livestock grazad on village common land . This is a widespread situation i n tropical Africa. For""'r shifti ng cultivation has given pla.ee under population pressure to semi - perllllnent cultivation (and in many areas per1110nent cultivation also ) . Soil degradation, especial ly loss of organi~ matter, ie probably widespread (although there ie a eerioue lack of information on this). Over large areas. simple management measures such as contour ridging have t o-date been suffi cient
- 56 to prevent catastrophic erosion. There is certainly sheet eroaion, although we do not yet know whether it is at rates w hich ought to be regarded as serioua. Severe
erosion ia localized, where population pressure bas combined witn soil of high erosion
susceptibility. Examples ore the severe sheet eroeion in northern Chana (Adu, 1972) and gullying in eastern Nigeria (Floyd , 1965). Overatocking hae ueually led to paeture degradation on valley grazing l and , and this hae in places lad to gullying. In central Malawi, valley-floor (dambo) gullies have formed over the past 15 years.
Reasons for this state of affairs are a combination of perception, economics and insti tutional aspects. Soil degradation and continuous sheet erosion are not
recognized.
lihere severe, the short-ten need for the annual harvest compels continusd
Abaenee of physical conservation vorka is in
c~eck
cul t ivation without resting the land.
part through lade of knowledgs, in part economic. The erosion of common grazing land
proceeds because it is in no individual's interests to it, and social presaures
inhibit joint village action. cultivation of annual cro...l! aa a ahare-eroppins tenant. 'ftlia situation is common in the Indian subcontinent. Soil degradation is widespread, probably accompanied by sheet erosion. Catastrophic erosion is sometimes prevented by labour-intensive physical works, i.e. band-built terraces. Erosion may often continue with little attempt to check it, however, with cultivation reaching right to the bsnke of active gullies.
Per~~~&nent
Reasons for the lack of remedial action are well lrnovn. The landlord does not wish to spend apparently unproductive capital on a small part of hie holding (i f, indeed, he is aware of the e rosion at all!). The tenant lacks finance, cannot spare the labour fro11 the short-term need of next year's harvest, and above all has no incentive aince improvements will not benefit him. Latifundia, baeed on extensive ranchi ng, coupled with cultivation of annual crops b$ labour tenants. Overstocking is not a problem, eince it is in the interests of owners to use the land extensively. Tenants lack security of tenure, and have no incentive to prevent erosion wbere their plots prove to be susceptible. (It may be addsd that erosion on minifundia, or smallholdings, is not unrelated to the land pressure brought shout by the high proportion of land in large eatates; severe erosion in the Andean region of Venezuela ie an example.) Permanent cultivation on collective fg!IWI. This form of tenure, which can apply to a number of the technologi cal clasaea, is included in a short list of examples on the grounds that i t covers a substantial part of the developing world. I am almost totally without information, however, on the occurrence of eroeion and meaeurea taken to control it. Eroded and abandoned land i e widespread in China, but this is a legacy of the peat. In theory, the inatituti~nal raeana necessary to prevent or control eroeion appear to be present, e.g. a.s co!lllalllal labour guided by the village authority. It may well be that through human failinga, practice sometimes differs from theory! The tact that the eyetems frequently include individual pl ots as well as the COillllllnal farm may have consequences. Nollllldic or semi-nomadic pastoralism on common land .
found in Africa, illustrates in extreme
for~ t~o
Thia laet example, largely

First, it is a
common features.
method of land uoe formerly in equilibrium with the environment, but which with modern population increase has led to widespread vegetation degradation and frequently also eroeion - e.g. eheet and gul ly eroeion of inner valley sides in the savanna zone, wind erosion in the eemi-desert region. Secondly, it exemplifies the eituation in wbi~h it is not in the i nterests of any individual owner of livestock to improve the situation by reatricting his herd, but indeed the reverse. Where cattle-owning peopleo atingle vi th cultivators, "" the Fulani and Hauea of northern Nigeria and adjacent countriee, the institutional and social difficulties of erosion control become parti cularly complex.
5.
~7 -
SOME LDIES OF RESEARCH
Direct1ons of research direct l y or indirectly related to the relationship of erosi on with traditional land use include the following: --Field studies, including mapping, of the extent and severity of erosion and the conditions , both physical and human, with whi ch it is associated. A sound geographi cal basis of this nature is an essential f irst stage.
Detail ed ease studies of erosion, with a focue on the economic and institutional
aspects of its past origin and present pos ition .

Research into rates of cont inuous sheet erosion, under penna.."lent and semi-
permanent zyltivation. Rates of loss of the order of 0 . 5-1.0 mm/year, equivalent to 7-15 t /hectare/year. are commonly quoted aa ttacceptable11 or ,.tolerable", but the geomorphological and pedological basis for this aseumption is quest i onable . We do not yet know whether eroeion at such rates will lead to irreversible soil degradation, and if it does, whether such effects are likely t o be experienced after periods of the order of 10, 20, 50 or 100 years. --Research into t he extent to which so il organic matter levels have been l owered under permanent and semi-Permanent cult ivation, and the degree of
structural deteriorat i on or other adverse ereots associated with thie
l owering (Young, 1976 , pp. 115-121 ).

Studies of the losses. of production and in economic terma, from eros i on, and
hence quantification of the benefits to be derived from conservation.

Research into methods of land us e that are intensive, conservational, and at
the same time compatible with traditional practices, e.g. minimum till&ge (La1, 1974a, 1974b), the INEAC corridor system (Jurion and H enry, 1969) , grass buffer strips (Roose and Bertrand, 1971) . Studies of t he effectiveness of different me,:r.ods of controlling erosion, e.g. l egislat i on (Christy, 1971), extension services, loans.
6. CONCWSI<!IS
on t his subject are pJssible, for each l ocal case is likely to possess special features. It oan be S'\id, first, ,that whilst some forms of traditional land use are conservs:tional , others possess features which, unless modified, are likely to lead under population pressure towards erosion. Unimproved shifting cultivation and uncontrolled nomadic grazing are examples . Secondly, whilst
~~&ralizations
Few
tenancy as such is not inherently conducive towards soil degradation and eroei ont
certain forms of it are;

there
encou~agement
in general, the less secure the tenure, the more is
towards soil exploitation.
Since the above st atement bel ong to the widely known truths referred to at the start of t his review, it may be more useful to end on a methodological note. In
any s i t uation in whieh erosion is found , one of the answers to the questions given
earlier is the ~n~ one. That is to say, erosion has not been recognized; the technical knowledge or the finance neoeasary for its control are lack ing; action to control it is not in the interests, real or perceived, of users of l and; or there
i e some i nst i t ut i on_ a.l r 6aeon l<lhy aueh action iQ not tnlce.n.
H a..ving f'irat determined
where erosion is occurring, we should ask why -- where, along the line from perception to action, is the will or the means for its prevention l acking?
Adu, 5 .V.
1972 1971
FA O
iirocled !)a vann ~ Sci. :; : }-1 2.
~oHs
of n e Navroneu-Ba."'k u ar ea, nort hern GhMa, Ghana J. Agri<> . FAO Soils Bul.l . 1'\ 1 FAO Rome.
C t>r isty, L.c.
Lagiala.tivq pr in<:ipl os of ooil e onserva.tion,

~ ons ervat ion
Sl'-irting l'lUl tivEttj o f' and F1o il
in
Afrio~.
FAO So ils Bull. 24, FAO Rome . FA OR ome. eeographi cal apprai s al.
D<~F ..AC,
1974
FA O A f rrunework for l e.nC. evaluEtt i on . FAO f.tOila Bul l.
~2,
197'{
B. Soil erosion and deter ior-a.t ion in e astern Nigerin:
J. Gcogr , Ass . Uigeria., 8: 3 !-~. Jurion, F. &"'d H enry , J.
~
C an pr imitive fa.nning be modernized ?
Brussels.
19(.9
Kostro>rieki, J.
1974
of world aericulture. Pr inciples me thod s and model typeo, Intei'Yla t i onal Geogra.phi onl Union, Commission on Agricultural T~rpolo gy , H'arsaw.
The
t~poloi;J
Lal, R. 1974A
Lal 1 R.
No-t i llage effect s on s oil propertie s and maize (Zea mays L.} production in wes tern tli geri n . Plo. ' lt ond Soil , 40: '21 - 331. Soil erosion
~nd
shf t i ng agricultl> r<!.
F.~O
Soils Bull. 24: 4tl-?1.
FAO Rome.
1974b
Rnpp . A, 1 Berry, L. ~~nd. Temple, P.l! .
Stud i es of soil eros i on and sedimentation in
1972
T~ n z ~:Jnie .
Geogr. Annl r ~4 A: 10~-3 79.
R oose, S, J . Nld BertrMd, R. Contribution A 1 ''tude de la m41thode des bandee d 'arr3t pour l utter "ontre 1 '6 rosion en Afr i que de l'Oue s t. Ae-ron. Trop. 26 : 1270-1 28>. 1971 Rut1J enburg , H. 1971 Farminy, syetems in t he tropi es. Cl".rendon, Oxford.
Yotul g , A. Tropi nfll s oilo and aoil e u rve,y .
Cambridtte Univers i t y Preas.
1976
Paper No. l
LAND CLASSIFICATION
by
G.M. Higgins
1, INT!DJXICTIOII
Land classification is an ext remely controversial subject due mainly to the
complexity of
~he
problem, the multitude of discipl ines involved and the lack of
defi ni tion a.r1d resu l t ant misuse of t erminology. The two words "land" and 11 olaasifica.ti on" are an ambiguous pair . Land c l assifierc of a l l kinde 'think they know
what the term "land c lassification" means; i t ia the work that they do . Unfortunately many of t hem undertake different kinds of work and so land classification becomes all things to many men. Definition is therefore of great importance.
2.
!EFINITIONS
Both words in t he t itle of tbi a paper need to be defined namely - "c l aasifica ti on11 and "landu. The first, classificat ion, i s t he easier of the two to
de fine:
the placement of i ndividuals together i nto mutually exclusi ve groups de fi The attributes may be While mru~ r~enomena are individuated in
ned in terms of one or more attributes of the i ndi vidual. productivity , suitability, erodabi l i ty} .
morphol ogical (e . g . shape, colour, che mical composi tion) or functional (e.g. nature (e.g. animals ,
pla~te )
land i s a continuous body and f or the purposes of

Thus
classifi cation must, at l east i n i magination, be divided into indi viduals.
for a morphol ogical classi f ication there may be red land and bro~1 la~d, or steep land and f l at land. Exampleo of a functional interpretation are goodl and and badland or erodable land and non-erodable land .
The definition of land is not such a simple matter and has been 1.he subject
of many learned discussions and di ssertations.

de f ines l and as:
The prodigeoun Oxford Di ctionary
the sol i d portion of t he earth's surf ace,

the ground or soi l , especially as having a part icular use or part icular propert i es,
a part of the earth's sur face marked off by natural or political

boundari es .
These def i niti ons allow too w.ae and i ll defined a concept for detailed consideration. The defin ition of l and as a~ ~ee d at the Wageni ngen meeting on land
evaluation (1972) 1 i6 cons idered appropriate for land c l aesifi cation purpoeee
namely, a deli nea t ed area of the earth ' s surface: its characteristics embrace all reasonab ly stable, or pr edi ctably cyc l ic, a t tributes of the biosphere vertical ly
above and be low thi s area including t hoae o f t he a t mospheret the soil and under-
lying geology, the hydrol ogy , t he plant and animal popU:lati ons and t he results
of past and precent human activity t to the ext e nt that these attributes exert a significant i nf l uence on present and f ut ure uses of t he l and by man.
- 60 -
Land therefore involves:
ohmue
pology pomorphology
eoil
veptation populations and their effects.

3. KDIDS OF CLASSIFICATION
A land claaeification can emphasize an of the above attributes ot land. or their combination , according to tho purpose of the classification. Zcnneve l d. (1972) presents tho following d.iagramatic comparison of holistic and si ngle attribute aurveys to arrive at a land resources clasoification, (simplifi ed from or i ginal). A. Holiotic survey cultural coneid.erationa
L.t.ND
UNIT----~
Atmosphere C limate~ Vegetation- - -+ Vegetation Type~ Photo ~::::=---Land. form Land. fonn type imap ~ ? ----:! "~ ~ Soil Soil type__...--A Water Hydro-regime
~
LAND
CLA.SS
(abstract
Roelc
Rock type
observation and photo-interpretat i on
B.
Single attribute aurvey
(e,....,ple;
SOil survey) cultural conei deral t ione
,Umoephere Vegetation Landfor

t..u. 1>
1
t
Photo imap
Rock
SOIL---- - - - + SOIL TYPE - - - -- - - LA.ND CLA.SS
W aterj
_j
...,opyr I led
ler
- (,1 -
Young (1974) lists the following as subjects for cla.ssi!'ication of lands:

a. Agriculture
i,
cultivation of a specified crop or crops, annual or perennial
ii. iii.
iv .
irrigated agriculture arable f arming

grazing, of unimproved or improved pastures.
b.
Forestry
i.
logging of natural forests
ii.
c.
forest plantations
Water resources L ii. groW1dwater and surface water resources for irrigation
d.
Mining
e,
Engineering purposes
i, ii,
iii.
transportation purposes in general building foundations

urban use
,
g. h.
Recreation
W ildlife conservation (flora and fauna} SP!Cial purposes

i,
ii,
militar,r purposes
local government administration (e.g. assessment for taxation)
i,
Mult iple purposes
To t his list may be added many far- reaching subjects suoh as agricultural
adjustment , investment potential and environmental protect i on,
4 SCALES OF CLASSIFICATION
In addition to the different kinds of classification described, it is also necess&~J to recognise at least thre~ di f ferent Gcale intensities in land classifi-
cation activities, namely: a. b. c. scales smaller than

t i on&, and
1:2~0
000
c~~prising
exploratory classifications
scales between 1:50 COO and 1:250 000 comprising reconnaissance classificascale s l ess than 1:50 000 comprising detailed classification.
Vink ( 1975) bas well i llustrated scale concepts in land classification with the f ol l owing table.
- [2 -
Table 1
SCALE CONCEPTS Ill LAJID CLASSIFICATION
SUrvey phase
jpublishing
scale of raaps
Pilot
projects
Planning
~age
DeclBi on to be
1.t:.ken
Formulating
targets
Pre l1minary tnvooti gat ione for operational outline budge
Sketch mape
Stock- taking and re-formulating of

t argets
maps
Choice of survey agencies;order 1e~
sot of airphot oe Choice of dieoipline and members let team
Overal l inventory of 1:1 000 000 natural and human 1: 250 000 resource, indication ( oample areas of alternati ve level I + a.reaa pooa . and of prior ity 1: 50 000)
Drafting of
alternative
pl an
action programs: Pl an pilot
projec t s
execut i on First outline of dev. plan
Semi -detailed survey of selected aroao
1s 100 000 1: 250 000
execution
Designing of
pl ane let
priority dev. a reas Detailed surveys of 1: 50 000 to confirmod devolop1: 5 000 ment area& : Technical deelgn
Choice of preferable developments and of priority aroae: cboicee of survey disciplines and mem bers 2nd team: order 2nd sot of air photos; Choice of f irst priority de velopment areas
evalo-
Second evaluation pi lot

mentati on of
ation
Confirmation ot plana choice o f apnc iea f o1
or
projects: Imple-implementation and

execution;
pro-
choice or
jects, financial estimate&
contill\led projects
3rd eurvoy te8111 and
technical designing
te811 .
Tbe queet 1on of the scale of the claocifica tion is so important that it i s cone1dered beneflcial to repeat t he following table s howing different s oi l survey olass>ficaUon scales n n agreed between PAO and IBRD .
OPY'I<;l led
Table Z
GENERAL Th'lliCATIONS OF SAMPLOO DENSITY AIID RATE OF PROCRESS ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT IN'IE!ISITIES OF roIL ruRVEY
Draft FAO Soils Bulletin "Soil Survey for Irrigation Invetigatione" ( 1974) (Systemat ic Soil Survey - with some use of Air- photo interpretation) Area Represented Kinds of survey Scal e 1 cmt;Yof map 'lery High Intensity 1: I:
1:
Denei t y of _).j Observationn 2 (0.5 obs . /em of map) . 1/0. 5 ha 1/2 1/8 ha ha
Approx, Average y Rate of Progresa (per 2()-day month)
Accv..racy of Boundar ies
5 000
10 000 20 000
0.25 ha 1.0
500 ha 800 ha I 250 ha 1 500 ha. .
ha
Positi on of a l l bou.ndar ies checked throughout length on t he ground
4.0 ha
6 . 25 ha
Hig)l Intensity
1: 1:
25 000
50 000
1/12. 5 ha 1/50 1/2 h<l 2
Position of almost all boundaries checked throughout length on the ground

Some boundary checking - moGt inf erred Almost all bounda r ies inferred ,
I
''
I
~tedium
Intensity
25 . 0
ha
75 Ia/
200 lan 2
'"
J
Low Intensity
1: 100000
1 lan 2
krn
'
NOTES
J/
lf
De nsity of observations: Figures represent the dena i ty of all soi l observations averaged over the entire area of the map; (acceptable density usually ranges between 0 . 25 and 1. 0 observat ion/cm'2 ol' map on this basis).
Rate of Progre ss: Fi~res g iven represent an approximate average from the wide range of experi enced i n actual surveys .
pro~s s
rates
~
~
if:l
1[
=r
~"'
- 4 -
5.
EXAMPLES 0>' LAND CLASSIFICATIOII

In se-lect ing exatnples, an. attempt is made to di fferentiate between morpholo-
gical and f uncti onal cla s s i fi ca tions and to illustrat e both at various scales.
a. M orphological
Of the morphologica.l claGsifi cations one of t he most comprehensi ve on a global basis, is t he World At laa of Agr i culture , produced by the Inst itute Geographico de Ag<>atini - Novara, under the aegis of the International Aasoc i a.t i on of Agri cultural Economists ( 1 969) . I n the fore word to this work Professor Giuseppe Medici s t at es -" the d i sparity and uneveness of previ ous material (present land use) makes it diff icult , perhaps i mpossible, to compar e situations between country and count ry and to detect common l ines o f development and transformation in agricultural reali tyn. Her e i n , it is suggested , lies t he purpose of the classi ficat ion - to unify data pre-
sentation and compare country situations and detect c ommon l inea of deve loJXnent. Sixteen main categorien of land are recognized name ly! arable, riee, gre.Gs, e offeo, tea, agave, spice, f ruit and or chard, SU&~rcane, market gardens, rubber, woods and f orest , forests and jungles , rough gra zing , rei ndeer, gra-zing, a.r.d non- agricultural . l~apping is at the scal e of 1: 2t million or 1:5 mi llion for all countries except Afric a ami there are accompanying t exts for all regions except Africa. The At las of Physi cal, Economic and Social Resources of the Lower Mekong
Basin prepared under the direction of USAID by the Engineering Agency for Resource a good example of a regional presen t land use classification . Sixteen d ivi s ions o f present land una are again employed (from 1:50 000 base material) i n t he classification, r ice lands being addit i onal l y c l assified int o float ing, single cropping, double cropp i ng and upland . The main categories classified and mapped are: aett l e.ments , tree and pe rennial eropt>, croplat~d contiflUal and rotational cropping, un-improved grazing, ten kinds of woodlands swamps and marshes and unproductive land. I~ i~ of i nterest to note t hat the addit ional detail on rice cul t i vation and the e lassificaion wa~ based on an old Inter nati onal Geographic Union/land use system.
( 1968} contains
Invent ories and the TVA f or the UN Economic Commisoion for Asi a and the Fa.r East
An example of a morphological c l assification at a more detailed country level, is the Landf orms, Soi ls and Present Land Use Survey of the Indus Plains in
t hen West Pakistan by the Resource Survey Divi sion of the Photoeraphic Survey Corporati on of Toronto, Canada f o r the Columbo Pl an Organization (1958). In the back-
ground to the report there appears t he following statement - "officials and aeientists
i n (We st} Pakistan have long felt t he need for a broad appraisal of the locati on,
extent and characteri stics of agricultural resources whi ch would provide a firm f oundation for formul at ing c omprehensive pol icies and plans for agricul tura.l development, for framing more detailed surveys and investi gations and f or planning and
a ssigning pri orities t o irrigation and reclamat i on schemes. The object of this
particular classi fication therefore was t o provide the f oundation on whi ch t o plan.
This is borne out by H.O. Doin of llcCill in. hi a fo1eword to t he report wherein he s tates " no cwn..al a:t i on of di s cont i nuous detai led reporta, no matter how accurate and
bow exhaustive t hey are for their part i cul ar area.s, can replace an invent ory of a
l arge area even though of nece s sity gene ralized . A b r oad picture of the whole agricu ltural economy is neces sary for w16e cOWltry planning ...
I n the 40 1 page report a nd 77 accompanyi ng maps, the present land use i s c la.csified in 9 m ain clast:et: (sett l ement and non a.gric . land, horticul t ure. tree a.nd
perennial c r ops, cropland, improved perma.r:ent pasture , unimproved graz i ng , wood l and , swamp and marsh and unusad l and) with a t otal of 12 subclasses. Taki ng the croplar.d c l ass alone the subclasses used were: ~rennially canal irrigated, seasonally canal irr i gat ed , seasonally fl ooded , torrent oatered, dry cropped and well irrigated . The scal e ot' mapping w a s 1: 253 , 440 .
6<; -
The three ex;,unples cited are emminently profet":si ona.l piece s of work a.nd we 11 illustrate the need fo r the classifi er t o fi t a l ocal system to an exi st ing and well recognized overall Frame._ork . W ithout &uch control i t is impossible t o co l la te results. The I(lJ Typol oa o f Wor ld Agricu l ture and t he USGS Circular 61 are good examples of such Fra.~eworks for present l and use (morphological) c l assifi cation . b. Functional
It i s probably true tQ say that every country i n t he \\'Or ld has a func t ional lan.d reaourcea clnaa i!"'ication 1 of' om~ kind or another, aa a plunni r.g tool to .a.f3~eO$ the potential for agricul t ural deve lopment. Man,y reviews have been made of t he different sytems empl oye<i , including Olson (Lar.d Classifications) Search , Agricul t ure lfo.4, publi ohed by New York State Collegs of Agri cult\lre, 1974 ; FAO (Approaches to Land Claeaificat i ot~), Soils Bulletin No. 22 , 1974; Stewart (Land Eval uation), Papers of CSIRO Symposium , 1968 and FAO (Land &valuation i n Europe ) Soi ls Bulle t in 29 , 1915
A few examples, a t consecutively large-r scales of vari ous systems are cited .
At a global scale ane of t he tr.ost simple and recent io t hat ma de by the PSAC (US President 's Sci ence Advisory Cornrnittee) in 1967 a nd quoted by Meado"" ( 1974) in " Dynamic s of Growth i n a Finite W orld". That Commit tee cla.ssified the land of' the world a.a follow&:
Land s uitable for cul t i vat ion

(potential arable land) Nor. arable land with grazing po tential Non arable land with n o gra.zir>g potential Tot al
bill i on
hect a~eo
"
"
" "
1} . 1 bi l lion hectares
The classi fication is functional, i .e. it cor1cerns behaviour , i n this case predicte d suitability.
An e xample of a r egional fW'lc tional l and c lassification i::. contained in the

previ ously r e f erred t o J<ei<ong Basi n Atlas. In additic rl to t he p r esent land use classification, the study includes a land potential classification, wherein t he land is c lassi fio<i as follows: i.
ii.
Areas with a capability of high y i eldo per hn "i th t he applicat i on of
i nt ens i ve management practices .

Area e with a c apabili t y of moderate _yi eld per ha (most areas require normal conserv:;.1.t i on pra.c tices) with t he application of i nten sive managernent practices.
iii.
Areas predominantly suitable for t he production of forests - pr oduc tion capac ity only ade~Jate t o produce good st~1ds of timber.
Land not su it ed for any other u se.
iv.
At the C.etailed l eve l t horo are a very widtt t:a nge of c l assi.f'ications to conSl.o.er one o f the mot;t h'idely used i s that of the Soil Conservat ion Service of the USDA called "land c apability c las~i f icati on" and desct-lbad by Khngebiel and Montgor:l<n'y in the U . S . Govt . Printer Office, Agric . Handbook No. 210. The classification is based on <letai l ed soil surveys o f 'l : 20 000 scale or lar~r and groups soi l m appi ng uni ts primarily on t he basi c of l.heir ca-pabi l i ty t o p r oduce coihll':on cult iva t e d c r ops and pasture plants , without d eteri orat i on , over a long peri od of time. The. c apability units used have simi lar potentia l s a nd limi tations and are
'J'abl e '
l'.;llA, SOS LAI:D C.APAlJILJTY CLASSIF'ICA TI tli- AORII: . l!J\ND.OOOK NO , 210 CLASS CH.~RACT ERI STI CS
Pro pe rt'{/ Limitations
I
1-?f
1-~
CL).JS
f rom permanen t
f eat u r es
.
v
I'!
II
III
lo:oder ately
IV Ste ep
16-~
VII
steep moM t.l "n
~fer:
VIII
St or.es
Slopo
1 Z earl.:.r level Gent le
l~ea.rl:.:
steep
1 e ve l
ston~/
Steep
16-30); atony
roeley
Erosion Suseepti bil i1y
10'/: at ones
}rosion ::roo ion/
Low
tiode rAte/
High
..OOerete paa-t
e rosion
Dalr'!Reir.e ove r flot None
f ;:-eq ucn.,r
Severe/ . s evere past J erosion I I
Severe/
pa~t
erosion
} 1\zar"<t
erosion
<nea.a i onal
Frequent
Preqnent
l tre~;ueni
zx,eenivo
Pel"'!!.enbi~ i t 'I
Vocy slo>r
( subso il
.....
Well
r r: if'IOf1
.,.,
.. .. c t ccc o r
H !lterlogeing
Watnooa AXiBt B
'10r m nn(lnt 1:;
Sott~e ~Jont imai n{{
t}xr;eee ive wetn~a$/
;~airi fecl
~ recut ,
l' .iY.'H. ' f" t;' J v 0
ic t nonu
:ot
not
tuj t e rl oag'ing
t;ontinu in b wnt e rloggi.nz

o.ftP.r
drain?{~e
d ru L'la!:-1 ~
.'
:i1 fll)Ol...
'
Dept!'.
D o op;
1no r e t l"&n
3(- in
1.: eter 1 -o l lln.r:
~''!>8:~i t
Hold~
J.ooe tl.nrt i<loal ;

20-'~ i .n
::>l ~ ~ l l o lf;
Shal l <.m :
l es~ t 1l ~ n
10-20 i n
10 \n
,.,ftt cr
ww
La.<
Lo
Lo"
In"
\lOl l
r e:-t i 1 it:'
~
'3 ... 1'0
.oll nuppl ieci ti t !
nutrient s
--
--- -
--
!~")lA _; (~onL)
- -.
-- ..
--- -I I
J ligl t ';.>t l\llill o t o
r o~H.r;
!II
- ------
IV
----v
Cro")Ll
s e r iOtlA I ,~r '(~:,j
VT
- - -.- - - ~tA. 1
-------- VIII 'III

t n or
~al
S:tl i :t1 t
~.od liir \t '' :

~ ro p:'J
or
oo<lin,,
I'}T"O';)P-
rno~l er ~.:~.te l
,. .,over c; "!'O:>fJ
t'Jer iounl'
td"f<t<.": t ~ll
i n it : ~
t:lrope
GCf'i OHf:l:
fl ffer.tet!
oo:J \11m
& "t'OWt : i m"omr~bl o
or
I
s 11 ~!- tl~-
;"-t.f foctec-1
'
a..ffent t:of!
twt l n{'n.,t" r r s od iPn
n:rfootcrl
- - -~ lirn;, ti
.
;;. _y,...n r~ ~1
.. li-i1ctlonr
:>u ':! t
;.:Ot1 Cr~te
rone r~te
Yes; l iml t O<l !':ever e t;rowing

sea~o':"'
, . .
eve~
' '
-----; lJH.'!:,"t"lli~l. t
.
~t: H
requirnmentr
work~ ; onl ilt~r.:r
'
:ion;Pw} t>t
\~Uf!l vOtlrable
:;-,o.,iru
t r el'trncnt . ,.:.
?rop6r
r.u1.r.ngcmf"tl t
im;') rOVf!~"l
Int cnt-J_ ve
r anl_t'O;
In;>r t-.,t.. i "Hd
Prot -:tctiof\
man~m~nt;
rn".r: ~; geme n t
lrork/\b:i l it:r tVlf uvo,,trabl e
to Uf'Pl"i
rflnr;o
pra ctices
pa" t u r e
.i.rnprovrmont
pn.at \1 reti
improvor.:~rt
doen not r:i Vf: -:-non' oo ie rc:t. J rr:~
:::X rn~l
of
Pe r tiJ izero , Speeir.l
3up-;>l;
)jo r c
Co::ttour
reaui r C"l (ob~erv tio~ )

':lre -:t.1 '!&II
cor.:;ervPt ion ~or.cervt~t ion ('It: of .,ro!) ;.r tH": t i '!<"t co:-e o iffio11l t r etich ~9 o:u~: to ,l) j')')t ~ i terra T
t):inr.. vtr'i i) nro:>t>j ng
<lifficult
ftrrcrAn,
d rainA~
rli t~) - es
!J.eerUnrfor
r>rot~ t tor~
unt!er an" k int1 or

mar.R(;eller 1.
...
I
------ -- -- --
--- - ...
..-;
- 68 dcsi gna-tea by a. symbo l such as I II e-2 . The lower case let te r desi gnates subclasses t hat have t he same kind of l imi tati on a nd the arabic lett er indicat es th~ capabi l i ty
unit whi ch r equire simil ar management pract i ces .
Cl asses I -IV are ger.eral ly c on-
sid ered t o be land suited t o cu l t i vat i on and ot her uses; clasaes V - VIII are l imit ed in use . Pertinent among the assumptime are the fact t hat t he claasificat ion is meant f or detailed s\lrveys, for moderately high levels of m anagement and is based on removal of non permanent lirnit.ati ons . A generalized suiM'lary of class characteris tics i s given i n Table 3.
A somewhat ~imil ar meth odology, with modi f i ed criteria, has been formula t ed f or the. Phi l ippi tH:)G a.rtd the m ai n cri-teria f or elas s i fication in thi s ayeteoc, are presented i n Tabl e 4.
Ta'o le 4 Arable
Cl ass
Slope percen t (not steeper t han )
Erosion Cl atts {not o.ore than)
Deptn
Less than 25% topsoi l lost; some rills ma.y

be pr esent
Very deep {more than 150 em )
2.
t opsoi l lost ; sma ll gullies m~ be p resent Al l topsoi l l ost ; l and t runcated by gu llies All topsoil lost ; l and truncat ed by gulli es
25-75%
Dee p ( 10<H 50 em)
c
D
15
4 4
50-100 ""'
25
r r orn " nth; . so1. , l . ''t'1 Nott arabl e
It is suggested that the systems cited have a number of basic feat u res, namely: a.
b.
the mOI'e severe t he l i mitation t he low er the c l ass graz ing, pasture and woodland are not considered f or the soi ls with few l'imitati onc opt.imWll economic use is not cortside red although impl ied t he soci o -economi c oontaxt of the ar ea iG not considered
the use i s very b roadl y defi ned .
c. d.
e.
- 69 -
6.
TRANSFER.ABn. ITY The question of transferability of different class i fications, t o a spec i fic area under i nve stigation , is always a worrying quest ion in resource s urveyors' thoughts at the begi nning and during the course of a survey and i ndeed somet i mes after comple t ion of a survey . Som e wrveyors/claasifiers autotnatically apply the eyatem wi t h whi ch they a re most fami liar , albei t that it was originally designed for di fferent environment conditions . There are undoubtedly some advantages in using an existing
classification . First ly t he c l assifier is aware of t he m e thodol ogy , ascumptions and
criteria of t he system a nd confi nes his data collecti on to t hose l and a t t r i butes which
are essential to the classifi cation and does not w aste i nputs i n collect ing unnece-
ssary data.
ha,G
Secondl y, and equally important , having previousl y used t he system, he

who are used to presentat i on of t he reeulta i n the "standard" format.
cuato~t~ers
A good example of this i s the W orld Bank's requirem ent for the use of t he USBR's l and
classi ficat ion system for i rri gation i n assessi ng t he feasibil ity of irrigation proj e c t s . Is such an approach, i .e. transfe r of aa existing system1 wi t h or wi t hout modifications, a lways t he i deal one ..
It is sugge et ed t hat it '" not. Java i llustrat es t his premi se .
An exampl e of recent w ork by FAO i n Central

de or~stration
The proj ect had 1 as one of i ts mai n objectives tile
ar1 d evaluati on
of t he benefi ts o f conservation tech.o i ques in s e veral re present ative subwatersheds suffering f rom vary seri ous erosion.. The popu lat i on densi ty in the areaa waa excep-
tionally high (815 persons per square k i l ometer) a nd t he t er r ain w as f lat to hi lly
with soil s developed from vol ca:nic tuff 1 allv.vi wn from t he t-uff and limestone. Intense
food crop cultivation and exploitation of l and for export c rops had resulted i n the
c l earing of most hi lls ides . Average per capita inoome was exceptionally l ow and t he average si ze of holding l ees than 0.4 ha per family (4.8 persons). The rat e of $roai on on non treated cul t i vated steep land has been ca lcul ated as up to 4 em
per year. For various reasons, a detailed soi l/land inventory was not carried out but a generalized soi l map of the w hole wate rshed, plus data on slope classes , permits reconstruction of t he f ollowing simplified nypothetical soil and l and i nventory of a representative area (Table 5). Soils are named i n accordance with the l ocal classi fication used i n the g$neral ized soi l map.
Tab le 5
~apping
HYPOTHETICAL roIL AliD LA lW INVEN'IORY Soils Andosols (nomal phase) Andosols (steep phase) Lithosols (normal phase) Lithosols (steep phase) Nedi terranean (normal phase) stony Mediterranean (steep phase, etonvi Alluvial (normal phase ) ,Alluvial i(flooded Phase
Pll.
n it
Slope (percent)
Depth (em) m ore than
Elevation above 75011

above
Pe rcent
of area
1 2. 3
Volcanic ash
Volcanic
16 - 30
more tha.n
10 20
50
l ess than
ash Mixed Mixed Li mestone
30 16 - 30 30 16 - 30
50
l ess than
75011
all
elevations a ll elevat ions
10 10
more than
.5
30
5
4
5 6. 7.
8.
m ore than lese t han
50 50
bel ow 75011 below 75011 below 75011 below 75011 I
Lime stone Alluvium Alluvium
m ore t ha:t less than
20
30 5
~
l ess than more than
100 100
l ess t h:.a.n more than
- 70 -
of t.i e t.wo desl'):ri bed de t~. ilecl c l .qs r:ifjcation ay r.t ems , to t he above inven tor:' , reaul t s in t Je follot-:inff U1r.d Ca.pebil ity Aseet::r.:m ent a f or t he r epre se ntative a re!' ..
App J a~ation
TJYPO'l'Hm'I CAL LI'.ND CI.AS3IFICATI ON
._.
.. ....
~
Pcreent o f Aron.
I
Soil s Uat can be ~ult.iv&.ted s afelY with ordi.na.r:r eood farmine praottt":es , i.e. Clo.ss 1/A Soil s t hat nan be cultivated witt ea sily
USDA
~,y stcm
Pl1ilippines
3~,otern
'
')
applied practices, i.e. 11/B Soils t hat c on be uoed regularly provided tl:ey are given t he proper treatment,
i , e , Class I II/C So ils t het mey be cvl tivated o ccasionelly i f hndle<l ltl care, 'i . e. Class IV/D
Soil~
10
20
tl:t
s~.ovld
be used fo r pe.st tre
6r forestry i . e . ClaRe V/L

Soils t l>a.t sl ould he use<\ f o r r.r8.zing or forestry ~ap ~ble of produ,ing fora >c";G or ~oodl end i f properly m~n Ased i.e . Chtss VI/W
So i l s
t }tt"t
:-; ~ou ld
70
be
n~:;crt
fo r
;.mod l ~nd
if r r. infall is e"~ d equate , otl e r.-;:ise f or gr;a.zing i.e . Clees VII,1~ 4 ~ Soi lc t.it~tt Sll01.1ld he U$ed f o r wil d life , ref'!ref'!t ion , or- ~1a.ters f ed nses i . e. Gl~ss VI ! I/X or Y
0
- 71 -
In aummary theee two particular olaesifioationo, if applied, would sive the following "recommendations" .
USDA
Ph~lippines
Arable Land Non-arable Land Non-agricultural Land
20
50
30
30 )
70
Such action for the Central Java area is simply not practical. If t he land/ project area had been in Central Sulawesi t he classification might have been applicable.
However, to ' take eome
three~arters
of the total 18lld area out of arable cultivat i on
would result in at least f amine in Central Java.

necessary and i ndeed have been found and
Other solutions and act i ons are
imple~ented.
The following are the economic reeulte of bench terracing on various lands in the project area.
Table
PROVISIONAL PROFITABILITY CRITERIA OF BENCH TERRACING FOR DRYLAND CULTIVATION CENTRAL JAVA
Land above 1 000 m Benefit - cost ratio
11 at
12 perc ent interest rate
~
h
0 - 5 percent
5 - 30 percent
30 - 50 percent
75
- 100 em
75 em 50 em
12.5 7 .4 2.4
6.1 35
1.2
2.8
1.7
50 25
0.6
Averaes ~all deeths) Total labour (m/d per ha) 280 Total cost (R/ha) 91 245 934 223 020 1 862 415 275
Computed by dividing t he total present value of project costs into the total present val ue of project benefits . The figures show that, within the socio-economic context of the area, it is indeed practical and profitable to bench terrace certain lands of more
11
than 30 percent slope .
Accordingly, f or a l and claaeification in Central Java 1
the criteria for classification muat take this fact well into aeeount.
This faet in no way detracts from the correctness, or implies any
crit i cism of the two detailed classificat i on systems previously deecribed . It does however emphasize the fact that their criterion. like those of most
eystema, are most appl icable to the areas that they were designed to classify and do not automatically have general application.
- 72 -
7.
COJ.!~lOll
Nrn'HODOLOcrY
Is there a universally applicable system for land classification? If t he meaning of system implies establishment of universally applicable criteria the answer must surely be no. There ie ftowever a methodology whose principles, it
io believed, can be applied to a very wide range of circumstances. The methodology baa been developed by two multidisciplinary groups, one in Wageningen and one in FAO, over the past six years and the first version of the methodology baa been published, entitled "A !Tamework for Land ~~aluation". FAO (1973). Publication of an improved
version is anticipated in
1977~
In the proposed methodology land evaluation is defined as the process of collating and interpreting basic inventories of soil, vegetation. climate and other aspecte of land in order to identi fy and make a comparieon of promioing land-use alternatives in tome applicable to the objectives of the evaluation. In BUI!IIIlary a
.u!tidisoiplinary approach is recommended and bssio to the concept i s recogn i tion of the fact that land evaluation is meaningfUl only in relation to a clearly defined use. The fr...,ework reoollllllends qualitative and quantitative classificatiotul of land for well defined land utilization types under unimproved and improved conditions, by suitability orders, classes, oubclaesee and units. A single stage (physical and eocio-eoonomic ~tudies to~ther) approsch or a two etage (physical studies followed
by aooio-eoonom1c
a~udiea)
18 allowed for.
Tho ramework ie int ended to provide
an . outline of principles and terminology within which local systems of land evaluation may be formulated.
Copies of the new publication will be available shortly and it ia not the object of the preaent paper to go into details of the proposed methodology. However it is believed that the 6 baaio principles of the Framework are pertinent to the subject of the consultation. Tbo eix principles are: a) Land suitabilit~ assessment is only meanin~l with respect to apecified kinds of use. This principle embodies recognition of the !set that
different kinds of land uae have different requirements .
Aa an
ex&~~ple,
an alluvial floodplain with impeded drainage might be highly suitable

for rice cultivation but not suitable for many forms of agriculture nor
for forestry. The concept of land suitability is only meaningful in ter1ll8 of specific kinds of land use, each with their own requirements, e.g. for soil moisture, rooting depth etc. The qualities of esch type of land, such ae moisture availability or liability to flooding, are compared with the requirements of each use. Thus tte land itself and the land use are equally fundamental to land auitability evaluation.
b) Evaluation requires a comparison of the benefits o~ained and the inpute
needed on different tYpeS of land.
Land in itself, without inputs, rarely

even the collection of wild
if ever poeseseea productive potential;
fruita requires labour, whilat t he uae of natural wilderness for nature

conservation requires measures for its protection. Suitability for each use is aeseseed by comparing the required inputs, such aa labour, !ert ilizere or road oonstruation, with the goode produced or other benefits
obtained.
-------- ~-
!/ Freme>mrk
1 97'i PAO
for l"'n<l t.Naltw t.ior. Rome.
Soil s Bulle t i n ? .
?"~
c)
A multidiscielinary approach is requ i red, In particular, suitability eval uation alw~s incorporates economic considerations to a greater or l esser extent. In qual itative evaluation, economics m~ b~ employed in general terms only, without calculation of costs and returns. ln a quantitative evaluation the comparison of benef its and inputs in economic terms plays a major part in the determination of sui tability. I t follows
that a t eam earcying out an evaluation require a range of specialists.
These will usually include natural scientists (e.g.) geomorphologists,

soil surveyors, ecol ogists), specialists in the technology of the forms of land use under consideration (e.g. agronomists, foresters, irrigation eng ineers, experts in livestock management), economists and sociologists.
There may need to be some combining of t hese functions for practical

reasons, but the principle of multidisciplinary activity, encompassing studies of land, land use, social aspects and economics, remains. d) Evaluation is made in terms relevant to the physical economic and social
context of the area concerned. Such factors as the regional climate, l evels of living of t he population, availabilit y and cost of labour, need for employment, the local or export markets, syst ems of l and tenure which are socially and politically acceptable, and availability of capital, form the context within w hich evaluation takes place. It would, for example be unrealistic to say that land was suitable for non-mechanized rice cult i vat ion,
requiring large amounts of l ow-cost labour, in a country with high labour
costs. The assumptions underlyi ng evaluation will differ from one country to another, and to some extent bet ween different areas of the same country.
Many of these factors are often implicitly assumed;
to avoid mi8Ullderetand.ing,
ana to assist in comparisons between different areas, such assumptions should be expl icit ly stated .
e) Suitability refers to use on a sustained basis. The aspect of environmental degradation is taken into account when assessing suitability. There might, for example be forms of land u.se wh ich appeared to be highl y profitable in t he short run but were li kely to l ead to soil erosion, prol!""ssive pasture degradation, or adverse changes in river regimes downstream. Such consequences would outweigh the short-term profitability, and cause the land to
be classed- as not suitable for such purposes. state. This principle by no means
requ i res t hat the environment should be preaerved in a completely unaltered

Agri culture normally involves clearance of any natural vegetation
present and normally soil fertility under arable cropping is higher or

l ower, depending on management, but rarely at the same level as under the
original vegetation. What is required is that for any proposed form of land use , the probable consequences for the environment should be assessed as accurately ae possible and such assessments taken into considerat i on in determining suitabi lity. f) Evaluat ion involves com arison of more than a sin le kind of use . This comparison could be for example, between agriculture an forestry, between two or more different farming systems, or between individual
crops. Often i t will include comparing the existing uses wi th possible
changes, ei t her to new kinde of use or modi ficat ions to t he existing uses.
Occasionally a proposed f orm of use wil l be compared with non-use, i. e. leaving tho land in its un~lt ered state, but the principle of eomparieon
remains .
Evaluation is only reliable if benefits and inputs from any
g i ven kind of use can be compared with at least one , and ua~ally eeveral different, alternatives. If only one use i s considered there is the
danger that, whilst t he land m~ indeed be suitable for that use, some other and more beneficial use m ay "be ignored. It is suggested that if the principles and methodology of the Framework had been appl ied to a classification of the project area, t he resul ts of a classification in Central Java for upland soils might have looked as in Table 8 ,
- .i4 -
HYl'QI'lll!."'J'ICAL PCii'EliTIAL SUIT!II!ILITY CLASSIFICATI<li FOR VARIOUS lllT' S
more than les;o tl:an Land l~ilization Type Pine/Albizzia/Elephant grass/cattle (3) rehabilitation, hand labour;
50
normal ohase s1 (2. 4) s2 (2.0) 52 (1 .8) 51 (8.0)
';G
leas than 10s~eep
wore tnan less tban
50n~ral
)OGII
~rep hase n~;:nal ase
ase
haae 51 (2.4)
s2
n~ral haae
52 (1. 9)
s2
52
(1. 7)
s2
s2 (1. 2)
30 year cycle Eucalyptus/Elephant grass/ cattle/rehabilitation, hand labour, 40 year cycle, Acacia auricul iformis plantation, hand labour, 10 years cycle Bench terracing rehabi litation, hand labour
s2
'( 1 3)
s2
s2
s2
(1.1)
s2 s2 (1. 5)
s2
( 1. 5)
52 ( 1. 6) s1
(1.0) 52 (1.4) s2 (1.4)
(1. 2) 51 (2 . 2)
N5
with fertilizer, cultivation of maize , sorghum
(1. 2)
(0.6)
(5-5)
and groundnuta,
s1
Suitable
s 2 Marginally Suitable; (Benefit-cost ratios)
NS Not Suitable
In terms of arable land, this would "allow" arable cultivation of some 35 percent of the area if the 51 criteria of auitabi lity were ueed, or 60 percent of the area if the s 2 oriteria of euitability were used, These f i gures are in marked oontraat to those calculated previoualy from the other classification syatems , even omitting
the alluvial lands.
8.
ca.CLUSIOMS
comparable beeauee of differences in the ~ethodologies, crite ria and assumptions used. Seldom ean an exis ting land clasaification aucceeetully be ueed in an environment
There is an e:mepti onally wide range of land claaaifications t hat are not
markedly different to the area for which it waa designed, Use of e%i st ing frameworks is recommended in formulating both morphological and fUnctional land olaaeifications to m eet specific area requ.i remonts , so t hat results can be collated with other formulations. Fbr functional claaaifications the use of the Framework for Land Evaluation is recommended to ensure that important socio-economic factors are well taken into account in classifying land for optimal agricultural use .
1~'
REFERDICES
Brinklllan, R. and S~h, A.J. ILRI, Wageningen. 1972
Land evaluation for rural purposes. Publication No. 11. ,
FAD
1913
FAO
A framework for land eval uation. AGL/MISC/73/14, FAO, Rome.

Soil survey in irrigation investigations. Draft Soils Bulletin, FAO, Rome.
1974 Hudson, N. 1971 Soil conservation. Cornell Uni versi ty Press, It haca,
!lew
York.
International Geo,raphical Union. The t yp0 logy of world agriculture: 1974 principle methods and model types. The Oxford Dictionary. 1964 1972
Fifth .El:l.., Oxford University Press.
US G eological Survey Circular 671.
A land-uae olass ifieation Bystam for use with
remote-sensor data, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, Eliward Arnold
Vink, A.P.A. Land use in advancing agriculture. New York. 1975 Young, A. Rural land evaluation. 1974 Printers. Zonneveld,
1972
Evaluating the human environment.
r.s.
Land evaluation and land (scape} science.
ITC Textbook. VII.4.
- 77 -
Paper No. 4
SOI L GONSi::R'JATJO;l AS A PROI'li:CTIVE f"EASVR
Ji.GAINST
SALINIZil'l'I O~~
by ;.. I. r!aS$0Ud.
Techrlical Office r, La.td. Rec la.rr.at i_on and DE!:velopmer)t land and Water !ieve l op:llr:: nt Division
1.
THE HIDER SCOPE Oi'
~OIL
CONSERVA TION
The historical c oncep ~ of a oi l conse rvation i s excl~ive}3 related to t he erosi-on proceaaes , t he ir ph.,vsica.l effects on l a nd, veget ation and agriculture, and the consequent economic, socia l and h~~an wel fare aspects of the erosion problem (Benne tt, 19)9) . Th~ ear ly k ~erican soil conservat ionists reoogniz~d erosion as the m a j or cause for rendering eroded soils unproductive and they pleaded for the prascrvation of t he m ost precious natural res ource, the soil (McDonald, 1941 ) . The concept of soil conserva t ion, nowadays , haa boen expa nded to mean:
i.
protection of the soil agai nst phyo i cal loss by erosion or against chemica.! det erioration; that is, excessive loss of fert ility either by natural or arti ficial me;ws , and
ii. a combi nation o f a ll manag<oment a nd l anu use methods whioh safeguard th~ soil against depletion or deterioration by natural or by man-induced faotors ( Soil So i ence Soc i et;y of A m erica, 1971 }.
The use of the soil conserva-tion term in this s ense includes the preserva t ion of t he remaining good qua-lities o f t he land t.a(td the restoration of t hose qualities
where t hey have been destroyed by man-made or natura l for<:ea .

The wider scope of soil COi'lSe rvation, therAfore, considers erosi on as only one of the ways t hat rne.J' causE:: degradation of virgin and cultivated soils. The
other processes that maJ' render soils partially or completely unproduotive include salinization, so,i icati on, waterlogging, reduction of permeability, loss of ferti lity , infestation with tlOXious planlo and m i.s u.~e of hQr b icides and pesticides. The restoration of these forms of soil degradation and the protection from thei r hazards call !'or the application of certain conse rvat ion m ea s ures and the under-taking of necessary precautions. Conservation tools such as contouring, terracing, strip cropping, planti ng cover crops, selection of proper crop rotations, applica.t ion of fer1:ili zers, and dra i na.~ a re q\J.i te often mentioned. in the literature a.a the techniques which help to protec t or improve the land . It is the purpose of this paper t o outli ne some of t he conservation measures arui precautions that are re l a t ed to protection of ooils againot salini zation. It may be noticed that some of t he conservation tools pres ented. herein a.rc not different from what is normall y known as management practices for s alinit.Y control. The paper is not m eant to be a comprehensive study on th e s ubject but rather an example illustrating how under the domai n of s oi l oonstlrvation a conditi on other than erosion can be handled.
- 78 -
2.
Si:a.ECTI ON O.F Tllli SUITABLE SOIL

The right selection o f soils for a.g ricultu.ra.l devGlopment is the very
fundamental conservation measure , not only for the natural land resource but also
for the capital inv 9St ment.. In th& conservation f arn: plan, given by Reese ( 1966) as the first soil n.nd .,ater conservation practice, t he essentiali t y of a detailed soil survey was stressed in order t o use the land according to its capabilities and to treat it according to ita need for continued production. Conservation of newly developed l ands f rom salinization should start as early as t he sta~ of
project planning and site selection. It is a normal practice, urader ari d and semiarid climates, to examine at the tim e of aurveJing those land qualities and soil
characteristics per tinen t t o salinitjo, sodicity a.nd waterlog~ing, and to make a preferential s election of the site considering tho absence of t hese problems or the ease wi th which they can be treated. The select i on o f t he s o i l sho~ld oo based not only on its pr oae nt b ~t also on its f uture oondi'tion (lo!alet i c &: H~tohings, 1967). The standard soil survey, when guided by certain prognostic princ i ple s, becomes an i mportant conservation tool that provides earl y warning aeFbl.St f uture na.linity problems (Massoud, in preae). The principle o~ prediction acco~nta for the possible changes in the salt balance when the soi l is bro~ght under cultivation, espec i ally if i r r igated. Emphasis should als o be placed on these changeabl e characteri stics arising from water and lan:l developrr.ent, F~:rtherrnoro, it may happen that salini:zation and eod ication are not present within the norrral depth of soil surveying or the boundaries of the projec~ but the soil becomes oal~ a f fec t ed later on. As a precaution pri noiple , it is neceaaa.ry to extend the investigations to deeper substrata and consider the land characteristics of the area outside the project boundaries and tbe f~ture development.
3, )!ONITO!liNC OF SALINITY
checking on t he soil characteri at. i ea affect ing ita productivity is a proper exercise t hat provides an early warning against soil degradation. Monitoring in t his sens~ can be considered as a protective measure and, therefore, its role as one of the conservation tools should r:ot be underestimated . Vari ous soil and hydrologic.al s u.rvo,yo 1 field inVC$tige. tions and laboratory analyses are usually undertaken to d iagnose soil salinity and when thes are used for monitoring, wi til a pred ictive objective, t hey become use ful prognostic m ethods, Although tbe basic surveys ant i nveati gations provide the essential data on the soil, water, crops, climate, mana gement and other parameter& affecting the salinization prooess , moni torin,; is quite often ooncerncd with the fo llowing most effective faotors an<:!
freq~e nt cha~gin g p rope r~ie s :
The
soi 1:
"mter:
salinity, FJa.lt oompoeition, ESP, pH quantitites, salinity and salt composition of influent 8J'J~ e ffh umt w a.t er8 depth to wllter table, i nfiltration r ate and oondu~t i vit ;
hydr~ulio
soil- water!
cl i m at e:
crops an:i rna:naKem ent:
pare.metera affaoting evapotranspiration, rAinfall crop perf orm ance and ,y ield , agronomic practi ces and salt l ~achin g.
- 79 -
Monitoring of salinity by the routine survey and laboratory analyses is a

tedious and ooe'\ly <txercise. The develo9mo:nt of tha i n situ 4 - electrode aoil
conducti vity technique has overcome these difficul ties (Rhoades, 19 76} , Similarly, the usc of rem ote s~nsing t.eehniquos , if proved to be applicable to diaf:'lOSis and monitoring of Galt affected soils, will cause a br&akthrough in the time scale and extont o f coverage since it is possible t o moni-tor in a.n 18 day cycle an area of a bout 5,6 mi llion ha (9,5 x 95 i nch f r ame) with the Earth Technology Research Satellit e.
4.
WATER
lo\ANAGEME~'i'
PRACTICES
The salinity of the soil is l a rgely dependent on i te moisture regime, Water does not only add salts to the soil but also helps in moving them away from the rootzone and it is the balance between the added and the removed quantities thet determine the trend towards sal i nization or desalinization of the soil. Adoption of good water management practices can assure a favourable salt balance and cor.servation of the soil productivity; The !l'.ain conservation tools in this regard may be presented under the f ollowing headinga. 4.1 Irri gation
Except under dry farming, irrigation water in the arid and semi-arid areas i s one of the main contributors to the soil moisture regime. The quality, amount, frequency and method of application aff ect the salini t,y status in the soil, Even where a telatively good quality wat er (200 ppm) is applied at tho normal rate of 10 000 m>jhajyoar a salt load of abo~t 2 tonsjha might precipitate in the soil upon dry ing. Fortunately, a great ?Ort ion of this qUantity can be leaohed from th~ rootzone with the proper management practices. Anticipation in a dvance o f the probl ems that trey a.riso from using irrigation water of W"Jfavoura.ble quality will he lp use alternative ~r:ca.sures to reduce the risk of soil salinization. As a guide, a water trla:J have no problem, increasing problem and severe problem as to its salini ty i f the BCiw is (0. 75 , 0, 75 - ),0 and> 3,0 mmhojcm, respectively (A.Yere & Westcot, 1976}. The qua.ntit.,'l o f i rrigation water varies with the kind of crops, its stage and season of gro-th and the abundance or acarci ty of the water itself. Generally, watering dilutes the salt concentration and if applied in excess of that needed to replenish the soil reservoir to its fi eld capacity water usually leaches salts f rom the root zone, in a we l l drained a oil. On the contrary, i f water is thinly spread over large areas salinization will most probably ooc~. As a .precautionary meas~re , wat er abundance, altho~ advantagaous, aho~ld be properly manage to keep a f avourable balance between the salt content in the rootzone, t he depth to :a.ter table and the groundwater salinity. In case of water shortage, the use of irrigation m ethods capable of d ist ribu t ing lower q u a.ntitiea with higher efficiencies, sprinkl E:r and drip irrigation, chould be encouraged. Otherwis<:, the irrigated ar-ea has to be lim i ted anJ efficientJ..y wetted. The frequency of irrigation affects the salt balance \) ~tween two irrigations. The longer the ir:terval, the dr i er the soi l and the higher the salt concentration wi ll be. So, where salinization is probable more f requent irrigation, if technical l .,';' an:t economically f easi ble, can redu.ce 'the effect o f m o i s"\u.re stress on
the crop ..
- &> -
The vari ous m ethods of irrigation, being diff erent in the rate o f water appl i cation, the uniformity of moisture distribution and the wetted are& of the
soil surface, will a ffect jifferently ihe salt regime of the soil.
spate irrigation salts tend irrigation, where water is the amount o f' salts romovod uni f ormi t y of distribution. irrigation system sho~ld be
In flood or
t o move away from the rootzone. In basin or border npread to cover a. certain surface area of the field, is more dependent on the quantity of water and its As a precautionary measure against sa.liniza.tiont the designed to provide a uniform moisture distribution
t hrough land shaping and lengt.h of run.
ad j~Wting
the surface slope, size of water stream and
Although f urro>< irrig<>.t ion prov i des a better control of moisture distribution and percolation l osses, salts may accumulate 0 11 top of the ridge& between furrows.
lt ie possible to overcome this problem by changing the places of the furrows, alternating furrow irrisation wit h bor~er or basin irrigation, changing the bed
shapes and planting site.
Sprinkling has the advantage over the above mentioned
m ethodn , of dis t r i buting low norms of water uniformly over t he field. Moreover, water wi l l m ove under unsaturated condition and t hus be ~ore effec t ive in loaohing salts ( Nielsen et al, 1965). Trickle irrig,>tion has tho same advantages as sprink-
l ing, espec i al ly if t he lines are closely spaced. However, salts tend to concentrate midway ~tween plants and at the wetting front between the lines of drip emitters {Bernstei n & F'rar.r.ois , 1975). In absence oi sufficient rainfall to leach the accum~lated salts, trickle irrigation has to be supplemented by sprinkling or other surface irrigation methods to reduce salt accum~lation in the unculti vated portions of the field. 4.2 Leaching of sa l ts
Lgaching is the most eff'ective process b.} which salt affected soils are
restored to normal and the salini ty of the cultivated soil i s kept under control.
The offi oienoy of this process depends on the qua.li t..v a.nd quantity of the wa."ter
used i n leachi ng, t he ease w i th whi ch it percolat es through the soi l, and the
rem oval of the leached salts in the drainage stream or their acoumnlation beyond
the active rootzone.
The use of poor quality ><ater for i rri gation entail& the
Realizing the dual eff ect of leaching,
re-
application of higher leaching requirements.
name ly soil desalinization and i ncreasing the salt load of the ground... ter or
turn flo ws 1 the recent trend is to minirniz.e -the leaching requirements (Bernstein &.
Francois, 1973; Rhoades, 1974). In thia case, the leaching requirements previously recommended "by the USSL sta f f, Agricultural Handbook llo. 60 { 1954), can
be reduced to one-fourth and consequently the crop tolerance l i mits be increased
4-f old. The applicabi l ity of t he mi nimum leaching requirements to control soil
salinization needs efficient management of irrigat ion and drainage eyateme to
keep the salta pushed downward and to m inim i ze the upward water flux, otherwise
the risk of salinization will be higher whenever the irrigation or drainage system eoes wrong.
A less risky as well as a l ess conservative approach w hich seems to be more convenient a,nd e f fecti ve i n controlling salinization is that proposed by Rhoades ( 19"1 4) , where the leaching r equirem ent (LR) takes into account the average salinity of the . root zone {EC,) a t a given permissi~le reduction i n crop yield, the salinity of 1rr 1gat 1on water ~ ECiw) ani that of dra>n&ge water (ECdwl as given:
(;.
LR= _ _ __ __
lW
- 81 -
Data are ava i l a ble on t he relation betwe n t he
penr.issibl~
reduction i n crop yie ld ,
soi l s alinity , i rri ~ ation, wate r nalinity a~d the l eaching requirement s (Asera & Westcot, 1976) .. Such i nfo rma.:tion can ba consi-:lere l as a guide t o bett er conserva tion of irrigate~ s oi l a gains t s a lini z a.tion.
Leach in~ o f aa lttJ t roiJI r a.i nf ed agricultur a l s oi la dep{:!'nda in the first place
ot1 i ntensity , :.iura t i on and f requency of precipi t a t ion.
In t he arid n.nd semi-ari d
r egions, o t her conse rvat ion mea sur es heve to b e taken to encour a ge t he relative l y limi t ed r a infn l l t o pE!hC-'tr a to i n t o t he soi l and induce l eaching . It rray be fea sibl e to count upon rainfall f or l eaching i f the m axim um rait1s f a l l i n a. def ine( ! s ea son with suf f i c ient amounts asi a t he case undAr a. M editerranean climate. otherwise , "the availability of a supplementar y s ystem o f irr i gation , which is a l ways an a dvan tage , wi ll he l p i n salt leachi ng. 4. 3. Drainag.:: Surf ace d rait.ag e "''as recogni ze:.l by t he early {;ona ervat ionists as a m eans of get ting rid of excess waier on the s oil sur fac~, r unoff , and controlli ng erosion if the :ir-clinage c han n(c! ls were pr(lpP. rly located. Au (!. conse rvQ.t i on l'llaa\.l.re a gainst cal iniz.a:tion, subaur f{~c e 1 r ai na ge play u a n es sent i a l role in carryh1g a way the excess waters percolati ng t hrough t he soil , r ed11ci ng the water t a ble l eve l and mini mi z i n g i ts fluctuatior1 a'oovc a. cri'tical l CV(!l. The d r ainage wat er hae usual l y a higher aalt conten t tha.n that of irri gat i on and if' measures are not taken to discharge it a:way f rom the rooLzone the ris i ng wa.tertable becomes a continuous source of sol uble salts and induces soil salini zation.
I n order that a drai nage s,yst em t'ulfills its objectives, it shoul d be deoigned properly to accoWlt f or discharging tho percolat ed wat er in excess o f t he evapotranspiration r equirement ( i nef f icient i rrigation losses, leaching, s eepage, rain storms )~ taking into consideration the r oot ing depth of t he maj or c rops in the rotation, t he rate o f capillary rise , salinity of the growni water, and it has to be economically justi f i ed . The most important factor in effioi ent drai nage is the maint enance of t he wat erta bl e depth below the critical level. Kovda ( 1973) relates t llie critical depth t o the aH c ontent of the groWld water in the arid zon~ and areas provided with i rrigat ion a nd d rainage as, r esp9ct ively , being 2 - 2. 5 rn whe n the sa.li. concen'tt'a t i o n .is 10 - 15 g/1 , a nd 1 - 1. 5 m f or a h~s:s min~ra l izod ~oundwat cr, 1 - 2 g/1. This critical depth a.lso va ries with t he trans~i 't 't l ng propert ies o f the soi l and m a,y be cons i del"'Qd f or a maxim um upward f lux nf 0 . 1 em/~ as rang ing from 75- 100 1 175-200 , and 90-1 20 om f or l oam, fi ne &andy loa~r. a nd sandy soi ls, Teopect i vely ( l/an Schi lfgaarde , 1976 ).
Wh~ n d ra i nn ~ t-uttcr i s not of poor qual ity it car~ be mixed. wi th r i ver w a.t u r t o c.u pplemeh t t he 1 i mi ted w a "te r r (!sources d ownstream. N evertheless , t.he water qual i t y oi' irrigatio n ret urn f low has t o be care fully mo ni t ored in ord~ r not t o pol lut~ t he w-ate r d ownG t r ealT'l a nd cause s oil sa li nization. r~i.x i n g of poor a nd eood quality w aters ahou.l d be economica lly justi f ied, consid eri ng t he expected increase i n crop prod uct ion a nd t he chan ~n irt t he s o i l characteri:lt i cs; . Under t he circums ta.ncea o f a l i mit ed f resh ....ater s uypl."f , Ur a.i nap.-e wat er l':la.Y br: us e d to l each and recla.i 1 r. s alt a f fected s o i l s .
llr a i nagc i s o f t en required wh nr e the c.i.o.nger o i' s eepage exists. Thi s has to be 'Na:tched i n c as t? 01' la nd t e r r a.c i ng or levelli n~ for conservation practicf'JS . An in t e rc e p tor d rai h can ~ a.v l3 ..au-t arens a t a l OWl-lr l evel i 'r om saliniz.u t i on.
- 82 -
5.
~.GRONC!IC
AND SOI L J-IA!IAGEflENT PRACTICES
lfnen the soil conaerva.ti< m ;>r i nciples call for using t he l and according to
its needs for a continued produc t ion one has t o t hink in tent!:& of improving the
soil, pr ot&otine i t from det~rioration, and if these are not deem ed possible, of how to live with the problems a nd avoid or minimize their harmful effects. Some of the follo~:in g practices are const:;rvat i on tool s that !learn t o be concerned more with ~he l atter objectiv< Others are f ollowed for reasons l ess related to s ali ni t ,y control hut tfle.,Y may i nd irectly oause soil salinization end therefore t hey have to be pract i.ced taking i .n to considera tion t heir side ef fects.
5. 1
Croo selection and r otation The difference bet ween plant s in their relative tol erance to aalini ty pr~ vid es t he land use r with a wide choice t o s e l ect the ~ost suitable crops for a given soil oalinity and. even with an advanced knowledge of tho expected yield under this oon:i itiotl. Data on crop.toleranoe t o salinity aro available (USSL staff , 1954 ; Ayers & Weatcot, 1)1'/6; Maas & Ho ffman, in preaa) and they have to be uaed as a gui de keeping i n mind t he various factors influencing the crop tolerance. These faotore incl ..d e the cl i ma:te, plant spec i es, varieties and stage of growth, and cultural conditions . Moreover, the economic value of the crop has to be consid ered in oanbination with its to l erance . Crowillg a s e r,sit i ve crop on a moderately sal i ne soil will not give its optimum yiel d as that of a moderately ~olerant one, but it may happen t hat even with the permissible reduction i n yield of the t'onne; ita net return will be higher than t hat f rom the latt er, salini t y (~e) was fowtd by )faas and Hoffman (in press) to follow the equation:
Y 100 (EC 0 -ECg ) ECo - EC100
As a gener al rule, the relative y i eld { Y) of a siven crop at &nY given
where EC ;oo i s the salini t _y threshold value (EC 0 where Y = 100) and EC 0 at z~ro yield (ECe whe ce Y 0)
the ea.lini ty
The quantitative salt tol erance r a ting for a wide r a nge of crops based on t heir f igur es is given in a tabulated f onn in the Annex . Accord ing to t he availabl e data the relations hip b e -tl>tt1E .H:l crop salt tolerance and t he range of ECe a t 75 % and 50% relati ve yield s may be sur.~rized a s f ollows: Q._rop sal t t ole r anc e rating
ECe at a rela t i ve oroe yield of
Sencitivo
l<!o d
ra t o l y
s~nsit ivo
3- 6
.12'! <.\ mmilo/ om
3 6
M.o d.era t e l .)' to lerant Tolerant
9 - 15
6- 9
"
"
~"Jllho /c~t
9
.
"
15
15 21
" "
"
!:. islcc plants d o not d i f fe r only in the ir toleranc e to sali ni'ty but a lso i n
tih:i r wa ter requirements , season of growth, rooting d e9t h and n1oisture extra ction pa.tter!t$ 1 and cultu r al r equirements, it is to be expec t ed that the soi l cha racterist i cs will be af f ec t ed d ifferently under various crops. The Gelection of the right crop r o tation i s a. Guccossful conse rvation tool that i n'lj)rOves the physical , chemic al :1-nd nutritional quali't iea of the soil. The land. user, therefore, can r ed.uce the salinity hazarda 'r~y including whcnf:ver porosibl e crops like r i ce, beneem a~)d t hone r equi r ing r requent i rri gation to hel p l each out salts.
- 83 -
5. 2.
Plantinr,
A d j ustm e n t i n planting techniques can modif,y the effec t of saliui t y o n eropa, eapec ia ll.t during the ~rn:inatio n cu1.d s e~ d lin g growth s t ages. F'u.r row r ow c rops Hi.ll ~<~ i thet3nd sal inity be1.-ter w h li'! n p l a nted l.n the i rrigat ion f'urrow whore crust in~ is not a. prob l em. on the side of a. sloping bed , nea.r t he edges o f a d oubl e-row ~oed 1 on top of a s.ingle-row herl. , in decreasing ord 1r o f effect . I nu.nt i.l t he we t ting f ront has moved pa.tit the a e e d row on sloping beds i:A.re rooomlflended pra.c ticc;S f or "Sal i nity control a round the seeds. Broadcasting or drill i ng o f s .::eds on f lat fie l ds w hen f ollowed by a heavy irr igation i& a lo:o practiaed to overcome s a li n i t y -ff eo l a -on germi na tion. Increasi ng t he r ate of aee<ting , cui a p recautiOnary measure, ie also pr actis ed in salt affec ted soils.
creasing the dept h of i r rigati on water in t he furro w and continuing irrigati on
5. 3
u~r.d
level ling and
ti lla~
Land levelling is an essential ope rat ion to 9repa re l a nd f or i r rigati on by t";u:rfaco mf! thod s. I t is also pmc t i s-ed. in combination with other eeasures f or r ainfed agricul t u.re 'tO r educ ~ aurface runoff amt erosion. Hhere salinity ma.y dove lop, t .h e d ~pth of soil as we l l a s the micrC>-relief aftor levell ing have to be carefully consid ered. &hallow prof iles m ay l ead to secondary salinization and theref ore require more effic i~rnt water rnanaeement. Changes in the micro-re l ief in t he order of l ess than 30 em res ult in increasing salt content on the raised spots and better l eaching in the d ips. Repeate d l and shapi ng before croppi ng will he lp 1,.0 eli minat~ thes a va ria tions and their effect bt!CO m~ lesa obviou.e. Ti llage is ono of tho mechanical operat ions that serves nume rous purposes includ ing those of seed b ed prepara t ion a nd improvemen~ of soil p e rmeabilit y. Since vater i n filtrates i nt o and percolat es through a tilled soi l at a faster
rate than in
no~d isturbed
one , till age will help salt leaching as well as water
storage which i s rat her important in rainfed agric~lture. However , rep eated ~i llage t o the same dept h 1 eep&cia lly in huavy text~rc d uoilQ and at above adequate moisture content aggravated b~ us i ng hea.v,y m ach i'nery , ean c reate a de nse ploughlay e r t hat caus~s t~rnporary wate rl ogg ing f o llowed. by saliniza ti on . Vari a t ions in d epth of plouetting and subaoili ng a r e prae ti c eu to avoid or alleviat e the f ormati on
of thi layer.
Plot.1.ej1 ing can be- :.ion~ by various i mj)l c ment s thn t n ot on l y a.f'fect dif'forently the s oil bulk denr;i t y a nd ~fU.{l'cgnto stab il ity but also the d istr ibution a.nd rt~ixing
o r salts . I rnprovitlfl: pemeabilit;r and c r1llanc i ng salt rewova.l ca.n be achieved by chise l and m ou l d- hoarJ ploughs more e ff ect.ively t han b.> a d iac harrow. Deep-ploughing ifllpl cments would turn a, s alty la,;; e r a nd br ing it ~p closar to th<t surface and therefore such ope retion has t o be car e ful l y investigated 'before proceed i ng on a f'ul l seal'~ .
I n area6 SU$Ce ptlbl e to ero~ion, whe t her by wind or w ater, t ill a-ge operation s ha v e to b e carr iod out l>li th mini1 ::um d istarbntJ.ce to t ho ~oi l surface or pulverization o f the s oi l r1gg:rt! gates . lr he advs.o~ages ;-l.h d r iGk:s o f til lag e: ha ve to b e oo:tref-ull.:; l'll!' i ~~d a nJ eva l u;,l1.eU.
5. 4
J.'a llowin;: and mul ching

tf'he l and m a y be le ft fallow f or som e time whAre a vailab i lity of i rrigat i on w a t E:: r b ecom es a l i mi ting fac t or f or crop p roductiOJl , or Wld.er <ir .} farmi :ng to preserve the soil water f or a Bubse quent c rop. A fa llow land i s more l i able t o salini zation t han a c ult i vated one since th& cultur al ope rations, e npecially i rrigotion 1 will tend to reduce- or l'QVcrs c t h e process. HlHm fallowing is practised,
- 134 -
f actor::. affeo ting ttoi 1 sal in i. ~a t i o n such as dep th artd quali t,y of
ground~t e r ,
atm ospher ic evaporat ive
den~nd ,
transmitting propert ies of the soil, length and
fre quenc y of fallowing , and m easure; ta.l<:on to check .,.,at 0r and salt movement upward ahould be oare f ull_y assessed .
'1\he d an~ r of fa l lowine be-c omes greater the shallow e r t ho depth to watertable will be. Theoreticall.Y, evaporat-ion f r om a d ry surface of a fin o sand.:; loam soil woul d proceed at a r a t e of about 8 , 3 a nd 1 '""'/day if the w ater table is k ept at 90 , 120 and 18o e m r~spec t ively (Gardner & Firema n, 1958) . The effect "ill b e a u fl)l>ented with inc rea.sing the s a lini t y of the groundwater and the evaporativi ty of the atmosphe re . SUIT~o r fallow s houl d be avoi ded under these conditions or otherwi se car el'ully managed . Surface mulc hi ng and groupi ng irri gat ed and fallo w areas separatel y and arrang ing t hem iu suc h a way to reduce wmecessary c irculati on and
r i s;: of groundwat er are precautions against sal inization dur ing fal l ow periods .
!; ul ch :i. ng, as more frequently practised to conserve soi l moisture under d r y farming, would be a uoe ful prao t ice for reducing surface soil salinization. Surt'aco
t ill age , maintenance or
surf~ce
application of orop r esidues and placement of gravel
ar e a mong mu1chittg pra.c ticC':Is . The eff'ectiveness of mul chi_ n g in c hecki ng salinization depend& on t he f a c tora affec t ing the processes as given above a.nd on the right mulching techniques . Since ~ulching is also re l a t ed to wind erosion control , practi ces s uch as minimwn or ze ro tillage as a measure for conserving wter and controlling
erosion should be carcf'ully assess ed where 'the t hreat of salinizat ion exi s ts.
6,
CO:~!LUDIHG llE:I>' .ARKS
Soi l cons ervat ion i s t h ought of by moct p l anners a nd land users in terma of so i l erosion and i ta control. Recentl.y 1 other fonns of l and d egradat ion, including salinit.Y 1 have been considered by conservati onists and International Organizations i nterest ed i n envi ronm ental studies . However, the majority of land users i 'n devel oping countries a r e not completely a ware of the role certain conservat ion tools and m aroger.:ent S)rac t iceo ca n play i n safeguarding their soils against salinization. I t ia the N! G pona ibil i 'ty of nationAl insti t u'tions t hrough the extension service m edia to ~ncoura ge t he farmeru 'to a pply practices as thoae given in the paper
.6.dopt i ne t he concept. of liv i ng wi t h the salini t y problenl, i f' :neasuree are
not availabl e t o combat it , a.s a c ons e rv:a.tion principl e may be t he only way to a continued crop producti on and, therefore, t he rela t ed practices ah.oul d not be
Wlderes t i mu.ted.
Sal inj ty rr~a;y he a side effect of cer tain conoe r v<>. tion m easures and cultural practices, w h ich m ay be t r ue- f or other degradat i on forms. Consequently, soi l conscrw.tt i on has to b e p l'ac t i s ed i n an integrated manner 'taking i n'to conaideration other factors a ff ec t ine; land prod uctiv ity .
- 85 -
-'3ers, R.S. and itestcot, D.W. 1976 29, FAO, Rome. Bennett, H.H. 1939 1973
Water quality for irrigation.
Irrigation and Drainage Paper
Soil Conservation. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. New York and London.
Bernstein, L. and Francois, L.E.
Leaohing requirement studies: Sensitivity of alfalfa to salinity of irrigation and drainage waters. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc. 73,
Bernstein, L. and Francois, L.E Effects of' frequency of sprinkling with saline waters 1975 compared with daily arip irrigation. Agron. J. 67. Gardner, W .R. and Fireman, a. Laboratory studies of evaporation from soil oolumns in the presence of a water table. Soil Soi. 85. 1958
Kovda, V.A.
1973
USSR nomenclature and classi fication of saline soils . In: Kovda, V.A., c. van den Berg, and R,ll. Hagan (eds). Irrigation, Drainage and Salinity, an inte,...
Hutchinaon/FAO/Onesco .
nation.al source bock..
lleaa, E.V. and Hoffman, o.J. Crop salt tolerance: Evaluation of exieting date. Proceedings of the International Conference on Managing Saline Water for Irrigation: Planning for the fUture. Lubbock, Texas (In press).
Xaletic, J.T. and . illltohings, T.ll. Selection and classification of irrigable land.
1967
In: Hagan, R,M,, a;R. Haise, and I,W, Edminster (eds.) Irrigation of agrieultur&i lande. Agrono~ 11, Amer. Soc. Agron., Madison, Wisconsin. Basic principles for prognosis and monitoring of salinity and sodicity. (In press).
Proceedings or the International Conferance on Manas1ng Saline Water for Irrigation:
Xassoud, F.I.
Planninc for the futur e. Lubbock, Texas
ICoDonald, A. Early llnerican soU conservation i st. Miscel laneous Publication No. 449. USDA Soil Conservation Servi ce. 1941 llielsen, D,R., Biggar, J,W, and Luthin,J,N, Desalinization of soils under controlled unsaturated flow conditione. Int. Com. on Irrigation and Drainage, 6th Congress 1965 (New Delhi, India). Question 19.
Reese 1 W,E, Oui de to sixty soil and water conservation praotioee. Rome. 1966
Soils Bulletin 4, FAO,
Rhoades, J.D. Drainage for salinity control. In: J. van Schilfgaarde (ed). Drainage for agriculture. Agronoi!IY 17, Amer. Soc:""Agron., Madison, Wisconsin. 1974 Rhoades, J.D. Measuring, mapping and eonitoring field salinity and water table depths with
1976
soil resistance measurements.
Soils
Bulle~in
31, FAO, Rome.
Soil Science Society of America. 1971 Xadieon, Wisconsin.
G l ossary of Soil Science Terms.
Soil Sci . Soc . Amer.
u.s.
1954
Salinity Laboratory Staff. Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils. Dept. Agriculture, Handbook, 60.
u.s.
Van Schilfgaarde, J. water management and salinity. Soils Bulletin 31, FAO, Rome. 1976
- 86-
AliliEX
Salt tolerance of crops (adapted from Maae & Hoffman, in press)
CROP
Tolerance rating
ECe (mmho/Clll); range at s r elative orop yield of
75'1>
Grain crops
maize, rice moderately s ensitive
sfYI>
I
3- 6
6- 10 10 - 15
wheat barley Sugar, Fibre & Oil Seed Crops

sugar cane sugar beet
moderately tolerant tolerant
5 - 10 10 - 15 15 - 21
moderately tolerant
tolerant
6 - 10
10 -
flax cotton peanut( g roundnut) soybean

Fbrac Crop--Legumes
moderately sensitive tolerant

sensitive
3-
ts
9- 15 15 - 21
moderately sensitive
<3
10 - 15
3 - 6
5 - 10 15 - 21 5 5 - 10
cowpea, clover (ladino, red, strawberry), breadbean, ooaaon vetch, alfalfa,

eesaban.ia
berseem clover,
moderately sens i tive
3 - 6
5- 10
10 - 15
birdsfoot trefoil Forage crops grasses meadow foxtail, lovegrass, .aize
moderately tolerant
6- 10
3-
5- 9
orchard grass, hard inotr grass, rye grass, barley, fescue, (tall),
Bermuda grass moderately tolerant
6 - 10
9- 15
Forage crops -
graasee
wildrye, beardless, wheatgrass, fairway Sudangrass, wheatgrass (crested), wheatgrass (tall)
6 - 10
10 - 15
9- 15
15 - 21
- 87 -
cont.
Vegetable orops bean pepper, lettuce cuC'U.IObe r, cabbage,

tomato,
1.2!
sensitive
<.3
broccoli, spinach Root ero2 onion, carrot reddish potato garden beet Fruit &: liut Crops
strawberry, apricot 1
3- 6
5- 9
5
sensitive
,.oderately sensitive moderately tolerant
3- 6
6 - 10
9 9- 15
blackberry, boysenberry,
peaoh, almond, pllllll
sensitive
(3
grapef'ruit, orange, grape date
moderately sensitive moderately tolerant to tolerant
3 - 6
6- 10
-9
15 - 20
other crops lacking sufficient data for quant itative rating

apple, avooado, lemon,
okra, raspberry lentgraes, millet (foxtail ), Rbodesgrass, timothy

bromeB'I'ass, canarygrass
sensitive
moderately sensi tive
(seed), olive, safflower, sorghum,
wheatgrass (slender) wild rye (Altai) wildrye Otussian)
- 89-
Paper No. ';
THE ROLE OF SOIL CONSERVATI!JI Ill WATE!!Sm MAI!AQEJm!T

<ll AaRICULTURAL LANDS
by
N. Gil
1, cm!ERAL JmURKS
1,1
Waterohed IIIUiageJ~~ent deale with all l&llda within the boundaries of a drainAe buill. It ia not only concerned with the agricultural l&Dds at present under cultivation, but aleo with forest. ~~lands, areas destroyed b.v erosion, and others that ciUI oerve as protection areas only. FUrtbe:nDOre, in co11preheneive waterebed manag.ment, apeoial attention will be given to climate, h,ydrology and the ecological l>alanoe of a given waterahed, The importance of theeelatter subjects and their influence on the inherent capabilities of the agricultural lande, their ph;yeical improvement and the return of high &Dd sustaiDed yield& cannot be sufficiently stressed, llost dallage by erosion of agricultural uplands and other duage to lovlanda ie created by diaturbillg the ecological balance of the draillage basiD, destruction of its protective plant oover ot treeo SZld grasaee, miouse of land not fit for cultivation and wrong agri-teohnical methods.
1.2
1,3
Man is the benefioi&r.y and the destroyer of his awn environllant and its production capacity. 'l'he population explosion, the need to produce 110re and the lack of means to evan maintain yields by adequate inputs, traditional restraints, lack of adequate ertaneion and 11any other reasone, have created a vicious oiroleof population increase SZld dilliniohing reoouroeo, The result io a rapidly increasing group of eub-eubaiatenoe farmers in developing countries,
This paper will reotri ct itself to the role of ooil conservation on agricultural land within the overall and integrated approach or OOIIPr&haneive watershed develop~~~~~~t and llan&ge~~&nt. !lilt, as mentioned above, no real and COIIPlete eolu.tione oen be axpeoted to atop deterioration of agricultural lands and to rebuild their productivity without attention to all other aopecte SZld oomponenh of COIII))rehenel.ve watershed develop!llent plane.
CCIISTRAill'l'S
1,4
2.
2,1
llwwl factors
The h\llll&D element ie probably the moat serious lilliting factor in oarr.ying out improv811ante on agricultural l ande, Pressure on the land by a rapidly increasing rural population baa been the cause for moat of man's destructive activities. The need to produce 110re and the conetantly decreasing cultivated area per household have oauaed the conversion of ll&rginal areas into cultivated fields. The result ia accelerated erosion on the steep hilleideo which should not have been cultivated at all. Many of the present bad lande were. in the put eueh areas converted into agricultural lands. It ia however even more difficult to prevent further deterioration on rapidly eroding land etill under cultivation. So...tillea, thia will be practically t.poaaible without OOIIPlete retirement from cultivation of such areas. To do ao, faced with the hunger for land of an inereaoin$ rural population, 1118\Y seem unrealistic, It hu
-~-
however not been sutfieiently realized by tamers and goveJ'tllllenta, that there m~ be no other solution, EXpansion soil oonaervation praotioea on marginal lands oould - at the beet - only postpone the unavoidable destruction of auoh lands, In fact, it would only prolong the ago~ of the poor farmer without eolving the problem, These realities should be faced and the necessary steps be taken, It m-.y be reeettlement in other areas where arable land could still be reclaimed, or the absorption of the surplus manpower into other industries or sesmenh of the eoonoli\Y. otherwiae the results will be famine, starvation and violenoe. Hungry people have nothing to lose and ~ be driven to desperate actions. There are maDy aepecte of human behaviour which 111-.y pl~ their part in the reaction of the farming coiiii!Wiities towards the requirements of proper soil eonaez-. vation aotivitiee in a watershed and in agricultural land.a, such ass cuatolll8, traditional constraints, social set-up within the family and the vill&ee) and others, All thia will have to be considered in carrying out soil and water conservation within the framework of comprehensive watershed development, It would be futile to embark on these activities without the full cooperation of the farming communities sud the individual farmers. 2,2 Pgysical and local constraints A very close and interdependant relationship exists between all phases of comprehensive watershed development, Soil conservation activities on agricultural lands alone can only be partly effeotive. It is however a major component and an important tool for improvements and of direct benefit to the farming population, P:rotecti.Jig and preserving the limited resources of arable land certainly d ..erve special attention, However, without the oompleJDetary works in other section& of the watershed development plan, it m~ sometimes only give temporary relief, e.g. the hydrology of a watershed will depend on the conditione of all ita lands, The agricultural sector will probably be only a minor factor in the overall water regions of a drainage area, This will be espeoially important where ol imatio conditione are such, that irrigation is required for tull p:roduotion and irri,ation water ha.a to be supplied from local sources, The eame eppliea to the drainaee condition of the bottom lands which are in most oaaea the areas of highest production, Hereditary lawa and fragmentation of the land ..a,y sometimas prevent any phyeical work tor the conservation of the small and scattered plot of individual farmers and whole communities. The selection of aoil conservation meae..ree will depend to o. large degree on land coneolidation, cooperation between farmers and other aspects which will be different in each locality, It is important to investigate and fully comprehend theee prerequiaites, to prevent a patchwork approach which will lead to certain f&ilure,
3, SOIL EROSICII Ql AGRICUIJIURAL WilDS
All eloping agricultural lands are e:rpoeed to erosion i:!' not properly 11&11-aed aad protected. Depending on soil-torture and structure, the grade of eroaio11. will differ from place to place on different elopes and under different levela of management, The olimatic conditions, such aa rainfall distribution and inteneitiea will pl& a decisive role on the above subjects and on the steps to be taken to repa ir and prevent .damage. Eltact figures on the magnitude of erosion can be obtained from e:rperimental plots, but even without research it is not difficult to deteot erosion and estimate ita severity - however without exact quantitative figures, FOr the trained eye it will be eaay to observe eplaah - sheet - and rill eroaio11., whioh are often diaregarded aa the di!Ageroue start of eon degradation and erosion vhioh in fact they are. It ie certainly eaay to observe gully erosion. This ie however alread,y the last end moat deatructive face of water eroeion. Conservation practices should alw~ atart
- 91 -
1n the earliest eta&es.
Wind erosion is difficult to measure by any means but it is a very obvious phenomenon vhioh can be eaaily detected by the trained observer, There are other aspects of soil coneervation on arable lowland which are not directly connected with erosion control: raising watertables, alkalinity etc, All these subjects have to be cons i dered in a oompreheneive watershed development plan,
4 SOIL CONSERVATICll Cll Aai!ICULTURAL LANDS
4.1
General observations Soil conservation has a wide eoope, much beyond t he generally accepted standards of physical works for erosion control. It is in fact a comprehensive approach to soil and farm management in which all so-called soil conservation practices aontribute only a part to the overall target of maintaining and improving soil fertility, to the improved relationship between soil water and pl&Dt and to higher sustained yields, It is the most important segment of re-establishing and maintaining the ecologiaal balance between man and nature.
Mechanical means for erosion control ehould be considered as supplementary
measures for soil conservation on arable land and should be applied only if and when the pnysical conditions- slope, soil texture, rain distribution, intensity eto.are such that good farm management alone is insufficient to prevent erosion, But, even under these conditione, eoil fertility, maintained or established by good farm management should alw& be considered as the first slope in soil conservation on arable land. There io a tendency in mori countries to divorce soil conservation and farm - (soil) - management from conservation practices. Consequently, erpeneive physical works are carried out without any regard to the integrated approach which could eave large investments and in all oases will produce the highest benefit to the farmer. There certainly arises the question of inetitutional set-up and the place of soil conservation in relation to other services, most of them with a much longer tradition of existence to the rural population. In integrated watershed management these problelllS have to be solved before embarking on such works. The
neoeeaary co-ordination aad ooopera,ion between related aervicee have to be a "sine qua non" for any euoh activity. Under the conditione prevailing in most countries, where different organizations deal with single subjects, it Ill" however
be difficult and sometimes even impossible to establish this esaent ial integration. Soil conservation .starts am ends with good soil and farm management. One without the othere will certainly fail in the end. Good soils and dense plantcover mO require only simple conservation m~>thods (e.g. contour cultivation) on oertain soils and under moderate topographic and climat ic conditions. The same area ~ require much more intensive works under poor farm management and on degraded soils . Soil conservation on arable land in the framework of watershed management m& establish valuable guidelines by demonstrating the essential multidisciplinary requirements of soil conservation.
4. 2
Soil conservation
4.2.1.
Land use
Agriaultur&l lands contribute in general a much higher percentage of eroded material than1llar area percentage of the t otal area in a watershed. This is due to the conetant cultivation of such l and& and the erposure to the forces of run-off water and wind without a protective plantcover during certain periods of land preparation, planting and after harvest. Furthermore , successful crop husbandry demands occasional or permanent weeding and
cultivation of row-orope, under such conditions erosion will be accelerated
compared with uncult ivsted lands of the same type and topograpny.
- 92-
Jn watershed management all parte of the dr&in"'< basin will be treated, but
special at tent ion has to be paid to the agricultural lands, due to the above conditions. FUrthermore agricultural lands provide the rural population with most of the available labour.
Jn seneral, the area of cultivated land lll&y vary between 15-40% of the total area of a watershed, 25-.30% will probably be the average figure. Even this percentage has been reached by the conversion of forest end grasaland on steep alopea and shallow soils which should not have been converted at all.
Shifting cultivation which was practised during many ganerationa and which was well adjusted to a spa.ree - aometimea semi nomadio-population, became gradually p&I'OIIID&nt Even the improved syatema of thia praot ice, auoh aa ''TBWJQ"a~ cultivation, have lost their value, due to the ever shorter cycle between cultivation and forest. In acme countries efforts are still made to introduce or improve the above system which lll&y give aome tempcrar,y relief. It seems however that the time has come to abandon an;y hope that permanent solutions can be found to a syatem which worked well 160 years ago but is not adjustable to the changed circumstances of tods,y. Watershed management ie supposed to give loll&'-hrm solutions. Consequently it ia suggested to exclude this method of aoil conservation from comprehensive watershed management except in very special cases of aufficient land reserves of high oapabilities.
It has been pointed out that good soil management ia the fast and foremoltt
step in soil conservation on agricultural land, This implicates that only land which can be properly m&n&sed should be under oultiva1;ion. An e%&0t land use capability survey is consequently the basis for any deoiaion in regard to agricultural lands which are at !?resent cul~ivat&:d and should be retired, lands which are used for othe~ purpooes but could be converted to arable land and the soil oonaervation measures 'to be applied on all oultivated lsade. 4.2.2. Coordination o! aoil conservation on agricultural land with the watershed man!B!ment plan
In the framework o! comprehensive watershed
measures on agriaultural land have to development plan of a watershed. The aide valleye ooneist mostly of medium land. Plana for improvements will be implement.
soil conservation be incorporated into the integrated lowlands sad the bottomlande of the or large sized blocks o! cultivated relatively easy to prepare sad to
~anagemeat,
One of the main problems will be fragmentation of ownership. Soil conservation practices will have to be employed without the poeaibility to consider the irregular boundaries of the small plots of individual farmers. Cooperation of a whole villas- community or a number of villages is required to make soil oonservatian activities possible. On the uplands the conditions will be different. If larse upland traota are oul tivated, the aame approa.oh ae on lowlends baa to be applied. Jn man;y . oases however the plots will be small, scattered over uid intersected by aide areas of uncultivated land, Land consolidation under auoh conditions will be liNch more difficult. The minimum requirement for such areas would be an agreement between farmers to carry out soil conservation improvements without regard to the boundaries of the individual owners. 'l'his ia a difficult undertaking but it should be alre~ spelled out that the treatment of eaoh individual plot would be ineffective and that no patchwork improvement would be carried out.
- 9' -
4 2, 3,
.........
Uplande
Practically in all aaaea and an all landa cooperation of the village ao-=unitiee ie eaaential, The fa.nDera on the lowl&Dds ha.ve to realize that the aotivit i ea on the uplande fortheir f..,..re are of benefit to themselves, Without "give and take no realistic solutions to the joint problau aBD be foWid, Upland f&rllere &lao have to realise how vaterehed management on the uplands, aurroWiding their arable land, will be of benefit to them, Both segments of the rural population in a vaterahed have to tully cooperate in all improvements, vhicb vill not only raise their atandard of living but will al.eo improve their general living conditione and environment, Without auah cooperation watershed managemect cannot suoceed,
Groi!Pin of soil oanaervetion aoHvitiee aa related to OO!IIJ!r eheneive waterahed
It ie not intended to g0 into details on each soil conservation practice which ~ be applied under different aoil and topographic oonditions, However, considering the requi........,ta of oomprahanaive development, two main groupe of soil conservation practices on arable land and their part in an intesrated. development plan can be defined., :rn different climatio zonu, on different aoila aDd alopes and UDder varying social and economic oonditiona, the importance of eaoh component in a. sroup will chaDge. :rn a general paper only paasing indication can be given to theaa aubjectB,
A major division should be made between uplands and lowlands. Upland aoila vill be derived in most oaaaa from the parent rook and very often be of medium to light te:rlur<~. They will ha.ve an undulatin~r to rieep topography, They vill be exposed to all kinds of water erosion and to the abrasive aad eelootiYe foroea of vinds, There will be a constant downhill ...,....._t of soil particles, :rntemal u.d aurfaoe draiaage vill be I!IOod ..,d l.<' t.e.rlo!Millg will oocur only under op!oifio oil'CUIUt.,oea, Airdrainage will be I!IOod and eoil will generally be ''v&rl1er" thaD lovlu.d aoila, :rntiltration rate will be high, absorption capacity however vill be often lillited. lloet crops, umual and perennial, oould. ba auoceaetully produced oa uplands, exoept orope which aeed epeoial oondittoce such aa pad~ rioe, With proper manageant upl..,d eoile oan produoe exoallent yields.
In practice, the yielda of upland oropl in developing countries are
however far below the miniolum to be u:peoted, lloat of the staple food ia produced. on the lowlands, especially where irril!"'tion haa to be applied, vbich ia IIUCh easier on lovlande. Flood lborder) irrigation by s:r&vit;y ia 1110atly uaed and the 100re aophiatiaated methode of irri,.... tion (eprl.rilder :. drip irrigation) are practically non existent, 'furr<iw" irri~r&tion caa be efficiently uaed on uplands, provided the naoeaaary levelling ie carried out. Sprinkler and drip 1rription are well adapted to uphnde. In moat oaaea upland irription vill require a pumplift and . .for .prl,nlsler an~. d!7 .irrip~ ion add it ;,anal pressure ia neoeaaar;y, .
It ia r elrl""'ttable that in 1110at oountriea little attention haa been paid to research, extension and. the supply of fertilizer, plant protection -terial ..,d revolving tunds for uplands, Gove!'DIIente and farlll8ra hav.o not realised the high potential of uplands, '!'he upl&Dd fanners are therefore the poorest f&rmel'll in moat developing ooUDtries,
- 94-
Upland& will require ve~ special attention in watershed m&Dag$ment, Government services should be equal to the facilities provided to lowland crops. This is essential for the production of acceptableyields. Soil conservation measures depend to a large degree on theee letter government policies. Sometimes considerable inveetments have to be made to prevent further degradation of uplands, It mq be beyond the farmers' ability to carry out all necessary ~rovements ' by his own labour and resouroee. Fllrlhermore, all oonaervaUon activities of the upland farmer will be of benefit to the lowlands by reducing floods, sedimentation etc, This will also be of benefit to the urban population and the financial burden should also be bome by them. Erosion is generally severe on cultivated uplands and a variety of praet ices cen be applied to prevent eroeion and to restore and improve productivity, Large scale farming on gentle slopes will be seldom found in developing countries.. Consequently, broad base terraces, strip cropping and similar practices will not be practical. On small plots and gentle slopes contour cultivation, contour ridges and grass strips m&f be more feasible, cooperation between individual farmers will be essential especially for the surplus water disposal systems, such as wate~ interception and d iversion ditches and for irrigation facilities, Land consolidation according to a well designed conset"Tation plM will certainly be of the ut1110st importance,
Qo ateeper alopea 1 where the above simple conservation praotioes will be insufficient to stop erosion, bench terracing will probably be the
1110st effective practice. important factor.
Here again, land consolidation will be an
Well laid-out bench terraces even on slopes of up to 35% can prev811t erosion, increase water infiltration and should be considered as the moat important practice in developing countriea, Cenerall y slopes of up to 25% should be the limit for bench terracing for rotation crops, On steeper slopes plantations on small contour benches and a permanent cover crop on t he s lopes would be safer and no losses at land by terraoe risers would occur.
Effective soil conaorvat i on on agriculture! uplands ia most
~ort~
These lands are a major aourceof erosion, ~floods IIZld siltation. Above all these lands provide the livelihood for a large selPJI82lt of the farming population, Lowlands Lowlands are the alluvial plains and the bottomland& of the small tributaries in a watershed, In most developing countries they are used mainly for the production of the staple food, Soil conset"Tation works in theoo areas will be of a different nature to that on uplands. Erosion control practices will be neoeooar,y only in limited l ooations, The water regime, l and use and crop product ion will depend to a large degree on t he condition of the uppeJ'Part& of the watershed and the soil conservation activities carried out on all uplands-cultivated and not cultivated, IInder olilllatic conditions which require supplementary irri gation, the watersupoly from local sources will depend on t he condition of the drainage basin. Consll<l!'enii.Y -jlie oropping pattern on lowlands ~ undergo remarkable chMge& with the change of conditione in a waterehed: ite degradation and misuse or its improll'ement.
- 9'> -
Water stor"", prevention of flaot. floods and sedimentation in the drain~ system, .-.charge of groundwater .-.aouroes 1 springe, riverflow and miUIJ' other benefits which will normally serve the l owland farmer, will be the results of integrated watershed management - e.g. conservation ot the. natural resouroee of a drainS" basin. It would be unwise to start soil conservation aotivities on the l owlands without having done oo first on the uplands. This is a simple faot, easy to understand. It is surprising that it is still so often diaregvded. The main soil and water conservation practices on lowlands will be concerned vith maintaining and improving soil fertility by good farm ~~&nagement. Thia will include - in the case of irrigation - proper l evelling and
application o water, prev6ntion of alkalinity and creation of BV&mpy
conditions. Under dey-land farming the main objective will be good aoil Uld fana
JIIAftageme.Dt.
There ~ be need for tmprove~ents or for the repair of damagee already done. This J1U1,Y include surface and subsurface drainage, interception and diversion ditches, river-training and others. All theeo works will bo effective i f watershed management baa been implemented on the uplands. otherwise conditione will return in a abort time as they were before implementation of the above works. As on upl ands, land consolidation end prevention ot new frasmentation and cooperation between individuals and villages are indispensable for planning, implementation and maintenance.
5.
C<JICLUSIOIS Waterehod management ie a multidiscipline activity. It can be simply ezpreeeed aa the establishment and maintenance of the eoological balance and the equilibrium between maa and his environment. Soil conservation on agricultural land is an integral and highly important port in this undertaking.
9" I
Paner iio.
(~
ROLE OF' COV'"&l CROPS Ill SOI L AIID \MTS'R COIISERVA'rl<ll

by
ll.li, Oki(:bO and R, Lal
1,
INTROWC'l'IC!!;
Erosion can be e. serious problem in tropical aoila, particularly if t he manaGQment practices are not relate.O to t l"~ e Li gh olimntio erosivity , and high detar:l,&.bilit~r of some tropical soil s re01lltine in s1 :,.r f a.c e seal illJ (t.n d lol'l infiltration rates. Permis ~iblo limits of s o il ero::; ion for some of tho s ha.l lo"' tropical so i ls are cons;idera.lJly l ower 'than fo r deep t ompor at e s oil a with favoure.Ole root ing c to ~ ract ori sti ~ n o f tl1 0 su~ s o i l horir.on.
Cono idet"'e.bl e experi mental dat a. r :w'a.ilable from tropioa.l reg ione inc h c.,.te t ha t for a.rea.s wi t ) M n u$.1 erosiv i t y index ex.eeedi ne; 400 foot-tm1 PGr flOI"(3', ooil los() of at:; m w::f\ a$ 100 tf~.a/;mnwn ea.n oecu r even Oh gt~t~tle s lopes of : to r. peroent . 'l'l~c en riohrnent r a:tio of t t:e eroded s etUmente beine; 2 to 10 for nutrient elements s ue } ' as organ i c m.att cr, nitrogen, phosphorus a.ud exela.ngea.ble cati o ns, soil eror;;ion e.a.n result in a. rapid decline i n t he p;roduot ivit y o f a minorit,y of tropical soils . Crop O'i elds from eroded soi l a are t:"rlerally below t he economic level of production even with he avy doses of oOIJioeM ial fertilizer. In s hort, t here ia no economico.l altbst i t \1t& for adeq-1.\D..to soil and wat er cons ervation moaflu res Adopt ed r i.ght from t he begin ing of l .ml clea.ring and development , A majority of t he tropical fnrtns, particularl y t hos e i n aou.t h-ea.&t A~Jin and in tropical Africa, are below 5 hectares. Commonly recommended practices of terrACing , contour farming with adequately d.esigned and properl y maintainad water ,.r l\y$ a.nd cut draim~ , are neither e oo11omi cally fe;;u;ible nor practically applioo.ble unde r t ho sooio-Gconornie and finruloial roeou rees of the smal l f armers. Wl'.at am t herefore s uitabl e alternatives in terms of soil and water cons ervation measures? 1'!-,e ob jective of t his report i s to describe t he " !'Plico.bility o f cover e rops and muloh farming techn iques for tropical s oil and water mMagement,
2,
SOIL
l~ANAGElo!EI1r
FOR EROSION C<l!TROL
1'he nta.tural vegetation eover on tropical coils maintains n hydrologi.,al btllance in wPi eh t he s u rfeoe runoff component of t he twdrologioe.l cycle is minimum. I f arable erops are s u bstituted f o r t he fo reGt eover without di$tu.r bing t his t..:r drolot;cs.l balan.,e, t he pro1> lern of eros ion would l'Ki nonexistent or minimal. This can be aofieved t hroltg'h t he appl ication of residue m ulches on soil s u rface . Crop re:a idue act s t'I Q M energr d i a~ipa.tor whi c h abaorbs t he raindrop i mpact an~ prevent a dispersal of t he soil o,ggregates . The infiltra tion rate of t ~ e soil is maintained at a higl> level under mulch l>eoause:
i.
atruotu t"al porosity of t he aoi 1 io m a.intainerl, t r ere i s no s urface sealing and Cr\lSt format ion 1 macro-pores open to t he s oil
'trP.nsmittin~ surf~te e
ii.
remain intaot Md fun nt ional in
wa ter t h rou..gtl 'the coil ,
iii.
bi o l ogical act i vit ,y o f ao il f m,na i s mai ntai ned at a level equi valent to t hA.t under na.tural vegetation . TJ.. i n acti vit ~; provides additional pore a for wa.tcr nond uet ion .
- 98-
The r>ot ent i a.l in-fi ltrat i on rate or mos t of' t r-eae aoi ls ia hi gh , and can be maintained with even small quantities of plant residue mulches. The mulch factor for an al fisol Wlder a simulated rainf.all ia s hown in Fig. 1. For an l1alf-hour storm, t he runoff is SO, 20 and only 5 percent of t he unmulched treatment, rcepeotively for mulch rate of 1, 2 and 3 t/ha.. For an hour storm of t he same intensity, t he MUIOff losses were 95, 25, 15, 10 and 5 ton/ha, Similar results were obtained for the sediments transported in t he runoff. Field observations m ade on small runoff plots as well as on w a tersheds have confirmed these l aboratory findings (Lal, 1976).
TJ.ougt: muld~ ine i n an effective erosion prevent ive techniql,).e, , it may. be diffioul t to use fo r large areas under ar3ble or row crop farming. One of t he pract ical means of obtaining mulch is through the use of no-tillage systems with appropriate herbicides to control weeds, A large number of fie l d seale and plot s tud i e s at IITA bave sh~wn that crop y ields at least equivalent to that of conventional ploughing can be obtained by thi s technique without additional erosion oontrol measur es (Lal, 1976),
This techniqlte, hO'tlever, eM only be uaed for oorne cror>a with Q {leoial pack~ production including seeding techn ique, weed control , quantity and method of placement of" fertilizer and insectioidea, and proper cropping systems and rotat i ons to ensure that t here is an adequate quantity of crop residue on t he soil surface.
3,
ROLE OF COVER CROP5
To be very effective, spec ial requ i r ements for t he no-tillage system are: adequate amounts of crop residue , requirecl weed control, a minimal dependence on herbicides, built-in ~tat ional sequenc es, and cropping systems to eradicate inceots, other pest s and pathogens , Lack of adequat e qtta.'ltities of plant residues on the soil surface can rast~lt in degradation of soil struc ture (Fi g . 2) , For example, the i nfil tration rate of soil in a plot under no-tillage system and from which crop r~sidues had ~een deliberately r emoved deolined P.rogreseively over a period of 4 y ears. The infiltration capacity in 3 hours was 145, 110, 75 Nld 75 em for 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975 respect i vely . The equil i bri um infi l tration rates were correspondingly low as wel l. Some of t he r hizomatous weeds a r e resistant to paraquat and tend to persist i n no-til l age plots over a period of time,
R ec lamat ion or improvement s in soil structure of eroded land is another i mportant aspect of land management wh i~h needs to be i ncluded in t he management
system. Building up o f t he ntrue tura.l protil<: and organic mat:t:er con-tent o f 1. he
surface horizon of t he eroded plot can be done througt, t he use of some eover crops over a period of time (Lal et al, 1977),
M a i ntenn.n ee of soil struc t ure, weed eontrol, adequate orop residue and other
requ i rements of t he n o-till~<ge syatem can be met t hrough rotat i ons involvi ng su i table cover o rops . A f'1 ow diagram of such n m anagement ayatema ia shown in Fig. 3 .
4 CROP PJ!. 'llFORIlANCE AliD COVER CROP5
The results of performance of various food crops pl ant ed through a seri es of sod species are s hown i n Table 1. It is encouraging to note that crops s uc h as m aize, coW"S)ea.. pigeon peas, soy betuls and even cassava can be planted and successfully l;l"(J>rn in suppr ess ed sod. wi t h no-t i llage syst em of soil manaeement . '!'here a re s ign ifi.,ant d ifferences in o::rop yie l<l. as influenoe4 by t he nature of cover crop grown . In goneral crops grown i n sod of l ~gum in ous c reepe rs sueh as Stylosantbe a grMilis, Cent rosema pubescens an<\ Pue r~r ia pliaseoloides y ielded better than the other. Thes9 leguminous cover orops a.re easy to establ ish, prov ide a quick ground cover, can be easily suppressed by eit}er ,.,hemical o r meet;anioal means and their s t ems in the residue a re not very wood~' and t hus provide a manageable covor to seed t r.rough . In Addition , t he y i e ld of crops planted through these cover crops are at least equal to t hat wtder convent ional sy s t em.
- 99-
1-0
o--o
9
> ~-1-~)(
ONE HOUR STORM } 15cm I hour HALF HOUR STORM
-8
u. u.
a:: a:: 0 . -6 u. a::

1-
::J
.7
rt
u
J:
::J
...J
.s
-4
::E
.3
.2
-1
3 4 5 6 MULCH RATE (ton/ha)
Bffect of mul.ob rat e on runoff from simulated rainsto1m
- 100 -
1 I
t
t
NO- TILL WITHOUT CROP RESIDUE
200 190 180
170
160 150
~
~
140
z 130
~ 120
~
0:
0: 110
UJ
100
>
90 ~ ...J ::l 80 ~
u 70 ...)
<l. ::l
1974-75
60
50 40 30 20
10 20
30 40 50 60
Il"'fi... ~,"'~ of l
70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180

TIM E (m i n)
Art\r
()r cull c it ( c roo res il'lue) on tla t at-io rat i on of i n:t' i \ t rat i on
rat e !<lt l' no t i llate
te<J
ater a
- 101 -
Mowing the cover crop + Half the dose of paraquat + Half the fertilizer dose
Year I
COVER CROPS ARAB L E CROPS
-----------------------1
I
I
:
ARABLE
CROPS
ARABLE
CROPS
Recommended dose
I I I
I
I I
Year Ill
Year II Recommended dose
FOUR YEAR ROTATION FOR ARABLE CROPS Rotation I , Maize followed by cowpeas, maize-soybeans, maize inter or relay planted with cossova,cover crop
geon peas-sorghum, or inter planted with Rotation II : Maize- cow peas or soybeans, po cassava, cover crop
l
- 102 T-able 1
GRAIN fiELD (t /ha) .AS ~rED B'f VARIOUS SOD SPECIES 1974 (Mt~r Lal, W ilson and Cl<igbo, 1977)
J.;Ai ze-co...rpeae
'"' Cowpea.-Mai z e
'
Pigeon peas-Soybeane
Cassava
{a)
.First Season
J<aize
co..pea
0. 37 0.49 0. 76 0 . 63 0 . 76 0 . 84
Pigeon pea
Panicum
Setari a
3.1 3 s. 77
1.19 0 . 86 1.27 1.19 1. 23 1,12
Bracl'l iaria Jl.el in is Centrosema

Pueraria.
517
5 .18 5 79 4 77 5 05 5 17 4.87 2.21
Glycine Styl osanthes Ploughed
0.65
0. 61 o. so 0.05
1.04
1, 17 1. 06 0 . 20
LSD (.05)
Cassava
(b)
Second Season
Panic wo
Cowpea
Maize
Soybean
Setaria
Draehiaria
~tel inia
Centrosema
0.62 o . 71 1,04 0.87 0.76 0.79 0 . 71
1,69 2. 97
}.8o
3.43
0 , 50 o. 91 1.14 o. '17 0 . 75
3. n
3. 50 7.90 17.39 18.85 15. 01 19.49 14.1 2 19.83 8 . 05
Pueraria
Glyc ine
Styl osantlles Ploughed
3.44
).02 3.11 2.06 0. 53
0.80
0 . 93 o. 91
0. 51
9.67
0.4 3 0 . 06
L SD (.0 5)
0.23
2. 53
li
Copyrighted material .
- 103 -
l)lt"te poteutialitie a of some l egumes be ing grown at: live- mulr.h (i.e. l iving cover)
t hrough whi ch c rope suoh as maize, ri~e. o owpeas, and aoybeana are drilled without cultivation or killing of the l eeumes are rece iving pre! iminary evaluation at IITA. Under such conditions the legwne may contribute some n i trogen to the s oil and with t he applications of adequate amounts of phosphorus and potassium a:nd reduced levels of n itrogen, maize 9lanted t h rough Desmodium triflorum gave 2. 38 t/ha as compared to 2 . 23 t/ha on o rdinary maize stover res idue mulch and ric e gave 4.12 t/ha on live mulc h as compar ed to 3.41 t /ha on r ice straw m ulch (Wi jewardene, 1976). Preliminary observations indicate that w ate r requirements of both t he legume live mulch and the companion non-l egume crop may be different and pert,aps higher than under sole crop conditions.
ROLE OF
SO~lE
PROMISlliG COVER CROPS ll1 SOIL AND WATER COIISERVATIQI
n;
THE TROPICS
Cover cropa have l ong been used in soil oonaervat ion and in s oil fertility maintenance as green manures. Cover crops eapecially leguminous s pecies havo the following advantages in tropical agriculture (Bunting &: )iil sum 1928; h'hyte &: Trumble 1953; Wingley 1929; Webster and l~ilson 1966) :
.~.
Control of. so i.l erosion by aff ording e ffective cover of t he soil and minimizing t he pound irlg act ion of the rain i r educe t he unleeirabl e effects of heat o r sunshine by reducing temperature f l n~tl.H'tt ions;
ensure t hat adequate levels of organic matter are maintained ; i mprove so i l structure, ae rat i on and texture while reducing leaching, and encouragi ng more infiltration and water ~ oldin g capac it,y t han on bare soil;
b,
c. d.
e.
deep rooted cover crops are able to bring to t he surface mineral nutr ients wh icl) become avtlilable to the crop; leguminous cover crops may significantly contribut e nitrogen to the soil; may compete effectively with or s urpress obnoxi.ous weeds;
sometlm.ee cont rol plant diseases and petilts.
f.
g.
h.
Di sadvantages o f cover crops include (a) competition with associated crops for water and nutrients, ( b) sometimes harbouring peata and diaeneea ~ltbough some may aloo suprees nAmat odes, and (e) ~limbing of v igorous twinere on permanent c rops and often damaging t he crop by obstructing transl ocation.
Leguminous crops t hat have been found suitable as Cover crops in plantations and in soil conservat i on include Caloeogqnium mucunoidea, Cent_roaema pube&oens, lndigO f era seicata, Puerari a phaseoloides, St~lo santhe s syaoilia, Doliehos ho eei Glycine javanica., etc. (Bunt ing & ~iilsum, 192 1 Crowder, !170-711 Whyte & Trumble 1956 ; Wingley , i 969; Webster & Wilson 1969; W illiams 196ij and Puraglove , 1969). Many of t}'lese tropir::al cover crops have a l so been found to be sui tabl e f orage orope alone or i n mixtures with legumes (Kcllro.y , 1969; Wri g ley, 1969).
Widespread use hea been made of eover crops in tree crop plant ation culture. At !ITA stud ies al"e current l y devoted to t he uae of cover crops i n zero o r minimum tillage technique of arabl e erop production. This involves the use of eovor c rops in one to two year fnl lows aft er which t hey a re k i l led with herbi c i des and a rabl e crops sucl1 as mai:.e, caisavat soy beans, cowpeas and pigeon pea.a are aown t hrou.gh the dead resid"e by tand, hand operated dr ills or mechani cal planters. Alternatively, t he cover crop 1oay be m oved or killed along t he rows in which the c rops are
- 104 -
planted. Anot ber method involves t he uae of selected covers as living or live mulch through which c rops are planted with ~and operated or mechanical planters without killing all the le~1me and only by disturbing t he soil and/or killing the legume cover along t he rows . Cover crops w h ict. have been used as fallow '>rops and killed with herbieidee in zero tillage stud ies at IITA include Centrosema pubescens, ~eraria phaeeoloides, Stylosanthos gra.oili6, Paophooarpus palustris, Stizolobium deeri.ngianrm and some grasses such as Brachiaria ruziziensis , Cynodon nlemphuensis and Paspalum notatum. Leguminoulo:i covet'f which have been used in prelilllinary live mulch experiments are Arachis proetrata and Desmodium triflorum whil e lndigOfera spioa.ta has s hown some promi se. A brief description of t hese legumes based on studies reported by various authors (Bunting and M ilsum, 1928; Hutchinson, Dalziel and Keay, 1958; Hewitt, 1969; Wrigley, 1969; Whyte Nilsson-Lessner and Trumble, 1953) is given Oelow.
Arachis nroetrata
A prostrate dwarf perennial with glabrous trifoliolate leaves, yellow flowere 1 and rhhomatous long creeping st8Dl8 very muc h resembling the cul tivated groundnut. When properly established it effectively suppresses weed growth and is somewhat adapted to acid soils but is only slightly drought resistant. It roots along the etem especially at t he nodes and is propagated by stem cuttings, Arachis prostrata is a native of South America but has been introduced into mMy parts of the tropics. At IITA preliminarJ studies indicate that it is a potential l ive mulch legume which baa been compatibly grown wi th maize, cowpeas and rice. wnyte , Nil sson-Lesoner and Trumble (1953) report that it is also a good forage legume w hich grows well in mixtures with Paspalum notatum.
Centrose~a
pubescens
A vigorous or aggreseive trailing or creeping perennial legume wtoich f onns good ground cover but has a tendency of twining and climbing on erect shrubs, trees or posts with which it may be in contact. The stems and trifol i olate leaves are s oi'tly pubescent, stipules are minute, flowers mauve in oolour with purple 1 ines or w hite witl> purple marking and pods are up to 6 em long with 10 - 15 seeds which are brownisl> 'fith dark green mottlea. Centrooema i s drougl't r eeistant , grows well on a range of soils espeoial l y in well
drained Boils under wet eondtt.ions but do('ta not a'tMd prolQn~ -flooding o:r ewampy conditions, It is al so somewhat tolerant to acid. soils. Centrosema i.e eas ily
eetablis~ed by seed at t he rate of 3-4 kg per hectare . There are about 38 000 seeds per kilo of Centroaema eeed. Fbr good and uniform germination, mechanical or acid scarification is necessary. Centrosema is difficult to mow but re-generates easily. At !ITA it has been found to be a suitable cover oro~ i n minimum or zero tillage in w~ich t he legume is kil led with paraquat after 1-2 years snd prior to crop establishment.
Desmodium triflorum
A small prostrate much-branched creeper forming dense mats. The prostrate more or less pilose stems with trifolialate finely appreesed leaves which are pilose beneath , and about 1 em lone form very gOod ground cover. The purple or pink flowers are borne 1-3 terminally or in t he axile of stipulat e p innately tl"if ol iolate leaves. Pod& are 5 seeded and indented on one aide.. Some~timea i t cont:>ti t-utes a weed in lawns and is adapted to dry and Jet well-drained soih of t be tropics .
Demodium has been used as a cover crop in rubber plantat ions in Malaya where it was reported t o persist even in old rubber plantations. It l> as also been reported to produoe .good fodder in hot climates (tn> yte, Nilsson-Lessner and Trumhle 1953). At TITA it has been usOO st~cr;eesf'ully aG liv<~ mule} and grows t::Ompatibly with maize,
- 10~ -
eowpeas and rine under optimum soil moistu~e conditions. Although i t seeds well, harvesting is difficult and germination is poor. It is easily established veeeta. tively by stem r-utting& but i t does not effectively compete wit h many of the vigorous more robust weeds such as Talinum triangulare except after 3 to 4 weedings following transplant inr,.
Indigofera spicata (Trailing i ndigo)

A prostrate creeping pereMial herb with woody d.der stems which spread horizontally close to t he ground and. develop tiny roots a long t ile older stems. The stems and pinnately compound leaves cons ist of leaflets less than 3 em long and somewhat glabrous. The nowers are orangs red in colour and pods are borne in uillary spikes each with over 40 pods eaoh bearing 8-1<; seeds, Indigofera spicata is pantropic and adapted to a wide range of well drained highly weathered acid soils in areas of 1 250-2 500 mm annual rainfall. It is reasonably drought resis tant and resumes growth with the onset o f the rains, Alt hough it is known to be t oxic to stock, nome eul t i va.rs are grown for forage.
Indit:!?,f era '!.!?.~.~ seeds profUsely and is ea.aily propagated by seed.. When planted at distaneee of 0.5 t o 1 m apart it ~rovides a good cover within 4-6 months. Seed rate is 1-2 ki los per he~tare with each kil o of seed containing up to 500 000 seeds . At IITA evaluation of !n!l.igofera spieata fo r live mulch l1as just been initiated. It appears to be suitable for cover crop to be kil led with herbic ide for minionwn or zero till~ production of arable crops. Peuraria phaseoloides
A prostrate vigorous trailing and twining perennial herb forming a dense mat The stems whi ch m~ attain lengths of up to 6-7 m and l eaves are densely pubescent. The trofoliolate leaves m~ be up to 11.5 m long and 6 em wide, Flowers are in raceme s end are mauve in colour. Pods are narrow and emooth producing small seeds 100 000 of whi ch weigh about a kilo.
Peuraria is adaptttd to a wi. d o range of soils but does not do well i n dry sandy soils. It is tolerant to soil acidity and can also tolerate slight waterlogging. It performs best in areaa of over 1 250 """ annual rainfall. It does not seed heavily and seeds are diffioult t o harvest but it can be grown by etem cuttings (Bunting and Milsum, 1928). l t has been extensively used as a eover crop in planta.tions all over t he tropics and as a forage legume . Peuraria has been found useful in min l. mum t i llage as a m ulch after killing with herbicide at IlTA, As live mulch killed with herbicides along the rows Peuraria us ually climbs and strangles the assoc iated orop as haa also been observed with Psopboearpus palustria, Centrooema pubeaeons and Stizolobium deeringianuttt. ?aonhooarpue pa.luatria
This is a vigorous prostrate or twining perennial very much re6emblin2' the cultivated winged bean. It readily forms a thick. cover, The l eaves are trifolia.late and bot h leaves and stems are glabrous, Psophooarpus does not root along the
ate~.
Tho flowers are blue in col our.
Ito seeds are largo and
~overed
with velvety
They do not geminate read ily without scarification, Regeneration takes plaoe re ad ily by means of' dormant seeds or t uberous root-stocks. After germin.ation it forms a t hick cover faster t han W\Y other legume tried at IITA,
!i.".: 1!1!.' .4, P!:.oobO ":.;\!'"~u:-; :e..s ?.:"0\1'1'?:1 to ::,c go ol!. irt r.i n i nn.u-1 -ti.!lago~ ? l a!'lt h:gs o f mai?.e , co-wpea, soybean, and cassava, hut where it is only partially killed by moving and/or herbioide al'plieation or used "" live mul ch , i t has a major disadvantage o f el imbing and almost strangling the crop.
hairs.
- 106 -
St;zlos~thes
graei:,.:U:
An erect vigorous shrubby perennial popular pasture legume rarely exceeding 1.5 metres high. It ia adapted to a wide ranee of condi tions and is tolerant to acid poorly drained soil. St,ylosaJithes is slow to establish but is persistent, drought res i stant and performs well in areas of wet and d.ry tropics with rainfall ranging from 900 - 2500 0111 per annum. The leaves and stems of Stylo are pubesoent, the stems tend to get woody with age and root at t he nodes. Wrigley (1969) repo;,:ts Stylo to be tolerant to r.ormone herbicides. Flowering in Stylo in Southem lhgeria is restricted to about three months in the year and t he seeds mature unevenly and shatter if not promptly harvested. Seed rate of Stylo is about 0.8 to 1.6 k~ per hectare with 1 kg of seed containing 3-4 million seeds. Once planted, Stylo reseeds itself after removal of the cover mechanically or by burning.
Stylosanthes forms good cover alone or with some grasses. In minimum tillage a cover of Styl o totally killed witt paraquat supported good crops of maize , pigeon pea, soybeans and cassava. The thickness of Stylo cover renders it somewhat unsuitable for use as live mule~.
Styzolobium deeringianum (1-!ucuna pruriens var. utilis)- Velvet bean A vigorous somewhat semiperennial climbing or twining leeume with large trifoliate leaves consisting of large ovate leaflets . Tbe white to dark. purple fl011e. . are in long pendant clusters. Pods are often covered witb dense white or grey hairs wi.th each pod 5-15 om lontt bearing 3-6 seed.a wh ich are edible. Velvet bean is adapted to most soils and is extensively used as a green manure and cover orop . It ia easily establishec l by seeds which are difficult to harvest. It has been used as a cover erop in minimum tillage work at IITA with good results but it is not as good in this regard as either Pueraria or Centrosema.
Non-leguminoua Covers
At IITA, a number of grMiinaceoua cover crops were compared wiih legumes either
'by killing with paraquat and sown with test crops or treated only along the row and
used as live mulch. The grasses tried included Brachiaria ruziziensis, Melinis ruinu\iflora, C;ynodon plemfuensis and P"<lsna.J.um notatum. None of t hese were suitable .:1a live mulch end a E cover cropc for minimum tillage because of" their persi stence and tendency to compete seriously with crops plantel through t herr.. It requi res more than one herbicide (e. g . Paraquat) tr<>atment or epeoi al herbicides to completely kill t hem prior to establishment of arable crops .
Efforts a.re now directed towards eval uation of' more legwnes species and two grasses (Paspal um notatum and Axonopus eompressus} as cover crops for live mulch i n zero tillage cultivation.
Interylanting of Grain Legumes with Food crops Cult ivars of t he cowpea (Vigna uneyioulata), Lima beans and Vigna radiata var. aurem Md other legumes are sometimes interplanted with non-legumes and \loth are harvested for food. Legumes m~ be relay planted with the non-legumes which are harvested first ancl t he legumes companion crops m8if serve as cover crops and/or green man1lre crops. Trials at University of lfe farm, Ibadan, s howed t hat cowpea, green ~am, lima beans , soybeans, velvet bean, calopo and stylo intereropped whh maize redueed maize yieldo as compared to maize grown alone (Crowder, 1970-71). Climbers caused up to 50% red\lct i on in maize yield , Wl>en cowpea, green gram and calopo were plantod on same rowe with maize, no effect on yield of maize or legume was observed. Interoropping of legumes with maize increased grain yields during 3rd and 4th ~ropping seasons of two crops of maize per year "" compared to
- 107 -
unfert ilized plots. Grain y i e lds of logumef.l wer-e considerably higher when t hey '"'ere grown a l one as com pared to intercropping in w hich t he l egume s compete for wat e~ (except in forest a r e<W >~i t h suffic ient rainfall), lig!lt and nut rients, On t he intercropping o f creeping legumes and non-legumes wi t h starchy staples such p_s mai :?.e and cassava - a. widespread praetiee in t raditional e:ropping s~tems of tropical A.:frioa -tl1e legume or
non-l egume cover s erves the purpose of conserving so il s as well as souroe of food. Unfortunately, research on such cropping system s ia only beginning to receive the deserved attention.
6. C<JICLUSIONS
i an important element in m:unmum or zero tillage farming which promises to effec-tively min imise eros ion , loss o f organic mat ter and s oil f erti l ity and improve $oil s tructure and water infiltration thereby enhancing cont i nuous cult ivat ion in t he humid trop i os with m uch reduced or llfi t hout per it'Mis of fallow. 'lerv e:ma.l l quantities o f mul ch have pronouced effecte in t he reduction ofaurfaee l'lmoft' and erosion . Howeve.r;, t he availabil ity of s uffic ient amounts of organic res idue s on the s oil surface, under hOt humid conditions, with its high decompos ition rat e~ may eonntit ute a major constraint in the successf ul use of minimum or zero tillage techniques in t he humid t r opics . The use o f le~inous cover crops which are kil led wi t h herbicides one or two years after esta blishment as muloh in ze~ til l age cultivat ion of maize, oaosava, cowpea, soybeans and pigeon peaa has prove(\ successful in reduc ing erosion, conserving moi sture and maintaining adequate levels of organic matter while giving as good or better y ields than conventional tillage. The us e of some creeping legumes ae live mulch also holds some promise and its potentialities are being evaluated at IITA. ~tu ch rems.ine to be done in (a) evaluat ion and selection of leguminous covers as s ources of dead mulch in minimum t i llage ; ( b) s el ection of species and evaluation of low growing leguminous or other species of eov~rs as 1 ive mulh wh ich can grow compatibly with selected crops; (o) development of soil and crop management techniques associated with t he use of cover crops in minimum or Z$ro t illage; (d ) determination of t he frequencies and mi nimum periods of cover orop fallows for different soils, topograp~ ic s i t uations and ecolosioal zones in the tropics; (e) selection of species and development o.f legume cover crop management systems that enhance t he f t\11 realization of ni trogen fixing potentialities of legumes in minimum tillage cultivation in t he tropics; (f) study of tl1e eoonomios of diff erent cover crop and zer o t i lla ge/rotation/ma.nageinent systems for t he product ion of important c rops of t he tropics; ( g) development of low input equipment, herbicide or other treatments for use by small farmers in t he zero tillage planting; and (h) explore t he possibilities of u s ing leguminous forage oover orope alone or in mixtures i n rotat i ons involving alternate husbandry in mixed farming systems for the humid tropi cs.
~lulching
- 108 -
REFERFNCES
Thmting, B. and Mil tum, J .N. XVI ( 7): 256-281 . 1928
Cover crops .utd manures.
Hal ayan Agrioul ture.l Journal
Crowder, L, V, 1970/71
Forage &lld fodder erops in farming systems.
IITA, Ibadan,
Kuala Lu:npur, Oxford
Hewitt, B.R. et al. Modem agrieultu...., for tropical schools. 1966 Univera i t y Press.
Hutchinson, J,, Dalziel, J .M. and Kaay, R,;r, Flora of Ifest Tropical Africa, 2nd 1958 Edition Vol. 1 Part 2. London Crown Agent for Overseas Government and Administration.
La1' R. 1976a Lal, R. 1976b
So il erosion problems on an Alfisol in Western Nigeria and t heir control. V.onogr!lph V. 1 No-tillage effects on soil properties and crop response in Western Nigeria. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proo. 40(5).
IITA
Lal , R., Wilson, G,F, and Okigbo, B.N. Role of cover crops in reclamation of severly 1977a eroded lands, EJ:pl. Agrio. (in press).
Lal, R., Wilson, G,F, and <kigbo, B.N, llo-till farming &fter various grasses and leguminous cover crops on a tropical soil. Agron . J. (in press). 1977b
Mellroy , R,J, An introduction to tropical Pross, London. 1964
~elend
i'u abandry.
Oxford University
:.rebater, C, C, and Wileon, P.N,
Agriculture in t he tropios,
r-gm..ne, Green and Co, London,

FAO, Rome.
1966
W hyte, R.o. , Nilsson-LeeSTler, G. a.nd Trulnble, H.c. Legumes in agriculture.
195?
Wrigley, G. Tropical
~~grioulture:
The development of production ,
Faber end Faber, London,
- 109-
STUDYING PATTERNS OF SOIL EROSial IN KENYA

"by
Thomae Dunno Department of Geological Scicneos and Quaternary Research Conter

University of Washington , Seattle , USA
1 IN'l'RODUCTIOO
Soil erosion is int ense in many areas of developing countries because of erosive climatic cond i tions, rugged terrain, and heavy land use, yet little quantitative information ie available about the patterns of reservoir impoundment sediment transport is long enough period to hydrologic regimes of
erosion~
This ignorance limits
an assessment of the real magnitude of erosion problems, or the ranking of priority regions for the most urgent soil conservation programmes. When sites are chosen ~or
or other water resource development, a rapid assessment of usually made but ve~ few auch studies are continued for a sample the vagaries of weather and flow which characterize the most developing countries, The accumulat i on of information on
soil erosion and sediment yields is usually too meagre and too l ate for aAe<lllah des ign (Dunne and Ongweny, 1976). The situation requires t he trai ning and su9port of a smal l number of field scientists i n developing nations who will be concerned with field assessment of erosion and sediment transport. They should be able to take advantage of hydrologic records which have sometimes been accumulated for years and have lain unanal ys&d in tl1e f i les of water-resource agencies. Such s cientists should also be capable of setting up networks of stations for the collection of data on erosion and sedimentation in hitherto ungauged areas, and of carry ing out field experiments on soil erosion. The cost of such work would not be high, relative to its value, but the success of the work requires a commitment to fiel d work and continuity of purpose which is frequently lacking.
In t his paper, I review some work on patterns of soil erosion in Kenya and refer to relatively inexpensive methods of studying erosion proceaaea and patl~raa. It wil~
also indicate some of the gaps in our knowledge of soil erosion, particularly in developing countries where physical and land use conditions differ from the ~~re intensively studied, commercial agri cultural region of develo~ed countries.
It is appropriate to stress from the outset, however , that th& accumul ation of field measurements is not enough . In developed countri es, lar~ amountsof money have been spent on monitoring programn:ee and the data have lain unanalyaed for long periods of time. Developing oountriea cannot afford this waste, and the. field aoien~iet lllllBt be encouraeed to analyse data aa they accumulate. Thie part of 1he eQienttric training is a.e important aa instruction in field methode.
Methods of Quantifying Eros i on Rates

There are two ba6ic approaches to the study of eros i on patterns. The first involves sampling t he rate of sediment transport past some point on a river ch&nnel at the out l et of a drainage basin. This method ia relatively cl,eap, and i t i s easy to monitor soil loss rates from large, representative areas by installing gauging stations on a few rivers. Because the measurement of sediment loss is made at a
single point, however, i t is not possible to i nterpret much about the spatial pattern
- 110 -
of erosion within the catchment . Nevert hel ess, sediment monitoring is the most widely ue.ed method of assessing soil et-oJJion rates and many water-resource agencies collect s uspended sediment records routinely . It is usefUl, therefore , to eonsider methods of extract ing t he maximum possible information from such records. The second method of quantifying soil erosion involves direct measurement of aoil removal by individual processes at a number of sampling sites with in the drainage basi n. By strategic l ocation of plots, erosion pins, surveyed cross-sections of gull ies and river channels, it is possible to define the spatial pattern of soil loss, and t o study t he local control s of erosion. If measurement sites are distributed so as to sample a range of hillslope gradient , soil types, land use, and conservation practices, for exampl e, the effects of these variables on soil erosion can be isolated and quantified. This kind of information is necessar.y in the design of land-use and conservation s trategies for devel opi ng countries. Yet very f ew measurements of hi l l alope ero_ s ion processes are presently being made i n these land.s . . There ia a need to encourage scientists in these coW"ltries to use the techniques that are now available. The most useful f i eld methods are described in another paper (Dunne, 19?6 a), which includes a bi bl iography of original sources. Both of t he approaches referred to above incl ude systemat i c monitoring. The conc ept of environmental monitoring ie gaining acceptance and support ( U.N. Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972) and we can reasonably look forward to an increase of erosion measurements in developing countries in t he near fut ure . In o~.er to interpret the reaults f r om monitoring networks, however, it is usually necessary to c arry out some controlled experiments of erosjon 'Jnder differ ent oondicond it ions of hillslope gradient, land use, conservation practice or other vea.riables of intereet. The moat common t ype of controlled experiment involves measuring soil loss from small hillside plots under natura l or art ificial rainfall (Battawar and Rao, 1569; Dunne, 1976b; Fburnier, 1967; Coel et al, 1968; Hudson, 1971; Vasudevaiah et al, 1965). The plots can be subjected to various treatments, such as removal of vegetation, trampling, or t he growing of various c rops. They are useful for previewin8 t he &oil eros i on consequences of a range of wanagement options . Each of t hese approaches is presently being used to study the pattern of soil erosi on in Kenya.
2. SEDIMENT YIELDS OF KENYAN RIVERS
Dt1ring the period 1948-68 , suspended sediment concentrations were measured by the depth-int egrating method at a largo number of river gauging stations throughout south and central Kenya (the only regions of the country which support perennial streams}. At 6.l stations, t he data were adequate for constructing sediment rating eurves . Daily discharge. records f r om the same stat i.ons were t hen used in conjunction with t he sediment rat ing curves to calculate suspended sediment yielda for drainage basins cover ing a ~ide range of climate, topography, and land use. A map of . mean annual suspended s ediment y ields was conatrueted from .the. data (Dunne, ms in preparation). Sediment yialds range from 8 to 19 520 t/km2Jyear. The results of t his national survey can be used direct ly for estimating potential rates of sedimentation of proposed r eservo>r sites . They can also be used for an analysio of the major controls of basin sediment y ields. A great deal of attention has been d irec: ed toward quanti~Jing general rerations hips between basin sediment yield and climate {Langbein and Schumm, 1958; Fburni er, 1960; Dougl as, 1967; Wilson, 1973). The climatic parameter generelly used is mean annual rainfall, either obtai ned from direct measurements or calculated from mean annual runoff and air temperature. Each of the publi~ations listed above proposes a differ ent reat ionsbip between sediment yield and climate. Wilson, who analysed the most compre h en~ive eet of data, conc luded t hat differences in oli~Atie regime and l and use m ake i t impossible to define a single rule relating sediment yield to rai nfall
o r runo ff .
- 11 1 -
The Kenyan data confirm t he s11g~stion of W il son, and of Douglaa (1 96?} that land use i" t he dominant variable whi~h confounds t he e s tabl i s hment of ~neral relo.t ions o f sediment y ield a.nd climate. In Keny a , as in many othe r count ries , land use depends partl y upon climate but t here are important differences of land use in each climatic zone .
In F igure 1, mean annual sediment y i eld per un i t area o f catchment is pl otted
againnt mean annual runof f. The dominant land use in each catchment i s i ndicated by a ayrnbol . In tha abo:enee of a d etailed quant i tativA analysis of land use , the claGsirioation was confined to rour c l asses: com pl etely fores ted ; forest cover ing mor e than 50 percent of the bas i n; a gricul ture covering more than 50 percent of the bas in and tho remainder under forest, and grazi ng cove~ing more than 50 percent of the basin . A fifth c l ass, lightly grazed scrub fores t , contained only two basins .
Even wi t h such a ooa ree c l assification of land use, however, a patt ern is evident.
The lines in Figure 1 are approximate envelopes f or each set of l and use symbols, and very few po ints fall out side t he appropr iate region of t he ~eph . The envel opes
d o not sepa rate the symbols completely beo aue e of di f ferences i n t he ruggedness of topograp~v, t he degrea to wh ich t he major land use dominat es a basin, t he duration of r ecords, and the qttalit y of t he o r iginal data. The r e a r e d r amat ic differences of sed iment yield bet ween land use types. For a. f'ixed v-alue of runoff i n t he f i gure, d i fferences in sedi m ent y ields between land uoe t ypes can vary over two orders of magnit ude or more. The graph s howS 1 however , that l and use i s not the only import ant variabl e . Agricttl t ural cat chments wi t h heavy ru.noff may have ced iment yields wh ich are fa r gr-eater than the driest grazing lands. For each land J Se t y pe, t here is a general increase of sedim ent yields with annual runoff. Tl:e higher runoff yi.elds are ;u;sociated with heavier r ainfalls and t herefor e wit h greater kinetic energy for hi l l s l ope erosion and s t ream transport of erod ed sediment . Regreasion ana.ly r.: i s for basins in each l and uae category yielded t he f ollowing equat i ons , al l of which a r e s igni ficant a t the 0.0') l evel : Forest Forest ) ft.pi'1ul t nr-e
Sed . ;;i el d
2. (;?
0 313 llunorr
r =
o. 98 ,
0 " I l 0 .87 t
n =
4
10
Sod. yield 0 .04 2 lltmoff1 18

Sed . ,y i eld = 0 . 0 38
Sed , 'rield
c
r = 0 . 75 , r
CJ
J\,"Ticul t ure
>..!:Prest
h'unorr1 4 '1
"
n
'9
7
Gr;o.z i n(;\ < lominant

T!e
reere~sion~
0 . 002
Rttnofr 7"
r =
ll =
are plot teO in
Fif,'ll 're ?..
Alt~o,,et, onl-.. fo ur foreste~ 'Ollzins t ; ere av~.l.l ;;'l.ble f or t}is Mal;{ois , tl"e ~m.ll t s a. r e al~oat exa.c71~; t he celtiC over t ie ranee of u~~ dctta e.s t hose from a. fn m1lar a.nt>.l y Ens of sedtment ~tields ft-orn 27 .,athment s in e~s.tern A ustralia. made
The Au:;ltral ic-11. ce:tchment s uer e "~;elected_ to a voj,d a.3 mucl~ ht.una 'l. cli s tl.tr bMr:e a$ pos &i bl c ". His rest.U. t f: &re s~ own in Figure 2.
b.y bouglo.e.: ( 19h7 )
yiel~ inl":re~r;es 1.,l.t r r unof f less rap i'U~ in regions 'fl it. h a fores t cover t /1an i n C\1l't 1ve.ted l ands , t-:ti..,J in t ur tl a.re leEs sensitive ti,an rf'lnenl flnda .
fon: ~t t')Ove r.
Fbr t he otl~er l and ' 1Se t y pes , sed iment ~_;ields are !1igl,er t han lU'Itler t he complete
The e;q>O))Ol1 t :"l in t l
Q
rcgret.u;io.n CfLl~.t;ioll" 1.\b o v e n.J.r:o fSl \ow t J, ut e ed.iment
,
...
- 11 2
. '
?
10,000
,
..... 1 ,0 00

I_ l!.-. ..... , \
Fig. 1 Mean annual yield of suspended sediment and mean annual runoff for catchments under five domir.'\\nt types of land use
9 ...
;;:
1 00
!z ...
iS "' ...
~
"'Ia

OOIIINANT LAND USE
Forut o F'orest>Agrievllutt
Aqrieultvrt>fortst o GrozinQ
10
;~~~;~ ~;:;;:::~ ,~------~--?

0
..'
Serub Forut
.,. . ,. "
lo 1 00 200 300 400 500 6 00 700 800 900 MEAN ANNUAl RUNOI'F (mm I 1000 1100 1 200
"
;
:
~
"
"
,,
10,000
..
1,000
" -
Q)
A>F
100
>-
107-~~~~~~-W~~~~~
10
100
1000
( mm)
Mean Annual Ru noff
Fig. 2 Compar i s on of t he re{';resaion linea computed for the relationship between oediment yield >.nd mean annual runoff for each l and uoe type. The dashed line wau computed by Doup;l as ( 1967) f or fo r est co.tchments i n eas tern Aus tralia.
1P-
Field observat i ons and visual examination of the data suggeeted t hat topograph i c
steepness is a s ignificant factor affecting sediment yields,
Measurement of the
frequency di stribut 5on of hillslope anglea in each drainage basin was not feasi ble with tho reaouroee avai lable for this study, and. a s urrogate measure of basin steepness
had t o be used. Schu!Nll (1 955) showed t hat t he relief" ratio of a catchment {its maximum relief divided by t he l ength of the main stream) was positively correlated
with sediment lose in Colo rado.
The relief ratio was used with moan annual runoff in a stepwise mult i ple regression of the Kenyan sediment y i elds. The results were l imited because most
land use
cat~gories
contained few points.
Runoff proved to be tho dominant vari able
in each case, but only on agricultural l ands did relief ratio add significantly to the explanat i on of the variance in sediment yield. In the other land use classes,
however, t here was a positive relationship between relief ratio and sedi ment yi eld when relief ratio entered the multi ple regressi on as a eeoond variable, and it is
likely that the effect of topography would have been demonstrated with a larger sample. The li~ited data also suggest t hat in a logarithmic multiple regression
equation the exponent of relief ratio increas es in tbe same order as that for runoff. In other words, t he effec t of baoin steepness on sediment yield increases aa t he vegetation nover becomes sp:u:ser. Correction of aediment yields for the e ffect of
catchment area by t he method of Brune (1940 ) did not alter t he general form of the resu.lts, except by increasing t he sediment yieldo. llo bedload data are ava.ilable for J<enya. and so the yiel ds referred to above underestimate the true soil loss , Field observatione suggest that bedload transport is small in the volcanic uplands, where most of the eroded sediment is fine grained.
The larger rivers draining the lowlands of Eastern Kenya rece ive considerable amounts of coa.rse sand f rom erosion of Boila on soh i ste and gneisses. Some of this material
moves as bedload, but its contribution to t he basi n sediment yield will not be known until a programme of bedload transport measurements is undertaken.
3, HI LLSLOPE MEASUREJo!ENTS OF EROSION
In sparsely populated dry regions, where stream flow ia rare , there i s little likelihood that developing nations can bear the cost of maintaining stream gauging
stations for the purpose of assessing sediment yields . Under these conditions, soil erosion can be monitored direct ly on hillslopes, Th i s can be done by instal ling plots
or networks of eros ion pins, Leopold et al, (1966) demonstrated how various techniques for ~easuring hillslore erosion processes could be used to obtain a sediment budget for a small rangeland catchment. A major problem with all field methode which i nvolve
installing even simple equipment, however, is it s susceptibility t o theft or disturbance.
Soil erosion rates can also be evaluated by measuring recent lowering of the surface against some dateable reference, Judson {1968) obtained rates of soil removal from the depth of exposure of Roman archaeological sites. Fence posts often
show marks indicating the position of the soil surface at t he time of installation.
The difference between t his hei~:t and t he present soil surface divided by the age of the fence-line gi ves t he so il eros i on rate.
The most widespread indicators of surface lowering in some areas where erosion is intense are exposed tree roots or mounds of residual s o il prot ected unde\ the canopy of t rees or bushes while t he aurrounding soil is l owered (see Fig. 3). If the
1 ree or bush eM be aged by counting growth rings (as many tropi cal species can, in spite of t he popular mieconception tha.t trop i c al woody plants do not produce annual
or seasonal growth rings), t he height of t he mound divided by the age of the plant
indicates the average rat e of surf ace lowering. In some areas t he dating problem i s simplified dramatic ally if there is evidence that so i l eros ion was accelerated after a period of intensive vegetat i on dear ing. The he i ght of t he root exposure or mound ean be measured simply and qui~kly as s hown in Figure 4
- 114 -
'>f:.
''
Fig. 3
An erooion mound protected by a tree canopy >1hile the surrounding land surface is lowered by erosion. The height of thi s particular m ound i s 60 em
b)
DEPTH OF EROSION MINIMUM LEVEL OF FORMER SOIL SURFACE PRESENT SOIL SURFACE
Fig.
4 Measurements of erooion rates f rom tree root exposures, On suitable tree

species t he hei~ht of t he fonner ~ound ourface is located by examining the tree for ai(9JS such as the position of the basal flare or t he boundary between
trunk bark and root bark, This should be done O l'lly after examining trees in relatively uneroded s ites , A carpenter's level is then placed at t he estimated level of t he former land surface and its height above the present soil surface is measured >lith a ruler
Cupynghted matcnal
- 11 5 -
Problems of i nterpretat ion arise wi t h t his method, and a great deal of c are shoul d be taken to check for potent i.al proolems in each reg ion before t he method is used there. A dateable tree spec ies must be found and t he tree-ring eh ronolo(C' establ i s hed . or t he onset of ~celerated erosion must be dated from aerial photograp hy or other local information. Growt h rings can be counted on each tree for w hich root exposures a r e r.: easu~ti, t")llt th ; s ro;;:~~ n be .,e r y t ime-r.nnsu.mi ng. An al terna.t i v e method involves cu t t ittg down or c oring only a sampl e of t rees and const ructing a graph of trunk d iameter versus age fo r each spec i es and region (see Figure 5 ). Each t ree used f or measuring t he eros i on rat e can t hen be ag~d f rom its ~tam di ameter . Other sources of unc ertainty ari se wi t h t his me thod . Some t r ees produce t heir own mound by develop i ng a wide basal flare or even by developinff but tress roots above the ground surface as they grow. Thi s probl em can oe avo ided by choos ing a species wh ich does not have these charact eristics . Careful exami nation of trees i n
aitea w hich are not undergo ing i ntense erosion (such as plateaux or heavily vegeta ted
areas) shoul d sug~st t he most useful t ree Spec i es t o use as an erosion indicator
in each region.
We also c ompare plants wi t h a range of ages to observe how t he plant,
its root , and t he motmd or root exposure develop as the t ree or bush g rowc:t.
Speeiec, or at least individual trees, w h ich regene~ate from old stumps or root stocks s hould be avo i ded because t he mound is more likel y to be r elated to t he age of t he older pl ant than to t he new stem. Termi t-es often build mounds around trees and these must also be avo ided . Recognition of t l'is probl em is not always easy, especia lly i f t he mound i s no l onger colo.nized and has been eroded. Small termite mounds can usual ly be recognized by their looser textu re and higher organic
c ontent than surrounding erod ed so ilo . They also lack psdogen io s tructures. Mounds
produced by wind deposition
also have a d ifferent s t ructure and texture from t he
s urrounding eroded area, and can be recognized t hrough careful examinat i on.
sources of uncert ainty are described by &~rdley (1 967) and by Lamarche (1 96 8 ) , who pioneered t he met hod on Bristlecone pines in Utah and in t he Whit e Mountains of Cal i forn i a.
Ot her
We incorporate measurements of tree-root expos ures into a general hillsl ope

survev of topograp~v. vegetat ion cover and soil s , as described by Leopold and Dunne (1971). At i ntervals of 100 meters along t he hillslope profi le we measure t he he ight of t he root exposur e or erosion mou,nd under the five or ten nearest t rees or bushes of t he species being used in t hat area. The p r ocedure illllstr ated in Fi gt> re 4 i s carried out on oppos it e sides of t he tree a long t he contou r. The plant is also aged. The average eros i on rate for t he 5-10 plMts i o t hen com puted for each s i te . The data c nn be used for mapping t he variation of er osion depth along a hills i de (Dunne , 19'16a, F igure 10) and t herefore for computing t he total amount o f soil lost from a sample o f hillelopea in each region. Thay can also be usad for studying t he e ff ect of grad i ent on eros ion, as s t own fo r a single rock/so il cQmplex in Figure 6 . Mea~n1rements of t hi s kind were used t o q uant i fy differences in rates of soil loss on th :~:ee r ocJr./noil c:ompl exes in Kaj i ado Di strict, a heavily grazed r angeland i n so uthern Kenya. I have quanti f ied d i fferences o f soil erosion rates on hi l l slopes with diffe:ri r'l g g rad i ent s, soil t,yp~s, and intenElity o f vegetation removal in t he Maralal ar ea o f northe r n Kenya . 'rho results ar e il lustrated in Figure 7.
These field measurements s~ ow t hat the r ate of aoil erosion on even gentle gradients in K enyan ra.nne-l ands i s ext r emely hi()l: by com parison wi t h t he .rates compiled by Young (1 969) for a va r i oty of r ogions throughou t t he world . OveY' t he last 10-20 years , so il has been lost at rates in t he range of o. 1 to 0 . 5 cm/:rr on t he At hi-J<apiti p l a i n and 0. 4 'tO 1. 2 cm,&r i n Northern Kenya. Tl-:cae valuea arc equivalent t o yi elds o f 1000 - 18 000 t /km2 /yr d epending on the bulk d ens ity of the soil. It i s diffi c ul t to compare t hes e va l ues direct l.Y wi th bas in s ed iment y ields, boca.use a portion of t he s oil mobil i?.;ed from hi ll s ides comes to rest i n swal,es,
- 116 -
100
Ill Ol
c:
.r::: .....,
L Ol
~ 0
0
......
D
50
ill
E =' z
0
y .
~
Y.' . ./
... . . ....
. . y
0/
'
Stem diameter (em)

Pic. 5
Relationsh ip between number of seasonal growth rings and trunk diameter
0.25 m above the ground surface for Aoaeia drepanolobi um trees on tho
plains of Kenya. The r ings have not yet bean counted under a microscope and so their numbers are stil l tentati ve . Biologists measuring
Athi- Y~piti
pl ant growth in the region tell us that there are two strong growth periode
in each year, even dur ing t i mes of low rainfall
w>::
WC/l
1.0 a: ._
!:i~
!:i~
~.J
oa:;O o..C/) o..u. <XO

0
X.J
0.10 HILLSLOPE
0.20
GRADIENT
The granitic and
Pig, 7
Average annual rate of soil l os s as a function of grad ient for hill-sides

on two rock t ypes near Bar ingo and t-1ara.lal , N. Kenya.
gneiss i c Basement rocks (solid l ines) weat her t o sandier soils than those wh ich develop on t he l avas (dashed lines) , The fonner are more resistant than t he latter t o erosion

..........
L
~
u
'-"'
E 0.4
<1) +'
a::
ro
rI
(/') (/')
_30.21
0
1,})
....,
I
0.02
0.04
Hillslope
0.06
Gradient
0 .08
0.10
'<:
0 "0
~
Flg, 6
<0
~
IV "' "
3
Average annual ratee of eoil lose as a function of gradi ent for 38 eitee on 7 gr&:ed h illeidee on the At hi-Kapiti plains of Kenya . The ratee are tent ative until the tree ringS from which they were calculated can be checked under a hish-pewered microscope
::T
""
- 118-
f loodplains, and other storage s ites.
The measured sediment yield per unit area for
catchments usually decl ines, t herefore, as t he size of the bas in increases. I know of no published inf ormation which indicates tl1 e rate at wh i ch this decline occurs
for arid regions, but in moist er agric ultural regions of t he Uni ted States, Brune (1948), Maner(1958), and Roehl (1962) have s hawn that sediment yield per unit area is proportional to the catchment siee raised t o a power of approximatel y- 0.15 to ..0.20. Ueing a value of.. -o.20 the I:Ceny!'Jl rangeland sediment yields WOllld be approximately 150-2 roo t/km2fyr at 100 km 2 and of 90-1 620 t/km2/year at 2 000 Jm?. These values are in the same range as most of the bas in values for the drier grazl rtg l ands
in Figure 1, and confirm t he evidence that soil erosion there is extreme.
This kind of simple measurement could profitably be made more widely in the
rapidly eroding regions of developing countries . Two people with only a hand level,
tape, carpenter's level, and rule can make an erosion s urvey of one to two kilometers
per day, and in doing so collect a great deal of informat ion on erosion rates and t heir controlling factore, In addition to costing little, t he method hae some ot he~
advantages over installing plots to monitor soil loss. The tree-root measurements yield dat a immediately, r ather t han the investigator having to wait three or more
years to obtain usable data. Secondly the resu lting calcul at ions of erosion rate average QUt int er-annual fluctuations which ma.,y d istort the pictu_re over a s hort measurement period on a plot. Thirdly, there a~e no i.nstallat ions to be disturbed or stolen. On the other hand , monitoring of soil l ose from plots or by e rosion
pins can yield more detailed info mat ion, suoh as the contribution of rainstoms of vari ous sizes. Plots are partioula~ly useful where the rate of erosion is less than the high values shown shove, or where trees and bushes a~e rare. In other words, use of t he two methods oan be oomplementarJ. know
In addition to collecting information on soil loss from hillsides we need to more about the fat e of the eroded sediment. There i s very little information
on thie topic even in regions where soil erosion has been studied intensively and
almost none for developing countries.

tions as it moves down a
drain~
Sediment is
tempo~arily
stored at many loca-
basin after i t a initial release from a hillside.
Such locations include footslopes, unchannel l ed swalea, channels and floodplains, lakes and reservoire. The amount of sediment accumulating at each of these sites is important from both an economic point of view (rates of filling of reservoirs and
atock ponds) and an ecological po int of view for those interested in t he nutrient
supply and depth of water holding sediment delivered to swalea and floodplains. Our ignorance of t he fate of ero.d ed sediment i s important to a f ull understanding of
the effects of soil erosion, and eould be remodied by a programme of & implo, repeated
topographic surveys at sites where t he sediment accumulates,

4. CCJITROLLED Pim EXPERIMENTS
To provide quantitative in.f ormation on the controls of soil eros i on on Kenyan

rangelands, we have begun a set of controlled experiments using a portable Sprinkl er system which generates artificial rainstorms over a 5m by 2m plot (see Fi gure 8). With this system a storm of, say, one hour's duration and intens ity of 7em/hr can be
applied to plot s on a range of hillslope gradients on wet or dry antecedent condi t ions,
with the grass cover in vari ous states . W ith repeated irrigations of a plot to simulate a whole wet season, we can grow and cut grass to various cover densities.
But runoff and soil loss

loss.
~at es
are monitored dur ing the storm, and a sample

The :r-eeul te can be used
of the rea,tlts from one experiment are given in Figure 9.
to compare plots on the basis of i nfiltration capacity, total runoff, or total soil in their typical cond i tions at the end of a dry season.
will be desc r ibed in a set of forthcoming papers.
Figure 10, for example, ~ompare s so il l oss f rom three soil vegetation compl exes
These and s imilar resul ta
Copyrighted mate 1al
- 119 -
Fig. 8 The sprinkler system used for generating artificial rainstorms on hillside plot s in Kajiado District, Kenya
::J
0 .c c a::: Eu
~
1...
1-
I I
20
40
60
OOL-~--~---L--~--L---~~
20
40
60
Time
( m i ns)
Fig. 9 Hydrographs of runoff and soil loss from a 5m x 2m plot during an artificial rainstom. Stonn duration was one hour a.nd the intensity '""as 6. 9 cm/hr
Cupynghted matcnal
- 120-
c ::J a::
0
..... c =>
L
,....._
100
a.
~
_j
v
0
---.
0>
'-"
E ~
00
0
X
I
X
X
I I I
lf) Fig, 10
0.05 Plot Gradient
0 .10
Total soil loss in a one-hour rainstorm on dry conditions from plots in t heir usual condition at the end of a dry season, The crosses represent vertisolic clay soils on volcanic rocks with a ground cover averaging 65 85%; the circl es represent sandy clay loama on schists with a ground cover of about 10%1 and the triangl es indicate sandy ol ay loams with covers of 0 - 7% developed on volcanic rocks
SUMMARY Tile purpose of t he present paper i s to i ndicate t he range of approaches availabl e for studying so il erosion in developing countries . MOat of t he techniques are simple end can be carried out by a small team of f ield scientists in each country.
The c ost of a u_ o h a programme would bo omAll relat ive to ita 1/alue, whioh was reviewe d
at the beginni ng of this paper. There are many gaps in our knowl edge of the magnitude, di stri bution, and controls of soil erosion in the tropic s. We do not know a great deal about t he degree to which various conservation techn iques presently r&duee soi l
lose .
In view of the present concern about "desertificat i on'' and the many pessimistie
reviews of the status of eroded lands in some devel oping countri es , it would be worthwhi le to oollect some quantitative informat i on to for.m an objective ba~is for decision ~~king about soil conservation. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The work reported here was begun wi t h the funding of the McGill- Rockefeller Programme (Prof. T, L, Hi l l s , Di rector ) and the cooperat i on of the M ini stry of Water Devel opment , Nai robi . It was continued with . support of the American Philosophical Society and the Explorers' Club, The sprinkling experiments wer<> carried O)lt while
t he writer was employed as a consultant to t t1 e Kenya Wildlife Management Progr&mme
(FA O) and t he Ministr.Y of Touriem acd Wildlife, Government of Kenya .
- 121 -
Ba.ttaua.r, H.D. and Ra.o , V. P . !~ffocti von es s of c rorr-cover fo r reducinP.:' runoff and soil l oss. 19<)9 J. Soil and HatAr Conservat ion in I mlie 17{3 and 4) : 3~)0 .
.Brune , G.l!.
194B
1967
Rates of s e<i i rnent product ion i n t he mid~Jestern thl i ted States. Conservation Scr ;ice Technical Pape r 65 . Man, vce;etation ruul t he sed iment ,yield s of r ivers . Nature
u.s.
Soil
Dougla.s, I.
21 ) : 9 25-928.
Dunne , T. EvaluntJ.on o f e r os i on cond itions and t r ends . In: "at er~hcd management: !ll>i-<lelines . S . H. Kunkle {ed .) FAO , Rome (in press). 1976a
field
Dunne, T .
1976b
Intensity and control s of soil eroaion in Y.aji ado District, Kenya.

Rep ort to t he Kenya iHl dl if'e tjana_gernent Project I Nairobi .
F AO , nom e.
ConetU taney
Thume , T. and On~ieny, a.s.o. A new estimate of t he rate of s edi mentation in reservoirs 1976 on the Upper Tt,\.Oa. a . , J\.enya. The Kenya.Yl Geogrnphi cal Journal, December (in prens) .
t.~rdley,
A.J
1967
Ra.tes of d enudation as m~a.sured by hrist leoone pines, Cedar Breaks , Utah . Utah Goolo~iO{tl and Fiineral.ogica.l Survey ~~ec l.aJ. Stud ies 21 , 13 p .
Fburnier , F. Clirnat et ~ros ion: la rel ation ent re 1eroeion d1t aol par lte~u et les 1960 pr~c ipita. t i ons atmonpheriqnes . Pre s~cG lkl i vel'{>ita.ire, Po.ris 1 201 p . Fbumier, F. H~sea.rc h on so il eros ion a.n(l conservation on the con tinent o f Africa. 19(,7 Afri can Soils , 12(1 ) : 5-51 .
hanna, J<. L. an<l Gupt a , R.!l . Effect o f de~ee and lengt h of s l ope and soil r..oel , Y, . N. , K t y pe on pl Ant nutrient losses by Nllt er erosion in t he all uvial t racts of Uttar 196/i l'r.edcst~ . J. So il anc l 'rh\ter Con:;;ervation i n India 16 (1 and 2 ): 1-6 .
Hudson , [.; . H. Soi l Conservation . Co:r.noll Unlvorr;it~,. Press , Ith:mr~, N.Y., 320 P Science , 16() : 14-41/-1 44(- .
1971
J ;;-:lnon ,
1 J(,[j
s.
J ros iorl r~t~s n~a.r R J>!:-.e , It~l~F
i.an.ebel.n ,
195C
~ o pol d 1
t>:. n
Yielti of t::e<hment i r; r~la.tiorl 1:o mean a.1 .1nual 9 rec ip itation . ltE!'teri~i'U1 QeopJ ..rs ice..), Oni on , Tr~JlSRc. 39 : 107()-1 0 04 .
.anr
~~i'-mnrr,, B . ~.
1971
~l.aner 1
~ ~on~ . . ..., . . , T o Fl. . od f or l.l.ll"': ' o. l J ..U u. n."'.. u i.!J .... . ~t<' ~ L retl " ., ..._ '"e descr i pt i on . .Or i 't ir.;h Geomorpl,olo gical He sear-ch Group , 24?
Ter-b Bull . 7,
s.:a. }o'"'actora {'l.f'f'ecting sediment del i very rfl.tios ir, the Red Hill s ph.yaioeraphic area.
1950
.lmerican Ceopl>_y<;ic~l lin:io , 'hans~.c . 39(<i) : 66~675 .
Roe) -1, J 1'16?.
.v :.
Sed l.ment BOurce a r eM. d el i vo ry rn.tio~; and influenoine mor pl,o logioal f'tt.ctorc. !ntt!rnat ion~l Af~so~i~.t io.t~. o f :>ciontif:ir-; 1~'>"'-!rol oe,y Publl~11t ion ')J, p . ~2-21 ) .
Sc1 v..mm ,
1~}C; -:;
~ .A .
rt:he r elation Qf drf!JnQ.~ b;J.a in rel ief t o nedil!lent l oss . Internat i onal i'a :::ociat i on of ~c ient i fJ.c ti.:rrlr-olo~~ Pnbl i r-:::ttion 36 , 9 ~1 6-21 9 .
- 122 -
V~w.l cvniat, ,
rt. D., Sineh Te ot in, S . P .. nnd perennial ~::tZRo :..; on 1) ( 3 >J-'ld ti ) : 30- JG .
~
Cul~,
D.P.
r hm0ff - &o i l locs dcterminnt ion
1965
s tudies nt De oGI''Ultln Bxpcrim<mt St ati on :

~ro p$ ~' ..ll(\
II
Eff<l~t
of
anm~<>l
ru~d
cult i vated
e:r~in
pnMe nt
DlO t>e~
J . Soil
Hat er Cons ervo.tion
i n ltl'lia
~lilson,
L.
1973
Young, A. 1')69 .
ion in mean ::t..nm1.a l s ed iment yield a.s a function of p recipitation . lerir;M Jotrnal or Sc ienee 27): 335- 349.
Var i~t
'
Present r ate of l antl erooi on .
Na ture
224 : 8)1--1}5 2.
t '!
I
t i
t
I
I l
.' t
- 12'. -
P~er
}lo, 8
SOIL !lROSION AND
R~;SERVOIR
SSDDiCliTATiilll - CASE S'I'UDIJi:S n; TANZAliiA

by
Anders Re.pp Department of Physical Geography , Univers ity of lUlld

1, lliTRODUCTION Soil erosion and ~oil conservation have long been major iGsues in a numbA r of tropil)al areas, not leASt in TanzaniA. l!ueh of t he debate on t hese i ssues ha s been ca r ried on with only superficiA.l s pecific information on t he types of p ro~esses at work, t heir relati ve import~~ce and t heir rat es of ope rat i on. The main purpose of our project "'a& t o o btain reliable irifo:nnat ion on t he types, extent and eontomporacy rntes of !'!Oi l eros ion ~ (1 rEHHnvo i r sed i m ent 9:t ion i.n TAn7.Ania. It lla.B hoped t hat such information might form a more rational basis for future s chemes of so U and water conservation in critical areas in Tanzania and other countries with s imilar ecological conditions.
The Dar es Salaam/Uppsala Un i vers i ties Soil Erosion Resear<:h Pro .i ect (DUSER Project) was car ried out cluri ng the poriod 1968-1972. It resul ted ;from -,oopor o.t i on bet-reen ne Department of Physic al Geography o f t he Uni ver$ ity of Uppsala, Sweden, and t he Depa rtment of aeography , t be Bureau of Resource Assess~ent and Land Use Planning (BRALUP), and t he Department of Agri cultural Ctemistry of the University o f Dar es Salaam, Tanzan i a,
The m ein s ponsor of t he DUSER Pro ject was the Bank of Sweden, Stockholm. The Univer$ity of Dar es Salaam provided f\mds through BRAWP, Other valuabl e ass i stance was provided. by the Tanzania Ministry of Water DeveloJ)Gient and Power and t he llinistr:y of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) m !.d e grAnts towar ds t he costs of aerial survey :.Llld pa rt of t he costs of publ ishing.
A first s tep toward r a t i onal and ecological ly sound land use , in Africa or el cewhere, ia to make an inventory of the t y pes and extQnt of present degradation of vegetation lllld soil and to monitor the c hanges. This is t r ue with r egard to both traditional and mecl\M ized or "modernized" forms of l and use. A second step i s interdisciplinary eeol ogic al res&arch and training f or bett er land us e .
In Of"'ler to s tudy typeo of soil erosion monitor pres ent rates of eroaion and determine t he eonsequeneos of e rocion, it is necessary to oarl~l out continuous studies of water an<l s ediment flm< in natural watersheds. This is called t he "catchment approach" or '"'latershed approach". Such s tudies must be performed in a variety Of environments. So far, only a few quantit ative catchment s t udies of t hi s kind ha.ve been perfonned in developing countries. Exatnples of such studies a re t hose undertaken by Dormannt Likens and Eaton (1) in New England, Douglas ( 2) i n liala,y s i a. , and Rapp et al (3,41 i n Tanzan i a. Some aspects of t he latter studies will be present ee! below.
2. SOil, mOSictl AND ITS En'FJCTS
'I')';e mQst common forms o f t;oil erosiott a r~ cal1Sed by rum)ing water or b;f wind, or by a oom bina,tio n of t hes e two. Both water erosion and wind erosion are particularly ef f ective in c limate s here lonl!""last ing dry seasons ~<eaken t he vegetation cover and t he soil is exposed to later attack 'by intensive rainst oms or (\ust storms. V eeeta.t i on
- 124-
cover is t he best ,nerol protection against t he waal ing away of soil particles by runoff or the blowing rway of soil as dust . A dense grass oover can in this respeot be aa efficient a.a a forest e over in protect in~ the soil (5). Pire and overgrazing contribute very much to the erosion hazard in Afriean semi-arid areas by exposing the so i l to t he assault of water and wind as well as to the heat of direct sunlight, reducting t he biological aotivit,y i n t l1e nea!'-surface zone of the soil. Tropical and subtropical semi-arid areas are thus, in general, zones of great potent i al erosion hazard, due to t he combination of sparse vegetation at the end of t he <ley season and periodically very intense rainstorms or dust storms. other environments with potentially great erosion t.azards are mountains. Many mountai n areas in Africa have been subjected to a high degree of exploitation by man, with def orestation, buming, cultivation of steep slopea,soil erosion by slo'Pe wash, landsliding and otlJer fol1l!S of degradat i on,
probleo~, which hae been emphsized recently by, e.g., Greenland '!J'd Lal
Also in t he lowland, humid tropics sOil degradat ion by erosion is a serious (1975) (6).
Erosion causes losses of productive topsoil, organic matter, nutrients and water . Up t o 50 percent of the annual rainfall can be lost from eroded slopes due to deoreassd i nfiltration and high surface runoff, The downstream effects of this are increasing fioodpeaks witl'l higher sediment loads from denuded souroe
areas of r i vers. The increasing sediment loads result in taster filling of
reservoirs and thus shorten the useful life of these reservoirs.
The water erosion on a naked,sail-eovered slope increases with intensity of rainfall, s lope gradient, length of slope, surface runoff, and erodibility of the soil. Splash erosion, caused by t he direct impact of w ater drops on the soil, affects the entire slope, from t he crest to t he valley botton, The splash makes the fine soil particles start moving, It also creates a wet crust on t he soil; small aplasbtd particles of eoil enter and seal the surface pores, thus decreasing t he infiltrat ion rate of t he water into the soil and increasing the surface runoff. Sheet erosion i s the washing away of a t hin surface layer of soil. Rill erosion e auses erosion fUrrows of several ~~ in depth. Gully erosion oreatoa furrows of more than one meter in depth. All these forms of erosion oan bo created by temporarily high surface runoff, River erosion, either by bank cutting or bed scouring, does not eome \mdor the heading of soil erosion (interfl.uvial erosion), but is nevertheless of very great importance and is cl osely linked with soil erosion.
On billalopes of some steepness, landslide erosion may ooour, generally , as a

sudden
movemen~
of soil and weat hered rock, ereating a slide
sea~.
Some landsl ide
masses tha.t begin with a sliding movement change into v iscous flows ae they move down the slope. Suo~ flowing masses of loose material oomposed of soil or rock debris are called debris flows or mudflows (7). The oonvnon forms of eplaet:, eheet and. rill erosion ean be studied in erosion
plots of a few meters in dimens ion or even in a l aborat ory. The larger forms of erosion sue!> as gullies, landslides and debri s flows have to b<> studied m~ inly in natural catchments, due to t heir less f requent occurrence and large siz.e . l~a'1ier erosion Md elides have downstream effects on sediment transport and deposition. Thus a catchment basin is a useful Wlit for studies of t he erosion/sedimentation system.
- 12) -
4.
EROOIO!/ AIID SEDIMl:llTATIQi Dl FIVE Clli'CJU.!ENTS Ill S UII-ARID TA!IZA!HA
1 -iM-m.a.:lc and na.tur al l akes act e.s s ediment tr.'\ps .md sto!"e ottrt: of tPe m a.teriu.l eroded. and transpot"'ted U,y rtumine Hater from t he cat chment . In semi-a r id a reas;, at reams flow only oc r. a sion ~.l ly and tle flow of wate r ;..nd. sediment i a d ifficult to measure. However, the sediment trap;Jed and depos ited on tl:e bottom of a reservoir ea.n be measured and analysed nnrl cal'! t hus reveal tte iist o ry of sediment;.ti.on s inr:e the time of the drun co:nstruo.t ion. I t Qan also tell t l> e bistory of erosion in the c atchment 1 a.l t i:ougl onl;r in a generalized way t as much of tl~ e m aterial eroded from tte elop~s of U'e catchm ent i s terr:pora.ril,y deposited upstre.;tm of the reservoir. e.g. s ome parts are depos ited at t he base of t he eroded slope, other portions on t he floodplains and atill othe rs on the riverbeds. But some material reaches the reservoi r and is d epositod in a d elta or as fi.ne-!rl'ained bottom sediment on t hA lake floor beyond t he delta. Some of t he fine-grained suspended m aterial is carried out of the reservoir by t he f l ow, Sediment surveys of silt i ng res ervoirs can be used to f orec ast how fast the basina wil l be filled u ~ and made useless . The sediment -survey approach was used in stud ies of f ive small reservoirs and "atctoments, fou r in tl> e Dodoma area (4) of cent ral Tanzani a And another ne ar Arusha in northern Tanzania (8). The Dodoma area is a semi-arid plain with scattered hills o f gran i tes and eneissee, s o-called inselbergs (Figure 1). The soils ar e red and sand,y on t~Je gently sloping plains ( pediment e l opes), and black, crack ing clays on t he flood-plains. Tl'e annual rainfall is l ess t han 600 mm. The d:ry s eason i s about 7-8 mont hs long, lastin8' f'rom ~iay until Dec ember. Kisongo catchment near Arusha is underlain by yo ung volcanic rocks. The soils are dark, sil t y-sandy and derived from weathered volcani 0 l avas or ashes. The annual rainfall is about 800 mm and t he dry season no rmally lasts 5-6 months. Some data on the five reservoirs and c atchments are given in Table 1. A ll catchments are under intense land usc and are much overgrazed by cattle . CUltivation and collect ing of firewood also contribute to erosion . The s ediment ation rate i n each of t he reservoirs t-raa determined. by repeated surveying o f cross-profiles. Invent ories of t he erosion features in t he c atchments were made by means of air pltoto interp ret at ion and field check ing (Fi gure 2 ). Rni nsplas t. and nh eet \otash a.r$ probabl y t he m ost important types of erobion in t he area. t hat was stucl iecl . Gullies appea r i n d i s t inct zonas on t! e U$)per pediment elopes near t he foot of t he inselbergt: in tle Docioma catcPmente. In t he l<iaongo area t he gul l ies are cut along catt l e tra~ks near t-he m a in d rainage 1 ines of the catchment. No r.ew areas of gullying could be tr~ed by comparison with old air p~otographe in t he Dod orna caterments but e xt ene: ion of some s ingle gul l ies h~ ocQurred ainee t he early 1950s. The res e rvoirs have vary high r ates of sedimentation. Three of tt1em , l kowa, Matumbulu and Ki eongo, have very "tort expe~ted total livee o f 25- 30 year s Rlld atilt s l'orU,er economic 1 i vee. Tl"o QX'p O ~ted total lite of a. reservoir is the per iod from t he eonstruetion of t he drun to t he time wl' en the whole stor ag<o vol ume is fill ed ~< it h sediment. Tl1 e economic life of &. reservoir ia t he period riHring whit:P t he economic advant~s o f us i ng t he reservoir outweigh t he i nvestment coat&i t he reservo ir ' s economic li fe usually ends wl> en sed iment fills ')0-75 percen t of t ho total storge volum&. The a.nnual s edim~nt yie l da cor respondinEr to t re s edimentation i r1- t he surveyed res ervoirs va q from 200 to 730 m3/krn2 per ,year {mean va.h:es f or loneeat period of available data) . In addition, l~rge volu.mes of serlim&nt hav~ been deposited upGtream of t he rese rvoi rs as tlin 1 sandy s !'eets on lower pedi ments, as sand f ans along stroatn <::ltannels anrl as s ilty-clayey l ayers Oh mbue;a fl o odpl ains, tl' e l atter occu r ring parti~ularly in t he Ikowa catchment (!o'"~igure 1 )a
- 126 -
Fi g. 1
;;:; ..
8U IGIR I
'
, ' ,. ....
Location map of reservoir sites, Dodoma area, Tanzania, Key: 1. Bedrook hills of granite or mignatic granite. 2. S111111it with altitude in metere, 3, Reservoir investigated in the lllleer project. 4. Floodplain of "mbuga" type. 5 Road. 6. Railwa,y, On insert map: L V Lake Victori a, L T Lake Tanganyika, D = Dodoma, Dar Dar ee Salaam, black rectangle urke area covered by main map
Clel\
Tabl e 1
mll1
M
P!a~
fltlltl
sdlmnl dt nudallon
~lt1d .
A.nnua.l
SoU
b~Cit4
lolaI
km'
m.'k;n
lio
li<OI'tol ' . M31U>Y'k
t>vh
- lm>'g i i<ISC fl$10 MQtOOOtO - MQ1A

M.:::ing o
M $ll1 01t~
'"' ., ,., '"
1;10,'50
., ~ ,, ,.
l83r-'. '
1~2'1
1!>"1116 ~
m P
t32S I;~
... , . . ,., .. '" ... ... ... .... '"' "" .. ,,..,
m'Jkm'
(lj'J
flit "
mrn/Jtar
Period
1~-&9
19(1~... ?1
ftlton'Ooll
lit or
30)Nra
30 '(8,\1$
\5.;4-11 19J0- 7t
IY..:l- 11
1\0 19!1
0.2G
196~70
no r.-stiYQII
2S '(etfS
yu<:J ye;a,"
1!li0"02 <?l 11<1
,., f'.f"l\'
Dta on d enuelfl.ion rot~s are bas~d on res rvoh sedimtnt a\lr'lrs tl'ld total {Nos 1-51. umpllno of t U'f)tndtd load In strums [No. 61 volume of landslide Ktfl res vltln9 hom on r einstorM or two houtt d~o~r atlo-n lNo. 7]. No. 1 It the oflly ca~~ bs.ed on volum . . of eroalon scar~ Hence l t It no1 dit~lly comparble 10 the otMt CUM which a r blind on t edlment deposits or tedil'ltl!'tll 1otd In ' ''m ... Rllet ttlio It mklmum re!Jtt ol cl~hment in metert. dltidM bt lentlh of CJ~Ichmenl In kilo rn~l~rs. f.COt\OI'I'Iie lilt ol t illing rHei'\'Oht b lhotltr tttan epec:ltd lOilll llle un.lil 100 p ~rct:"nllilling
are oatonmente with reservoirs in semi-arid a reas. Nos. 6-7 are eatchmenta in t be Uluguru mountains with high precipitation and no reservo i rs
Soil denudation rates in seven catchment basins in Tanzania.
Nos.
1-5
- 127 Ji'ig. 2
N yonko l l
MATUMBULU
CATCHMENT
Dodomo district
Land use. erosion and sedimentation 1950
II
'
,o.\AEA. OF" JNrt;NSE GULLYiNG
"'
'""
AAA ()f. ltiTEr.tS SHU T WASH
,. r. ..
~
' .. ..j SA N O f!AN t;;:,

S TREAM CHM.;N(l
HESPWO!A CULTI\r"A T0 LM.,O OR R~ C ;/IfrLY ASo\NOON0 FttLOS

1NSEL9EJIG W I I'H FOAESl OR
Map of land uee, erosion and sedillflntation, Matumbulu catchlllen Tanzania. Be.eed on a ir photographe from 1960 and field obeokil during 1969-71. Note the zones of eroeion and deposition: gullied upper pediments with intense sheet w&ah, cultivated lower pediments, stream ohllllnele with three sand :fans and reservoir with heavy sedimentation. Map by ~ Chriatiansson. .Area of Figure 3 indicated by frame.
DENSE" SUSH
ROAD
.....
M AJ OA. CATTI. Jto \CK

SETH ~MENTS
01 1.4 1NAGE OIVIOf
- 128 -
1 00
20:) 300 dO<) !:rOO G OO M ETERS

3 BED. OCT 1969
'100 800 900
' HfD. DEC 1971
2 BED, OCT 1910
ORIGINA.l BED. MARCH t960
Fig. 3
Long profiles of MalumQulu reservoir, 196o-71 . A aandy delta 1a rapidly filling the reservoir. The gradient of the acCUII!Illation in slightly lesa than the original stream channel above full supply level, alightly more below t hat level. Prediction of 1~ filling by 30 years after construction,
Potential use of fill ed reservoir as groundwater storage ehould
be investigated,
-.
7.
c
w ~
.. . . . ...... .. . . . ; .. . .
.... ...: I
:;~.;!
'
::' .r'.t
to--.
-~
------:..._
?
,
- --~ ..
.,
0 0.
--...... . '----........ ;1
.
0 .26
:u;
,.
260
100
t IM AGI
J MSALATU
2 ICISONGO
4 M All.IMSULU
5 I.COWA
Fig. 4 Relation of mean annual oediment yield to drainage area for five catchment baainn in Tanzania ( open circles) and 73 catchments in eaatern Wyoming ( cloced circlen); t he latter after Schumm and Hadley ( 11), Decrease of speci f ic sediment yiel d with increasing catchment are& io evident in both groups but 1a less marked in Tanzanian casea.
- 129 -
The rese.r voir a.edime;>tatfon '2orr espon< 1s to " soild~nudation rate of 0. 2-0 . B mm por year. Sedlment y1eld 1n m /kro l'as ~eer:- trannfo.nneu 1nt o valuea of no1l denudfttton rate under t he aasumption t hat t he d.r y bul k density of sediments as well as soils is 1. 5 g/cm3. A bulk density olose t o 1 .. 0 i s ohara..,teriati" for topsoils of t he area, so t he topso il denudRtion figures m ay be more relevant if 50 percent is added. to t he values given in Table 1. Joiost of t he reservoir f loora Pave been s u rveyed when t hey have been dry, with oompaete(i but c racked clayey sediment (4). Tobl e 1 and Figure 4 summari ze da ta from the f i ve <>atehmnts at Dodoma and
Kisongo .
The f i gures fo r specific sediment y iel dc decrease wi t h incroas ine- drnina~ area, due to sed i metttat i on itt tl' e catchment (Fi~re 4 ). Therefore, sedim ent y i elds most closely t he erosion from small eatehmettt basins (a few km2 in a r ea) reflect in t he catchment.
. . WATDilli!Ell
MAtiA1~
TO
GO)!BAT
RE>El!VO!R ST:."DIMS<TA TIC!I
Contl'Qlling eros i on and increas ing the 1 ife of tle re!;ervo i ra are mainly
questions of better management of grass and other vegetat ion in t he eatehments and
protections of harvested fields ~ inst splash and sheet erosion. Deduction of stock numbers, of overgrazing and of excessive burning of grass and mulch is necessary in order to combat erosion and lengthen the useful life of t he reservoirs. The tYJle of sediment which fi lls a reservoir is of great i mportance for its continued use a fte r is has silted up . A r eservoir which is fi lled 1r: it h sandy or coarser sadi ments can used for groundwater in the future. The potential s hould be fu rther investigated . Res ervoir s u rveys to document the t-ate and t ype of aed irr.ent.ation and to esta.bl iah t he remainine 1 ife of ret=tervoira a!'-oul V be tmeertnken I'!FJ stsmrlA!"(l ~ r~ct: i cc for all ex i sting <t-?td planned r ese rvoi r s in semi- a r id ~-rea.s. Reservoi-r maps and profiles should be made and sedimentation pegs est a.b lished to make later comparisons possible.
In addi tion to t he reservoir s urveys, mapping and monit oring of erosion in the eatehment shoul d be perf ormed to define areas and rates of sed i ment production.
6. DBFQRJ,:STED MOONT.IllN SLOPi!'S
t he study catchments , a t h ree-year samplin~: and anal ysis of sus pen<led sediment l oad in t ho P.lorogoro River waf.l ca.,.ried out ( 3). The catc~ment area in 19.1 km.2. The elevation re.ngea from 550 m a t t he stream ga.u ze , t o 1 450 mat t he rainfall recorder 1 where a montane rainforest reserve begins, to 2100 m altitude on narrow mountain ridgea in a r ainforest zone (Figure 5). The annual precipitation is about 900 mm at 530 m altitude and 2 400 11111 at 1450m altitude. The soils are aand,y loams , weathered from the local basement bedrock of gneisses and granulites, Another atud,y catchment in tlte llluguru is the Mgeta Valley, which is similar to the Morogoro catchment in geology, landfo,..., climate, vegetation, soils, population density and land use in general. On 23 February 1970 1 this valley was hit by an intense rainstom during whioh 100 mm of rain fell in two hours. It t riggered more than 1000 landaliiiea and mudnowa and oaus ed serious dam~ to human life and property, including cropa and land (9). 'l'heae and other catolullent studies in t he Uluguru Mountains ahowed the tance of three kinde of eros ion hazard (Figure 5).
impe~
The Uluguru Mottntains i n Tanzani,a were selected fol' the study of an at-ea representing deforested motmtain slopes with intensive cultivation. In one of
- 130 -
Fig,
'--~--'
I km
I km
April 1973
TIWN
""' "
t ftowll'lt INti l'l'll jor t')'pt:l Of
l u.l mo- ~1"1 t l tiPIIUftiiCI b )' lht Uho lfllfU MOI.II'I
et ot Jo-11 Oil ctatortt iH afld c.-ltlulH ..to~ 11'1 trop.

Y illl HI Tt n.!t N a.
-.-ed ..
p~
Ma' L AMI .., ...,.,.- aa....-atl'l 1~1171 IIOftl <tha -.cl ; ao,.et (;t\IMCf MM tou Of lSOO ton. ' '' ' ~~ 11'1 11W1 NOtot"OfO fllln t
....
tRiers~ met~l 1~
Ill. ll fft - 1f 7S. t ..t tl &IM:tlfdt whW~ MIMI ar ea act t M Wft Oft Mtl I, llatii'CII at A, lad hyo11d C. t1 bloclt:M 1M wa te r lnl t~l ~ ltlt wtlt r plpu cfMnagacf tM wattr IWPPI'f for WH\.t C t
tan 21000 toM nwclftow at 1 , ' ' "-' """""" ..dl~

o IN town ol Moreeoro-. t 1Ut4
Map Ill. A la t gt """"""' ot ' '""" l.a~daltdat lrlggtrtd a.r 1 Mny rainatorm ot 100 mm Oil Ftbho~ary 2l, 1110. Allct ll'lctlcatact t.r l Jmbota, /t. taw la Mtllcltl tttal
~ ~vu ad In lh lor..t ltllfYI, t f'ld '"' mora ll'lt n 100

lhat OC:C:I.IUid 01\ d t iOn t ltd t iOptl b iiOW tl'll IOifll
~ I
.,.,, ,._ boundarr (II. moved tOO 000 tOtl t or .oil tnd '~vofllh Into t1rttm t , Ant~ll l t oll IOUII by t iOPt With from CloltiiUttd ~ loptt ' ' ' ~gh. Protection m.. t\UU ; ortu btHI Ift , ..m ' '"0 cover cropt, mut(lhln; IMo 1), AI lnttiU it or ont or 1 lnt dtUdtt , m t tm~o~m
OINt t r t Cllolltd byt'l llttl'f'lt lfiAt iOHYit tnd fii#II'III0\11 10'\t ll ltftdtlldtt, Prott c11on m t niHt t : pllntiAf or
"'
,.._ct'
p, l(IVE R
II:
t1o00m
][
tortt l beltt '" criUc.l aontt (bttow rl d;t t rnlt, ~nove rot dt , nttl t trum t ldtt) (Mtp Ill),
~
lntt rYtl t of ttvtttl dtudn. t lnglt, 11191 ltl'lcJo
,u,_,..,., ol ltndtlldt
~hdtt
ol 100 O"JO to Rt occur. ~rottctlon mtlntr by dtngtr In wtltlttltd.
"opyr
te-d
11er
- 131 -
1. Sheet and r i ll erosion o~curring every year on cultivated s l opes , altr.ough h i ghly var-iable in severity , depending on tl1 e intenr::ity of t he ind ividual rainstorms . TG'rrar:ing, gras~ barr i ers, cover crops, mul.,r. cover on bare soil and red1 1ced burning of vegetat ion are simple but ef f ective methods of prot ect i nc aeainat t he s e kinds of erosion. 2. Numerous small d ebris slides and m udflows triggered by extremely intensive rainstorms witl1 a periodic ity o f several year ll or dootu:lec (9).
Planting of s hel ter belts of forest in critic al zones, to stabilize the soil and
regolith with tree root s , i s recommended for protect i on aeainst this kind of hazard.
J, Single, laree lMdsl i des, many meters deep. These are rare in time and sp""e A$ compared to category 2 1 but can have far-reaching destructive effects through stream sedimentation (The Palu exM!ple) (10),
As such deep landslides can prob~bly not be avoided, evGn by tree planting, t here
must be an awareness of t he p<>tential destruotive forc e of large landslides, and

this must be taken into accotmt in water supply mMagement.
7. C<NCWSIONS
Soil erosion by running water ia a- gro..,ing pr oblem in many oount riea in Africa, due to increasing pressure on marginal lands for grazing, cropp in8' or wood collecti on. Erotlion ha.s very marked effect s on the fl ow of water and sediment in
streams.
Thus eros ion/sedimentation systems have to be studied toeether i n natural
catchment basins, under different environmental conditions and different types of land use, to clarify the mechanisms and rates of a.otive prooeasea. Suoh studies or "catchment diagno&esn provide a. sound basis f'or reclamation plans, as these have to
be adapted to tile local ecol ogical and sne ial cond i t ions to be cuccessf'ul.
Every land and water development soheme should be combined witP critical evaluation of it s impact on t he environment and on man. It is neceacary to observe critically the reactions of the environment t o expl oita.t ion , and to draw eon.,lusions
for better land use from t hese observations. Reliabl e reference data maps , photographs, deseriptiona must be obtained for lan<l and water development projects, so that i t is possible to compare the situation before, during and after implementation of a plan. ~ ~ means of r epeated comparisons or monitoring, i n itial mistakes can be r$eognized and oorrected,
1
,.
- 132 -
" L
'< ~
'
'(,.
r.
~
Bonr,ann
1 ~69
t
l3el:r:~: ,
2.
I'lotlglas, 196C
Ra;>p,
3.
4. 5 6.
1;)72
...' 1tx.el s r.on , ;. ,
L. and
~hJ.rra y-Rvat,
D. H.
Geo~AfiaFe.
Annal er, A. 54 : 125 .
!lapp, A. , Nnrra:t-Rust, il. !l. , Cl'>ri stiansson, C. and Jl<!rr:t , L. i l:>i<l 54 : 255 . 197?.
H udson , N.
1971
::ioi l Connervn.t i on.
Bat s ford , London.
Greenland , D. J . Sei<mee 1 ~"() :
(;,p ,
1975
V arnes, D.J. I n : Landsl ide~ and F.nll"ineer ine; Practice. ~: . ll. iSckel, (ed). Highway Rer;~a.-mt-. Board , V"SA, ;)pec ial Report 29t M.AS..N RC Publication 544 195H
0.
i>iurray-llltst , D. H.
Goo;;r~fisht
Annal e r, A 54:325.
1972
9 Templ e, P. H. and
1972
!lap~ ,
A. ibid ) 4 :1 5 7 .
10. Lunr:lgreen , L. M d Rtl.ppt A. ibi d 56 : 2) 1 .
1974
11 SchUJN'tt , S .A. ~c._ Ear.lley , R. F\ Progreoc i n t he appl icat. i on o:(' l a.nd;['orm anal:,tsis in 196 1 s t ttdi es of eemi - arid eros ion . Gaologi cAl Survey Cir <:n;lar 437 1 ltashington .
fJ.lhese s t ud i es )1a.ve be~n f inancially supported by grants from t he .Bank of S1 1ed en r-er-centena.r y :rnnd , t l:o Scnndinavian Institute. f o r Afrlca.n Studies, t lle s,.,.,diat Int ern'>tional De velopment Autho,ity ( SI DA} and the Secretariat for Internat iona.l Ecology , Swed en (SI J!:$ ), "'hi oil support is gratefully acknowlodged..
1 ~~ -
B.
Foreatr.y:
Watershed Management and Soil Conservation
Paper No. 9
CONSERVATION OF UPLAND WlLDLANDS FOR OOWNS'IREAM AORIOUL'lURE
by S.H. Kunkle and D.A. Hercharik
11
ABS'l'RAOT
This paper describes in broad terms the objeotivee of natural resource conservation and restoration for non-agricultural uplands, particularly from the viewpoint of protecting downstream intereate. The function of foreata
.... briefly de.cribed, including meaav.rea for forest ri>w 1111d for loggillg, the ooncept ot reatorat 1cm throucl> attoreatat iOA 0 the ....,. of \JQffer etripa &long streams, techniques of vegetation modification And ooabined meohanioal/
in moderating runoff ia disouased.
A number of o011111on conservation measures
biological methods for the restoration of eroded slopee. The role of the vegetative oover in the vatsr balance ia illustrated b,y exaDplea.
11 S.H.
Kunkle and D.A. J!aroharik,
FAO Foreet Reeov.roee Division, Rt>me.
- 134 -
IIITOODUCTION
The upper parte of many river basins consist of foreats, grazing areaa, brushy zones
and other non-cultivated lands, often in steep terrain, which we refer .to collectively aa "wildlands". These upper catchments are not only the areae where rivera find their origin but &lao typically the zones where the moat precipitation falls. Thus, upstream wildlands
are the source of the bulk of available water in many drainage baaina. cern themselves with upstream conservati on, i ncluding the wi ldlands. Thie paper deeeribea natural resources con.ervation and retoration in non-agriculFor thi s reason, it
is l ogical that agricultural deve l opment efforts, such as irrigat ion schemes, should con-
t ural upl ands, particularly from the viewpoint of protecting downstream intereats. An attempt ia made to describe &Clllle of the main pb.ysical and biological processes vhioh are involved, for example, the fUnction of foreate in moderating surface runoff. Secondly, the paper BUIIII!I&rizea the procedures practised by foresters and other wildland managers. It ia recognized that if lands are properly classified as to their most suitable use, moat steep areas will be beet used as forest land, whereas man,y of the more fertile 1 flatter areaa woul d be put to agricultural use. In this paper, we concentrate on the steeper elopes.
2. lAliD USE UPSTREAM - IMPACTS DOWJISTREAM
2.1
Evidence of Land Use Effects on Streams
There are ample field examples which illustrate how land uae practices in wi ldland catchments affect land development downstream, beth positively and negatively. To take one case, an irrigation project which recently constructed concrete canals in a Caribbean country waa .inundated with nearly a metre of sediment only a year after the construction. The sediment was deposited by torrential flows from watersheds upstream, w~qre shifting cultivation and the farming of steep hillsides are cauai.ng severe eroaion.1/ In a s imilar example in central Africa, a concrete reservoir was constructed to serve as water supply for a town of about 5 000. Pour years after construction , t he reservoi r wae already half filled with sediment and loaing ita "!~fulnese. In this case 1 heavy grazing a bon the
reservoir caused moat of the erosion.!/ The importance of upstream area. is likewise underscored by aed.iment problems in
rivera. In the estuary of the River Plate at Buenos Aires, silt dredging for shipping costa about $10 000 000 per year. Mineralogical etudiea by tho Authority for Water IUld Power show that some BO percent of this 100 000 000 tons a year of sediment comes fl'Oill one heavily grazed aub-baain, the Bermejo River, This small mountain region ia only a very minor area of the whole drainage basin (4 percent) but contributes 80 percent of the sediment problem. A government cO!Miisaion baa been set up to tackle this problem of land use (Pereira, 1973). One ma find similar types of land use problema on a much l arger scale in Asia. Sterling (1976) gives a description of floods in the Himalaya region, summarizing tho impressions shared by many natural resource specialists that downstream flooding is highly related to upstream land use impacts, euch aa deforestation. Regarding the coat of floods to the region, Sterling writes, "until 1970 1 the average coat (speaking of floods in India) waa roughly $120 million a year. From then through 1973 the average leaped, with a record of 1750 mi llion in 1974". Such field examples are common, although not well documented, but these scattered reference give an indication of the importance of upstream conservation for the protection of downstream developments, especially reservoirs. In all oaaea, upstream actions -
l/ The
by
s.s.
two examples ci ted are baaed on personal observation& in the field Kunkl e.
- 135 -
ahifting cultivation, over-grazing, de-forestation, uncontrolled road building, wildfires, etc. - were the mAin cause o't downstream river problems .. 2. 2 S11111111ary of the Main Downstream Effects of Land Use
The bydrological response or streamflow of a basin is the most obvious index of the adverse effects of land use. The etreamflow likewise wi ll NO fleet good land management
practices upstream, including protection
o~
restoration measures.
m~
The adverse effects of upland erosi on a,

b.
be summarized under four principal cate-
gories of problems (as aeen f'rom "downatream").
siltation (main problems:
reservoir silting; degradation of water quality);
torrential conditions (main problema: farm f i eld losses along streams; village destruction; bedload impacts; r i ver channel cutting); flooding; greater tractive forces,
c. higher peak streamt'lows (problems: meaning more bedload transport); d.
leas infi ltration, hence l ess baseflow (problem: tendency for streams to dry up earlier or ba lower during the dry seaoon),
Theae four catogoriea of problema are summarized in the schematic graph of Figure 1.
An individual basin will not necessarily demonstrate all four types of problems, although often they occur together.
AFTER EBOSION IMPACT

STREAM
DISCHARGE
m3/sec
BEroRE EROSION IMPACT
TIME
Fig. 1
Schematic I llustration of the principal eff~cte of ~roeion of an upstream catchment on the hydrological regime, taking a hypothetical hydrograph of storm runoff from a basi n "before" and "after'' severe erosion.
- 136 -
Monetary values can be attached to the two hatched areas
11
A11 and "B" of Figure 1 for
cost/benefit comparison, for example: benefits of the land - exploitation (value of the timber harvested) va total costs of the downstream floods. From a restoration viewpoint, the approach woul d be: benefits of halting s i ltat i on or other damages (e.g. saving the cost of river dre~ng) vs costs of alleviating the problem through afforestation or ot,her restoration work. To take a current example, a 20-year programme of upstream watershed protection and management on the Loulclcos Watershed, Morocco, is aimed at reducing land degradation by 10 percent evory 5 years . I t is calculated that, in terms of the dam under construction, this would extend the dam's sedi ment storage capacity from 37 to 65 years (Comit6 National Marocain, MAB, 1976). The monetary benefit of an extra 28 years of reservoir use would be the amount which one could justify spending for conservation. Profits result i ng .from the conservation (e.g. wood production) also could be included as "secondary benefits".
3. ROLE O.F FOliESTS Ill REOOCi liG FlOODS AND SEDIMENT
For steep topography, a forest cover is often en excellent protection for stre,..flow, because of the following reasons:
i.
infi ltration and percolation are typically m uch higher under a forest cover than if the ssme catchment i s used for agri cultural crops (eee Table 1);
therefore, more water enters iuto the ground, and less flows overland;
ii.
forest soils typically develop a hi gher detenti on storage capaci ty than de soils of farmed fields, largely due to root development; this provides extra storage for flood water protection; also provi des storage space for protection against floods;
iii. in general, trees tap and trenspire water from deeper in the soil, which
iv.
during atoms forest canopi es and their floor litter can trap up to 20 mm of preci pitation by interception (according to field research), again ho l ding baclc acme of tho runoff; because of the above processes, forests generally provide a good opportunity for groundwater recharge, which m~ i mprove dry eeaeon flow condi tiona downstream. (The actual amount of groundwater recharge, however, also
dQpGnds on tranapiration losses, as discuesea later.)
v.
In other words, a forest cover maintains storage apace which moderates the runoff
pattern.
This ia why protection of exiating forests or affore station of degraded uppor
catchments can be important in terms of water resource deve l opment and flood protect i on. Kany field investigations have been carri ed out on the above processes (Sopper and Lull, 1967; Pereira, 1973 and others).
- 117 -
Table 1
IliFlL'IRATION RA'IES FOR FOREST AIID ACRICUL'IURAL LARD
(after Xolchanov, 1963} Soil porosities a.rs simila.r, vaeying from 48 to 59 percent
Age
Land use Oak forest
Infi ltrat i on rate mm/min
26 60 180 18 65
11 .4 12.5 7.0 20.7 22.9 16. 8 6.0 1.2
Ash foreat
36
Meadow PlougJ; Lan~ Pa.eture Foreat felling area
o. 3 7.6
It muat be remembered that the above listed hydrological benefits are greatest for a natural mature forest. ~~en a forest plantation is first established, it reaembles an agrioultural fie l d in terms of ita hydrological reaponae, especial ly if soils ha.ve been ploughed or disturbed when removing a previous stand of mature tree a. As the fore at plantatiOn develops, the benefits which it provides vis-a-vis hydrology will come closer to resembling that of t he natural forest. To cite an example of t he mainl y beneficial effects of
~orestation,
planting
rates of streamflow (m3fsec) from the catchments by an impressive 90 percent with the sediment reduced by 96 percent. However, the total volume of runoff (i.e. m3} waa reduced b,y about one-helf; therefore, the f l ood and sediment protecti on benefi ts were not without a trade-off in terms of the total water yie l d. In this case, the reduction of peak flowe
and s ediment were m ore important than the loss in wa.ter volume t ainee the "loss" came largely from the hi gh flood peaks.
100 000 trees (mainly pines} on severely eroded sitea in a TVAllarea reduC<!d the peak
Another example of afforestation effects is shown in Table 2, where the runoff and sedimentation from abandoned farm fields and poor deciduous forests are compared to thoae from areas afforested with pines.
!/ Tennessee
Val ley Authori ty, southeastern U. S.A,
- 138-
T"ble 2
AVERAGE .AmiUAL RUNOFF AND SEDDIDIT FROM THREE Vl!DV!'ATIVE COVER TYPES
IN NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI
( 19(-1;0 s tudies by UrA in , 1961 )

Vegetative Cover Type Loess
s oi l s
Runoff Loess and coaat.U ,1} plain soil Soil loss (leg, oven~, per hectare
an
Abandoned fields Depleted hardwoods Pine plantations (Pinua taeda L.)
28
13
8 1
398
280
0.5
39
1/ average
4.
of 2 catchments.
WILDIJJID CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMmT
Considering the beneficial role of upl ..nd veget ..tion, especially foreate, for regul,.ting streamflow, it would be easy to conclude that one of the pri..ma.r,y cauaes of downstream probl,..s ia vegetation destruction upatream and that therefore we need only to leave upper catchments aa protection forests. I n many caaes this ie P'""Ciaely the aniiVer, but in moat countries the need for timber reaouroea and the pressures for land use in general are muoh too great to allow large zones of upatream l..nd to go un-<teed. We therefore need practical management guidelines for making proper use of wildland watersheds while at the aame time protecting doWIIJttream interests. It is not an easy task. Wildlands are often steep, marginally productive and - as opposed to good agri cultural fields - can attract only modest investments. Therefore, many of the well-lmown options available to agron0111ista, such as bench te=a.oea, are generally not re l evant. The fact that very large areaa usually are i nvolved also apreada the efforts thi n. We shall review some conservation measures and guidelines which are usefUl for managing or reatoring degraded wildland&. Developnent of aound guidelines demands an understanding of certain hydrological or biological functions or proeeaaea. The runoff prooeas is particularly important, since conservation in wildlanda is largely aimed at controlling overlend flow.
4.1
Planni ng Road Conatruetion
One of the initial problems which plagues many wildlands is the opening of the area to readJ' access through road conatruction. The riek ot: eroaion i a high when new roada are eon.etNcted in wildland areas. These access routes can easily be ~main erosion source, especially if ill-designed or "no desi gn" roads are bull-dozed i nto hillsides, as ia often done by poorly supervised logging operations. This brief section only highlights a few of the more important queationa regarding road conatruction ; for further details on the subject an FAO paper by Megaban ( 1976) ie in preparation. Planning is the moat essential point. Roada ahould be well-planned beforehand so that a minimum area of the waterehed ia disturbed. There are alao several specific rul ee
ot thumb for avoidi ng erosion which are based on natural terrain featuree, geological
- 139-
factors and the engineering methode - all whi ch need to be taken into account in the construction. The essential objectives of proper road constructi on, i.n brief, are to avoid
concentrating surface runoff and to by-pass risky sites {e.g. sli de prone areas) wheQ selecting the road pl acement. Dr&inll86 is another major point.
md can become "i nstant gul liea
11
If roads are not drained, they concentrate runoff
The aimple drainage devices shown in Figure 2 can prevent
this problem by spreading overland flow out rather than letting it concentrate.
CROSSSCTION AT Cfi(TE A LtNE

TCI"VIEW
---------~~~ d ..;. .. .~
~
Fig. 2
Top l eft:
a simple open-top culvert or crou-dr&in.

l O~fg:ing
Top right:
croee-dratn
l ocations apaeed along a
ro&d.
Bottom:
a very simple bull-doze r or
hand-made cress ditch for roads which have little traffi c (from FAO report by Megahan, 1976, in press) .
- 140-
4.2
Timber Harvesting
Careless timber harvesting practices can l ead to severe sediment problema. For example, in one l ogging study, turbidity in the etream below a clear-cut area reached 56 000 parte per million, compared to only 5 ppm i n adjacent unlogged streams (Hornbeck, 1968}. Turbidity is an optical i ndex of suspended sediment. However, if logging is done in conjunction with suitable conservation measures, the sediment yields wi ll not be appreciably higher from logged eatchlllents than fr<liD undisturbed areas. The engineeri ng method for logging in particula.r is important, and the hydrological principles involved are not unrelated to those for road constructi on - i.e. ma.inly to avoid ri~ sitae and the concentration of runoff and to minimize soil disturbance. For exa.ple, aa sketched in Figure 3, UPhill logging by cables avoids concentrating runoff. The Blcid trails of downhill tractor logging on steep terrain, on the other band, concentrates runoff, resulting in a much higher erosion risk. It is cri tical that ~ temporary tractor trails be immediately broken up by cross-drains after use, to divert runoff (as in bottom, Figure 2). If downhill tractor logging is used, there are devices which lift tbe loge to reduce the ploughing effect of log skidding.
(uphill p.Uling)
DOWIIHILL DIR!X:TIOI
(downhill skidding)
Fig. 3 Simple sketch of uphill cable logging and downhill tractor logging on steep lands, illustrating how tractor skidding makes trails to concentrate the surface runoff. Even with ca ble logging there are major differences in erosion impacts, depending on tbe method used. In one eDI!lple, a amall-eize, truok-moun"ted cable ekidder (60 m ea.ble) disturbed 25-30 percent of a catchment with the temporary roads it needed, whereas larger cable eystems which could reach out several hundred metres for loge disturbed only e.bout 5 percent of their catchlllenta with road construction (Megahan, FAO, 1976) . Experiments with helicopter and balloon logging are interesting from a conservation viewpoint, but it seems unlikely that tbeae methods will become common.
Another important consideration which deserves mention in connection with t~ber harvesting ia the choi ce of. ailvicultural ayatem. Where one objective i s to keep erosion at a minimum, elearcutting is the least desirable silvicultural ayatem because it removes moat of the protective tree cover and reeulta in the heaviest soil disturbance. Other ailvicultural ayatema which harveat fewer trees over a period of years create leas ot an erosion hazard. Early and abundant natural regeneration ia also desirable because i t reduces the period of higb eroaion risk.
4.3
'tBuffer Strips" and Protection Zones
"Buffer atripau or 'filter stripe" are ribbons of treea or other vegetation which are left undisturbed along stream channels (or lakes) ae a protection against eroaion and sedimentation during logging.
A review of the phenomenon of surface runoff he l ps to expl ain the va l ue of buffer strips. I n many foNst lands - as opposed t o open fie l ds - surface runoff is rather r are, at l east on upper slopes. During a atom only a small part of a catchment, basically a l ong the channels, yie lds surface runoff, whi l e on upper e l opes high i nfi ltrati on occurs. For
this raaaon, t he areas moat sensiti ve to erosi on in forested l ands are like l y to be t he
etre8111bank zones, w hile the upper s l opes are more stable. Some landslides a l ong etreama
o oour, however, even i n virgin forests. If w e cle ar the foreet, there i e very l ikely to be a sharp increase in surface run-
off, w hich can lead to erosion and sediment movement . The implicat i on for l eavi ng aneut buffe r strips are obvioua . Firat, they protect the sens i t i ve stream channel environs and, secondly, they act as a filter for any sediment coming from upslope. The steeper the slopes adjacent to the channels, t he wider t he buffer strips must be. The fiel d guidelines of Table 3 give an indication of the aize of buffer strips needed. Table 3
RECOIOm!D ED HORIZQI.'T AL WIDI'!i lN KErJU:> OF lllFFER STRIPS ALOIIG STREAI!S (from Ba.lme r et al , 1976), showi ng di atance on each stream aide, bet ween t he channel and the upper edge of t he buffer strip
Percent Slope Erosi on hazard of

t he strip' a soil
10 17 23 27
20 24
30 32
42
40
50
60 54 71 87
Slight Moderate
Severe
9 12 15
30
39
51
39 51 63
47
61 75
It i s apparent f rom t he above dis cussion of runoff that l arge s i ze clear-cuts are MOre disturbi ng than amaller openi~ . We also know from erosi on prediction equations, that the l onger the slope along which runoff f lows , the great er the erosi on potenti al. I t i s preferable, t herefore, to c l ear-cut i n small b l ocks, in alterna te years. I t should be noted, however, that in ertain downstream catebments, especi ally i n arid regions, strips of trees along streams ma.y be undesirable because of the i r high water consumption . But t ypically in UPer, forest&d catchments the erosi on protection value of the buffer strips far out weighs eny wat er l oes disadvantages. 4.4 Fire Control and Fire as a Tool
Fires , usually uncont rolled, are a famil i ar oc currence in wildl ands and a major cause of erosi on and sediment. The influence of fires on streamfl ow i s well known. Flood peaka ma.y be several hundred t imes higher after wi ldfires sweep t hrough a basin (according t o research by Krammea . and Rice, 1963, and others). A fter fires, movement of sediment and debris i s greatly inc reased. W i ldfi re prevent i on and cont rol therefore is an important
part of conservation.
Ono possible management tool for eome vegetat i on types is
11
control l ed11
burning, which consists of deli berate ly and periodically burning vegetat ion at a deaired time, in part t o avoid the build-up of fuels w hich can lead to much more dal!laging wildfi res . Burning the underatory of most pi ne forests , for example , wi ll reduce f i re hazard.
or ttpreacri bedu
Controlled burning at relat i vely l ow i ntensities i s used for other manageri al benefi ts as we l l. In pi ne forests it reduces the invasion of undesirable , shade-tolerant tree speci es.
- 14 2 -
It alao appGals to land manager attempting to favour one type of vegetative cover over another, for eX8111ple, grass instead of brush.
Caution must be exercised, however, as not al l vegetation
t~s l~nd
themeelvee to
this tGcbnique.
Al so if poorly timed and irrationally applied, eapecially to steep slopes, controlled burning may increase, instead of decrease. erosi on.
R.!i:i'IORATION OF STEEP ERODED UPLANDS THROUGH AFroRESTATION
5.
5.1
The Effectiveness of Afforestation
On 11planda alread den11ded by wildfire&, shifting Cllltivation, poor logging practices or heavy grazi ng, restoration ie a conservation priority. Mechanical structures, such as check dams and small terraces, are 11seful but are nonnally only temporary control measures to aid in revegetating eroded wildlands. The beat overall means of providing permanent erosion control on wildl ands ia by eatabliahing and maintaining a dense vegetation cover over the entire catchment. Long-term conservation work, therefore, \18\lally
invol ves biological measures, such ae afforestation or range improvoment - which
m~
be
done compl ementary to mechanical measures.

Vegetation on wildlands, whether trees, grass or various dense bru.sh, is effective for erosion control largely beea.uae it :
i.
provides a protecti ve canopy as well as a mat of litter for protection

against
11
splaah 11 erosion by rain {especially critical in intense tropical
rainfalls};
ii.
physically binds the soil with roots; in some cases the roots may anchor
iii .
the eoil mass to the parent material, whi ch may reduce creep or land elides (important in ateeper zones of wildlands}; provides galleries of decayed roots i n the soil, to facilitate rapid infiltration (important for f l ood control, hilt also to redlloe surface
rllDOff);
iv.
increases the water absorbing capacity of the soil, by adding organic matter. In this
Some plants are much more effective than others for erosion control work.
section, we shall mainly revi ew the objecti ves and proceduree of afforestation, while
recognizing that it is hilt one of several possi bl e erosi on control measures. I t should be underscored that afforestation ie not a panacea for erosion problema on degraded lands .
When the time required to establish a vegetative cover is an important consideration, herbaceous plant&, aueh as graaaea, grains and clovers, are preferred becauee they provide
a quick cover and have the added advantages of being relative ly cheap and easy to eatablisb. Even aerial sowi ng is possi ble . Al so, severely degraded, barren "moonscapes", too poor tor agri oul ture, ma.,y also be too poor to grow trees. In such cases, establishing graaaea or simply le~~1ng nati ve vegetati on ret11rn naturally may make more eense than afforestation and, in fact, may be preferabl e from the viewpoint of immediate erosion control. Nonetheleas, as a well-established tree cover affords the moat effective overall protection and usually allows for event\1&1 economi c return through the prod11ction of wood products, afforestation shoul d be considered as a posaibility for many eroded areas, at least at a second stage. 5.2 Selecting Tree Species for the Job
The choice of one or more species of tree(s) for erosion control is based largel y on the specific climatic and soil conditions of the pl anting site, using species and provenances which are most adaptable. Morphological traits are also important . For moat
tree species, especially those which are wide ranging, selection of the correct provenance
i s as important as selecting the species itself.
For example,
L~portant
differences i n
growth, adaptabi l ity and morpho l ogy have been proven for diferent provenances of Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Pinus caribaea, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus taeda and many other tree species. The following fac.tora shoul d be sought in se l ecting a tree speci es for erosion
control : good survi val and fast growth on impoverished s i tasi abi lity to caat a large amount of litter and fonn a dense crown; oaae of establishment and need for little mai ntenance;
deep and widespre&ding root system. In moat
In addition, provision of some degree of economic return i s usually sought. control/wood production benefit. Usually .a compromise must be made in this request.
cases, therefore, it is desirabl e to select forest trees w i th the best combined erosion
The f i nal decisi on aa to which speci es and provenance to use for wide-scale planting
would ideally be made on the basis of results from comparat i ve, replicated trials.
Where
such results are not generally available, interim deci sions must be taken based on the
limited information avai labl e. Where suitable local tree species occur, they are usually the safest choice, unt i l triala prove otherwi se. Certain tree speci es are of interest to tho forester from a wood production viewpoint but are much leas appealing in to~a ot conservati on. For exampl e, teak trees do little to retard surface runoff, accordi ng to some observers, because their flat leaf litter tends to "coat" the ground surface (peraonal communi cation, Wheeler , FAO, 1976). Pinus t aeda, on the other hand, i s known to be both a productive timber species in southeastern USA and highly effective in controlling eroai on. Mixed plantations of two or more species M&lf provide batter erosi on control, but they are usuallY l ese appeal ing to foresters from a wood production and management v i ewpoint than are
monoapecific stands.
5.3
Pl anti ng Approacheo
In regions where rainfall is sufficiently abundant or well distributed to support at least a moderate ground cover, planting site preparati on requires only a minimal effort
aufficient to ensure that the introduced trees can grow without excessive competition from surrounding grass, weeds or ot her plants.. But in cases where the natural vegetation is sparse or non-exi stent because of low rai nfall, water and soil retaining s t ructu~ea may need to be constructed, to improve moisture conditi ons or to prevent surface flow from
causing erosion . Mechanical measures whi ch are commonly employed i n combination wi th tree planting inc lude terracing, various types of contour ditches or steps (also called gradoni or catastrips) , tied-ridges, wi cker work fences and a number of gully control methods.
forestation: (i) the investment, e.g. for terracing, m~ be excese i ve i n respect to the modest returns one can oxpoo~ from wood production; and (ii) the probable lack of main-
There are two basic problems involving these me chanical measures i n respect to afUsually in wildlands
tenance of structures in wi ldl ands can destr oy their effectiveness.
mechanical measures are best concentrated on critical sites -along roads, on landsl i de areas, in major active gull i es, etc.
Vari ous disking 1 ploughing and other site preparation methode a leo have been used
for afforestation work. Caution is required, however, since theae techniques on eteep
slopes can lead to erosi on. The protection guidelines used in reference to s i te preparation i n the southaastern U.S.A. are shown in Tabl e 4.
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Table 4
WIXD!1JM RECrutlEliDED SOIL EICPOSURE DURING MECHANICAL SITE PREPARATIQI from U,S, Fbrest Service Timber Manual, Southeastern Region, 1973 as diaeueaed i n Balmer .et al 1 1976
Maximum Recommended Soil Exposure (%) During Mechanical Site Preparati on Slope 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Fra.gi le Soils
Stable Soils 100 75 50 40 30 25 20 10 5
75 50 35 25 10
8
5
Though direct seeding is an important means of sowing grasses, it is generally not ef'f'ective tor et&blishing trees on eroded areaa; seedling stock and cuttings are generally more aucceaatul. In mild climates, maz>y tree species ma,y be bare-root planted, but mora often the harsh conditions of eroded aitee require that tree seedlinga should be raised in containers in the forest nursery. The most important areas t o vegetate for erosion control are those zones where surface runoff ie more frequent 1 that ia, near at reams or temporary water-wa,ys and on steep slopes. P l anting spacings in such areas should be closer than on sites where runoff is lees. The main objecti ves s hould be early tree crown ol oeure and heavy li~ter buildup, The distance between trees can be adjusted to the degree of erosion, with spacings as close as 1 x 1 m and oceaaionally closer on the most critical areaa, auoh as gully bottoms. Wider spacing& of 2 x 2 m and more are ~sed on leas actively eroding areas. Where little or no site preparation is required or where planting is not restricted by any set arrangement, such as terraces or contour ditches, the planter is free to select each planting spot, He should seek thoae especially fertile apota, for example: area.e of topsoil or other loose material sloughed from the rima and banks of the gullies and deposi ta of soil or sediment behind clumps of vegetation or other natural barriers, or other sites favourabl e for the small trees. Where top soi l is completely lost, on very steep slopes or other areas where no natural sediment-collecting ba.rriere can be found, anall brush sediment catches or "daman m~ be constructed to collect sediment and retain moisture for the trees. These brush catches are made from brush pi led across the water course to a height of 30-40 an. They are not, however, suitable on flats and slopes that have eroded uniformly down to parent rock material. Here it is a.dviaable to fill planting holes with top soil if avai lable nearby . Placing a l~er of mulch &l'Ound the aeedling is desirable aa it protects i t against further erosi on and helps to maintain a high soil moisture content.
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6.
VEGEI'ATION CONVERSION A!ID WATER YIELDS There are numerous possi biliti es to change or manage the type of vegetative cover
These actions must be carried out with some c aution from an erosi on and flood
on wildlands.
control viewpoint. For example, i n a study in California, steep catchments were converted from essenti ally emal l trees and brush cover to a cover of shallow-rooted grass and herbaceous vegetation (Murphy, 1976). Grazing was carefUlly controll ed. The runoff was i ncreased by an average of 50 percent because the high transpiration of the trees wae stopped. (The tree roots reached to 20 metres) . After removal of the trees, however, land-slides, soil creep and mudflow began to occur in one cat chment and aedimentation i ncreased from 400 {pretreatment) to 4 000 tons per year {post t reatment) 10 t imes! I n brief, the example ahova that advantages - in this case better grazing and continued streamflow - must be we i ghed against the disadvantages , namely an enormous increaee in sediment and higher peak
flows. More drastic conversion, from denee forest to grass, can be even more hazardous. Increased eroai on and landslides are often associated with such vegetation conversions,
according to Rice (1976, i n press) .

Whether one tree speci es consumes m ore water than another is a question often
raised. Wicht {1949) concluded from studies in southern Africa that plantations of exotic trees did not consume more water than indigenous species. Other studi es, however, indicate differences. For example, Bailly et al (1974), working in a rainfall area of about 2 OOOmm/ year i n Madagascar wri tea, "wi thotd a doubt an old Eucalyptus forest consumes 100- 200 mm of water more per year than a natural, mature forestl (in the bas ins where his research was carried out). Likewise, 15 years of research in southeastern U.S.A, show about 20 percent streamflow reductions when hardwoods arc converted to pine plantat ions (Ur sie, 19'14 ). It
is important to note that these examples are in situati ons w here precipitation is fai rly abundant. One also must underline that resul ts of su ch studies are sti l l rare in the tropics and that the scattered results are not ent i rely consistent. There is still much to l earn
on this topic. A number of factors are i nvo lved, but many of the differences between species can be attributed to di fferences i n rooting depth, total biomass production and efficiency of water use. Within an area w here forests are managed, there also are a number of s i lvicul t ural techniques to i ncrease total water yiel ds while protecting streams against sedimentation.
For example, in the mountains of Colorado
(u.s.A.),
experiments were carried oat with strip
clearcuts with the intention of increasing water yi el d from the catchment. The cutting pattern consisted of alternate cl ear cut strips of different wi dths, 1, 2, 3 and 6 chains in these stripe. Reaults of after-cutti ng are shown in Tabl e 5. The greatest i ncrease in water yi el d (ri ght hand column) was i~~ediately after cutting (1956) . As the trees grew back, the water yield gains began to decrease.
(one chain about 20m), running nonnal to the contours; 40 percent of the area wa.a cleared
- 146 -
Table 5
!W3U!JI'5 OF FOOL CREEX TREA!I'MEliT EiPERIJmiT (from section 2, Jeffrey, In Gray 19"/0)
Years
Predicted Yie l d!/
Actual Yield
(on)
(an)
Actual Yield Minus Predicted Yield (the "gain") (on)
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963

Data:
29 50 29 27
28
22
44 14
40 58 34 35 38 28 49 18
11 9 5 8 10
5 5 4
Roclcy Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, U.S. Forest Service. pre-treatment data for the basin; figures here converted from
1/ baaed on
7.
inches and rounded to closest centtmetre.

'IORRENT AND GULLY CONTROL
A torrent is a natural channel or waterwa.Y with: a ii. a iii. a iv. a

i.
small catchment; steep channel gradient; higb fluctuation of runoff, after storms or snowmelt; and high bedload transport with aedimention (Hattingar, FlO, 1976).
The main correct i on techniques are check dams and
Torrents are a well-known problem in the Al ps and Japan and a f8111iliar phenomenon
in Asian and Lat i n American mountains .
use of stre8111bank protection measures. The check dams, built acrose step series, serve to stabili ze the channels and hal t bed erosion by the dame, thereby reducing the stream gradient and tractive forces. feature of the dams i e their support of the toe of steep elopes, to slope movement downhill .
streams in a staircollecting debris in Another important help halt mass hill-
The moat knowledge on torrent control has been devel oped largely i n the Alps (for geological reasons, the particular problem is much less common i n North America). Torrent control is moat effective if accompanied by biological measures of erosion control and land
use improvements in the basin above the atro.cturea. Once torrents begin, structure work
wi ll likely be essential. Torrent work , as normally carried out in the Alps, demands a proper engineering desil!)l and can be quite expensive. Nonetbeleas, FAO torrent control work in Nepal has made use of labour-intensive approaches, using rock on band (personal c0111luni cation , 0. Ta.utscher, Nepal). Similar to torrents is the much more frequently occurri ng problem of gul lies. Heavy grazing can cause this probl em. Often a canbined biological/structural approach is used to control gull i es.
- 147-
The types of check dams include: a. looee rock check dams; b. wire-bcund loose rock check dams; c. d. e. single-fence check dams (a wire fence, across the gully, supports the rock from the downstream side}; gabion check dams (made of prefabricated wi re cages, filled with rock); and brush or l og check dame .
Theoe and other structures are described by Heede (1976} and by his chapter in the PAO publicati on "Conservation Guide" ( 1976). I n many developi ng countries, types (a) and (b) or (eJ will be of greatest i.n t erest in wildland areas, because of their eimple requirementa for materials. It is important that the check clams be designed to handle the peak f l ows - and to not be e roded. This design a l so involves proper spacing along the channel. Where rocks are not abundant, brush or log check dams m~ be ueed. Where an effective vegetation cover will grow, gradients of gullies m~ be controlled by establ i shi ng pl ants, wi thout mechanical structures, in cases after re-shaping, An ideal plant cover for a gully should be dense , l ow in height and have a dense and deep root system, Typi cal ly i n steeper, wildland areas some combination of mechanical and
vegetative treatment is required.
8, WIND EROSION CON'l'ROL
Wind erosion i s not necessarily an upstream problem although we might po int briefly to two "services" in this subject where foresters are able to offer their agricultural colleagues aasiatanc: (i ) ahelterbe l t establishment and (ii} sand dune
eta.bilizati on.
I n several countries , especially U.s.s.R., U.S.A. , Denmark and Israe l , t he experienoe with she lterbe lts has been we l l quantified in terms of the benefits to f i eld crops. The shelterbe lta cut field evaporat i on and reduce wind damages, Unfortunately,
we have rather limi ted experience with the use of she l terbelte in devel oping countries.
Sand dune stabi l ization, on the other hand, is a rather we l l-known and effective art in North Africa and Iran, among other areas. The normal approach is to construct small
checker-board paliesa.des or "micro-windbreaks 11 of
dry materials so that trees, s hrubs
or graeaea can be planted. Some surprisingly good resul ts have been achieved, EucalYPtus ~phocepbala trees i n Li bya, for example, a.re now over 20 years old and hsve produced some specimens over 50 em diameter (Forest Resources Division, 1974) .
9.
CONCLUSIONS
From the foregoing discussion it should be evident that a number of 'techniquea are available to land managers when developing and restoring upland eatchmente. These techniquea
can be tailored to provide downstream benefi te - particularly through the
~ duction
of
erosion effects and the regulation of streamflow,
Nonetheless , there are a number of areas
where w~ need more technical information. For exampl e, what species of trees are best for erosion control, for ahelterbelta and other conservation uses? Wbieh species waste the
least water? We have l ittle informat i on on these t ypes of questions in moat developing
countries, but i nstead extrapolate techni ques, not
alw~s
with success.
But by and large, the problems to~ are l ess of a technical nature and more a matter of narrowness of approach on the part of land managers. Too often wi ldland management for a single objecti ve or a "dominant use'' has pr evailed. Instead, conservation of upland areas should be planned as an integral and important part of the overall land use planning for an entire basin . A logical first step i s to conduet a l and s ui tability
- 148-
evaluation for a given baain which is geared to answer a number of major queationa, for
example: Which areas can safely be placed under permanent cult ivation? Which areas are better claaaified aa forest or grazing lands? Where are the degraded sites in need of reatoration? Which are the moat actively eroding aitee r equiring immediate and apecial protective measures? It is not enough, however, to define the fields of pl~ and then to pureue separate and unrelated policies. Agriculturist and land and water reaouree developer must more and more oaat their eyes upward, while foresters will need to look far below, beyond the forests. Water resources development aehemea,for exampl e, should routinely include planning for upstream conservation. To build a dam wi th appropriate investment in upstream protection is good economies in the long run, yet far too often thia upeot
of water resources d.eve l opDent has received inadequate attention. In this respect, we
need better knowledge of the w~s to quant i fy and demonstrate the economic benefit of conservation. Aa conservationists, we have so far failed to preaent our oaae in economically convincing terms. Where upland forests exist, their management should be tied closely to the i ntereata of downstream water users, fUlly recognizing that harvesting practices and other activities are reflected in downstream effects. In summary, upatream conservation should be paM of the overall plan for the water, agricul tural and other developments w ithin a river basin and ita aub-oatchmenta.
Bailly,
c.
1974
et al. Etude de l' i nfluenee du couvert naturel et de sea modifications~ Madagaeear. Cahiera Seientifique l!o. 4. Centre Technique Foreatier Tropical, France . 114 pp.
Site preparationw~
Balmer, W.E., Wi lliaton , H.L., Diaameyer, O.E. and Pierce c .
and
1976
bow. Foreat Management Bulleti n. Atlanta, Georgia 30309. 8 pp.
USDA Forest Service,
1720 Peachtree Rd. l!.W.
llougnton, w.c. Effects of land management on quant ity and quality of available water. Water Research Laboratory, The Univers ity of l!,S,W,, Australia. 330 pp. 1970
Comit~
1976
Nat ional Marocain, MAB, Rapport National - Conference Scientitique MAB Moditerran6e Montpe l lier, Septembre-Oetobre, 1976.
Foreat R esources Diviaion. Heathland and sand dune afforestation. FAO/DAHIDA Trai ning Course of 1973. (FAO/DEN/TF 123). 239 pp. 1974
Gilmour, D.A.
1976
G~,
Logging and the envirounent , witb particular reference to soil and etream protection in tropical rainforest si tuati ons. ~ FAO Conservation Guide No. 1. Forest Reeourcee Division, FAO. 320 pp. Handbook on the principles of hydrology . Calladian National Commit tee for the International Hydrological Decade. (Printed by Water Information Cent er, I nc., ManhaSset I sle, Port Washington, N.Y. 11050, U.S.A,), about 600 pp .
D.M.
1970
Hettinger, H. Torrent control in t ho mountains, w ith reference to the tropics. In 1976 FAO Conservati on Guide l!o. 2. Forest Resources Division, FAO . 130 pp. Jieede, B.H. Gully development and control - the status of our knowledge. U.S . Forest Service (Experiment Stati on), Fort Coll i ns, Colorado 8o521, U.S.A, 42 pp. 1976
- 149-
Hibbert, A,R. Forest treatment effects on wate r yi eld. I n Internati onal Symposi um on 1967 Forest Hydrology (Sopper and Lull, eda.) Pergamon Press. New York. pp 527-543,
ICing, K.F.S.
Forest Resources of the world.
Address, XVI IUFOO World Congress, Oslo,
1976
June-July 1976 . 16 pp.
Internat i onal Union of Forestry Research Organizati ons, Osl o.
Fi re in Africa. Annual Proceed.i.nga Tall Timbers Fi re Ecol ogy Conference. Komarek, E,V, Tallahassee, Fl. 1971. 5 16 pp. 1972
Kr8111Dea, J,S, and Rice, R.M.
1963
Effect of fire on San Dimas Experimental Forest. Arizona ' s 7th Annual Waterehed_Sympoeium. pp. 31 - 34.
Proceedings,
Kunkle, S,H, Environmental obj ectives in forest l and management. Agriculture and 1976 Environment 2:121-135. llegahan, W.F. Reducing erosional impacts of roads. Forest R esources Division, FAO. 320 pp. 1976 In FAO Conservation Gui de No. 1.
Mol ohanov, A,A, The eydrological role of forests (Gidrologichealta3'a rol ' lesa) (transl ated 1963 from lhlaaian). Israel Programme for Sci entific Translations. Available Office of Technical Services, U.S, Department of Commerce, Washington 25, D,C, (about as.oo ?), 407 pp.
Murphy, A,H,
1976 1973
Watershed manii88Dent i nereaaea rangel and product iv i ty. culture 30(7): 16-21.
California AgriCambridge
Pereira, H,C, Rice, R,M,

1976
Land use and vater resources in tempare.te and tropie&l olimates . University Preas, 200 ~ton Road, London NW1 2DB. 246 pp.
Forest management to m i nimize landslide r i ak, FAO Conservation Guide No. 1: Watershed Management - Guide linea and Examples. 320 pp. Nepal. Atlantic M onthl y . October )976. pp . 14-25. USDA Forest
Sterling, C. 1976
Pl anti ng l obl olly pi ne for erosion control in north Missi ssi ppi . Unic, S,J, Servi ce Research Paper 80-3. 20 pp. 1963
Pi ne manaa-ement influences un the southern vater resource. Proce&di ngs, Ursiot S,J, Symposi\DII on Management of Young Pines. U,S, Forest Service. p. 42-48. 1974 Wei delt, H. J . Manual of reforestat i on and erosion control for the Phi l ippines . Agency for Technical Cooperati on. 569 PP 1975
Oennan
Personal communi cations with R, Wheel er, FAO Watershed Management Speci alist, Wheeler, R, Thailand. 1976 F'orestry and water supplies in South Africa. Department of Forestry Bulletin Wicht, C,L, Jfo, 33, Pretoria (also di scussed more recently i n Bo~ton, 1970 , see reference). 1949
Paper No. 10
gwr.m
OF SOIL AND I!A:l'ER COJISERVATIOlf
l!RACTIC&S IN IIORTR AFRICAN COWRIES ALQERIA, MOROCCO AIID r()JIISIA
ABSTRACT
This paper deaoribes the principal erosion problema in Alseria, lloroo<>o 8Zld Tunisit. and the approaches appl ied to their resolution as revi""ed in cue atudiee from these countries. The topics of diaouasion include: vahr erosion and the biological and mechanical measures to control 1t; the typeo of obelterbel to in use; t he hohniques for sand dune stabilization; the deoertificatioa hasard md potential measures for its control; Md consideration of the integrated md buill-wide approaches in relation to a better mBD"B"J'J'IDt of natural reeourcea.
!/ B.
Bensalem, FAO Forest Resources Division, Rome.
lN'l'liOWCTIOII
'!'hr011ghout hietor;r, erosion of soil fro eloping land during periods of intense rainfall ltae been a probloa1 of !forth Atrican agriculture, and conaervatiOD uurea have bean kno"" and practieed for c enturies. Eroaion of soil b;y wind ltu also bo&ll, and still ie, a probl in eolia parte of the region. Eroeion by water hae beoome lllllOn ore severe, particularl;r since powr aqllipment wae introduced for f&l'llling and 11ade it posaible to bring large areu of hitherto uncultivated lallda on hilleidaa into cultivatiOD. In arid and aelliarid areae thia ie reeulting in a considerable loea of lallda and threatens whole areu with desertification, Many aoil conservation projects have been launched and large auae of 11oney have been invested to carry 011t conservation work. In thh report, we shall consider s011e or the region' a soil eroai"" probleas and dhcuaa the approacbee applied to their r . .olution,
2, EliOSI<JI
Anyone who has ever bean caught in a heavy rainstorm in llortb Africa baa witnaaaed a011e of the frequent, apeotacular dieaatera caused each ;year by water erosion. Highways and railroada are damaged; loll landa are flooded; streama and wadis are filled with 11111dd,y water. Part of this water accumulates in reservoirs or ia transported to lakes or the sea. Sino 10011t of the rainwater baa not beu percol ated into storage during the rainy eeaeon INt hae nu1off, an aridification process devel ope, eve i n the eub-bWii d areas. Dllring the dr;r period, one can witnoaa tho havoc caused by high speed Minda. '!'he oat spectacular ptlone~~oma in the dr;r areas are the blowing sand dunes, which not only encroach ento procmotive land and rangelands, but alae omgulf' irrigated 1>88ee and threaten villages and hwoan habitations. '!'he tollolfing is a brief :review of the raagnitude ot wind and water erosion in Borth Atrioa and so10e of the techniques ueed to control it. 2.1 Water Erosion
Erosion by - h r is b;y far the aost serious phen011onon in the three countries. 'l'hilr_ is a re1111l t of tho easily erodible, eedi11ontar;r p&rOIIt rock, the steep alopee, high rainfall int01>aitieo and the destruction of the vageta.tive cover. '!'be oat i11portant upect ie that tho proportion of land lfith steep Blopee ia the highest in the hullid and 1111b-hW1id aonea of the region, where rainfall ia greater than 400 '"'" Tho Rif re!fiOD in llorthem lorocco is a typical exaaple: 5oo.' of the land baa elopes of 11ore than 50,.; soila are prod. .inantl;r cl&;Tey and the annual rainfall is 900 ..,., In Algeria, arose stretching 1'1'9 the Saharien Atlae taOWltaina to the Mediterranean Sea invariably receive hi gh intusiti. . of rainfall several ti11ea per year, with a mean value of 47 - per 24 l!oura, which ie &b011t one to two the threshold value for erosion. In Tunisia, tho areae 11ost badl;r affected by water erosion are situated in the higher rainfall areas of the north wh&re tlb.eat, the 11ain crop, i a produced.
ti
Inherent in theae countries is a long history of land exploitation aad a marked increase of hWian population, which together are the direot c81la. . of IIUch of the diaapp~ an.ce of tho vagetati ve cover. In 'l'wliaia, the degradation of the natural vegetation hae proceeded at a higher rate than in Algeria and lorooco. In 60 yoare, the TUnisian forest hae loet me-third of its eurtace, not to mention tho d~ad&tion or the tiiO-thirda that still u:iat. Toda,y the forest ed area comprieoa onl;r ),2:r; of the total area of thia countr;r, while in Algeria ud Morocco it is 8-4% and 11:' reapectivol;r. Awareness of the necessity for soil aad water oonservation was originall;y gODerated by the treaondoue lose of agricnltural areas and the rapid siltation of reservoirs. Tho renoirli ooniltltuh the ~~ajor "aouro"e ot water imppl;r for dolleatio, industrial ai.d agricultural uaea.
Tbere waa a need to aesoeo the erosion hazard, not only to better appraise ita aagnitude but to design appropriate conservation progr~es. In Tunisi a and Morocco thia has led to inteneivo etudios of the baaic erosion proceee and eroeion intensities on 11an;y watersheds, As a first step, qualitative erosion maps >1ere drawn up. Studiea under>~a,y are directed at quantifying the vari011s processes of erosion, in order to aeleot the t;ype of anti-erosive treatment 110et euited t o a particular site. 2.2 Wind Zrosion
Erosio11 b;y wind also h o011111on in t he region and is further aggravated by tho fact that strong winds blow from both the north and the &Oilth. Southerly winda are particularly hamtul, as they have high spaeda which allow the11 to 11obilize and transport eubetantial quantities of fine surface soil elemante from the arid and selli-arid areas in the south. In Algeria, wind erosion is eapeciall;y a 10ajor problem along the coaatal regi011 on tho plateau and in the steppe :zonee. In Morocco, strong vindo blowing froa the Atlantic Ocean have inhibited the development of sany agrlc\lltural oropa. In Tunisia, wind erosion ie a ver;y serioua hazard throughout t he o01111try. '!'be moat i11portant factors of land \lee which oontrib\lte to wind erosion are: (i) cultivati on of unsuitable land; (ii) ua e of powor . equipm~t (disc) for soil preparation; (iii) overgrazing and {iv) etubble and vegetation burning. 2,3 Desertification Desertification, as dieousaed in this paper, refers to the decline of soil productivity aa a. result of unwise land u.ee pJ"actio ea under the marginal cl i matic and edaphic con-
ditions prevailing in the aouthern parts of the region.

In Tunisia. it is eeti""'ted that 18 000 hectares of potentially productive land are lost to the desert each year. Although similar data ,.,.., not available in Algeria and Morocco, the areas of land lost are no doubt equa.lly impressive,
3,
OOIL OONSERVATION METHODS AGAINST WAT.i:R EliOSION
'!'be methode of controlling erosion caused by vater c0111111only used in the region can be divided into three broad oategoriesl reforestation; proper tillage practices; and the use of mechanical struct\lTes which control the velooit;y and volu11e of f l owing water. 3.1 Reforestation
Many watersheds in North Africa lack a good vegetative cover. Efforts to re-establish a vegetative cover have been foeuaed mainly on forest tree planting. The objectives pur.ued were not only to combat erosion but alao to meet the local dettanda for firewood, charcoal, poles and timber. There have been ~~any reforestation projects, covering the whole range of soil, cli10ate and vagetation typos. The lack of precise information on suitable species and reforestation practices bae led to the extrapolation of afforestation reeults from one country to another, The extremely interesting reSillts of hoall!!tus gomphocephala and ! casaldlllenaiB plantations in the Mamora in Morocco, for ezaaple, have genera.ted considerable snthusiaa for large-scale use of these apecies under a variety of soil and clillatic conditions. However, these species were not Sllocesot'ul when first introduced in Tunisia. These earl;y poor reeults W!deraoored the need to carry out investigations on suitable apeoies and to find oat appropriate techniques for afforestation. But reforeetation aa it wae practised did not provide the proteotion needed, The areaa reforested were generally very li10ited; in addition there were nUIIeraus failures in 11an;r plantations. Where the natural 11aquia vegetation was removed for the purpose of planting trees, erosion i11creased.
- 1 54 -
Becow.ae of tb.eoe technical difficulties, the b.i8h coat of reforeotetion for erosion control and the low productivity of the trees, it has been accepted that reforestation ohould nat be vielfOd ae a "our-ll" solution for erosion, but should be used only for selected aitea and orten in conjunction with mechanical or other 11eaaurea.
).2
Tillage Practioee Tillage practices used for controlli~ erosion by water on arable land include: contour ploughing, (ii) crop ratation; li11) 111Ulching; and. (iv) etrip cultivation.
(i)
Contour ploughing is one of the early practices which has bean reo01111and.ed. for all lando with a slope equal to or exceeding 2$. '!'hia practice involvee ploughing on the contour, mal<iDg a deep furrow every 3011:> 40 metres. When thie is done, there is no:no&l.ly a significant decrease in ooil erosion. !ltbougb highly efficient and. economically sound., tbia technique has orten been neglected. and casea of ploughing up and down the alopee still abowod. Algeria, Morocco and Tuniaia have enacted legislation, organized oamp&igna and iesued. nWleroua p11blioat1ons to pr011ote contour ploughing. Crop rotation is known as a practical method to improve aoil fertility md, aonaequently, to increase soil resistance to erosion. Grain fallow is the c01111on practice. "" tha wet zone the ratio grain/fallow is around 4 The grain crops 111oetly used are sort ..,d hard. wheat. In marginal lande tllia ratio ie reversed and the IDain grain crop is barley. The so-called. 18. months bare fallow hae been a o0111111on practice in Ttl.niaia to i.ncreue soU moieture. Tllia involves ploughing of the land during a give11 ~~Wmer, followed by two otller ploughinge - in the apring and the next tiWIIIIer, 'l'lle . area ia then ready for eeedi.Dg in the tall, However, this technique baa resulted in a oonaiderable i.ncreaee in soil eroaion and. has been recently diecontinued. !t present, the tendency is to uee a short tallow period and to replace tbe fallow with a forage orop ocmsiatiDg usually of a ml.%ture of l&8UIIIes and grains lVi soi...,bena), Mulching is a technique which baa been used priaarily to redUce sheet eroeion. !Iter tbe grain crop ie harvested., tbe land io loosely ploughed and the etubble lett, The etandiDg stubble serves to dissipate tbe energy of the torrential autWIID rains and to provide a Ngged surface to keep the soil in place. With inoreaeing anilllal pressure and. the introduction of' the practice of etubble grazing, this technique hao unfortunately been discontinued. strip cropping ie applied in areu where oontour ploughing hae been juded insufficient to control erosion. '!'he type of' etrip cropping mostly praotieed is a etrip of grain alternatiDg with a etrip left fallow or planted to a 11111111er crop. Usually stripa are 20 to 30 metres in width, with a deep furrow dug in the middle, The furrows are intended both to JO&terialize the etripa and. to etore rainwater. But while one baoic requirement of strip croppiDg ie tha exclusion of grazing, this conditicm ie not usually met and aa a result thie ,..thad is not highly efficient. '!'he shove are but a. few of the tillage methode whioll are known but only aporadioall;r practised in Nortll UrioiiD countries. 'l'beae methode are notable tor their eaay iapl811mt..., Ucm, their efficiency in controlling erosion and the lov oost involved. in their execution. It ie unfortunate that these useful techniques are not used m a wider scale in the three countries.
3.3
Mechanical structures
There are oeveral typee of mechanical measures which have been used tor erosion control in the region. '!'heae measures include bench terraces, slllall walla, and terraces.
Beoch terraces are constructed along the contour of a hillside and designed for intensive cropping. The baeic concept waa first initiated by the Romans and found widaspread application throughout the entire Mediterranean region. When bench terraces are connructed, the elope ia modified and this reBlllts in a decrease of soil erosion. Erosion, however, io not completely prevented, as NJ'loff etill flows down the slope. Becauee of their high cost, conetruction of bench terraces is at present largely confined to haavily populated, mountainous areas. Small walls of loose atone i nstalled along the elope ara designed to break the velocity of run-off water and to arrest the silt loads which accompany run-off. As the depth of s ilt deposit rises, new atones are added to raise the height of the wall, which ultimately leads to the formation of a level terrace. As in the case of tha lavel terrace, erosion is only redl.lced, not completely stopped. In bare and stony mountainous areas, a slight modification of this structure, consisting of a simple arrangement of horizontal rows of stone along tha contour, was found highly efficient for improving range lando. Smaller terraces ("banquettes" in French) are the !!lOst recent type of mechanical structure which baa bean used intensively throughout the entire ragiOD . A terrace is basically a channel and a ridge constructed along the contour of tho hillside and designed to store run-off (retention terrace) before it attains erosive speeds or to divert run-off (diversion terrace) to natural waterways. The theoretical concept of divereion terraces, baaed largely on US soil conservation techniquee, was studied by Saocardy in Algeria. ( Saocardy 1950). The design of 8\lOh structures was based on the following assumptions: (i) a rainfall intensity inferior or equal to 3 ~/min; (ii) a. run~off coefficient inferior to 1; (iii) a relatively dry soil; (iv) increasing infiltration rate with decreasing slope. The vertical interval (H) between two succeeding terraces is determined by the slope using the following formulae
i. -
H3
p
260 :!: 10 for slope up to 25,;
where: H P
~ ~
vertical interval in metre slo"Je i n percent
ii. p
64 for elope greater than 25,. ~
Both fon1111lae are used in Algeria and Morocco. In Tunisia, Bugeat developed a similar equation for all types of slopes in which H 2.2 + 8 P. For the construction of terraces, specification tables were drawn up asiiUIIli.ng a. rainfall intensity of 3 mm/min and a speed of flow in the channel varying between 0.65 m{ second and 0.80 m/secood.
Dependi.ng on the elope and the envieaged crops, the oroee-aeotion variee trOCQ a
simple nomal profile to a broad base profile (Figure 1). Planting of forest, fruit and forage trees is done on the edge of the terrace while grain or forage crops are ollltivated in the intel'-terrace area. llut the construction of terraces as practised in these cclllltries is not uwally in confomity with t ile basic technical requirement governing the flmotion of these structures in relation to decreasing soil eroeion. While, for instance, one baaie requirement is to avoid
ol~ey
soils, such a requirement wa.s seldom observed.
Cases ot retention
terraces which are mostly constructed on t his t;rpe of soil are notori0ll8. Sometimes the need to build these structures is not dictated by an apparent erosion problem but decided tor social reasons requiring creation of job opportWlitiea. In other instancas there wae a. lack of a better teen ique which oou.ld replace the terrace.
- ..... .... 2-3

m
..... ....
J._ ___ _
0 . 35-0.10
a.
Terrace with a normal profile (French: " banquet te
profil nom al")
t 0 .4)- 0. 10.,
0
', ........
I
-..,,.....,-:--.
I
2- 3
Ill
b.
Terraco with inclined Ufl"a.rd s l ope (French: "banquette l tot.lue coup6)
6 - 12. m
'
e.
Terrace with a broad baso profil e (French: "banquett e ~ simple eourbure")
Pi 1
~ee
of terraces
le<'~T
tea
Investigationsin Morocco have raised questions on Saoo~'s hypothesis on wbioh the deei8D of terraces is based (Reusch, 1970), Diversion terraces which channelize the run-off water into N&terwa.rs were found to increase the rate of flow and to decrease t he time of concentration. It does not seem, all factors considered, that the efficiency of these structures was carefully studied before their wide-spread application. Retention terraces have resulted in an increase of pressure on the retention site which vas accompanied by landslides and generated gully erosion. In the Pre-Rif region in Morocco, about 6fY/> of the retention terraces have been destroyed, 4(),( of these by gully formation and overflow, while were sliced down as a result of pressure increase (Robert, 1970). In this area it was found that retention terraces were not only inefficient but also harmful. In Algeria, the constructiOft of terraces over 2(),( of t he Fodda Watershed did not result in any decrease of e rosion. In Tunisia, where such structures have been used intensively, it was found that in most cases the rate of erosion had increased. On the olayey soils the eases of failure were numerous.
6o%
3.4
Pbzsical structures to Control Erosion on Streams
These structures consist mainly of eheckdams, which are constructed in waterwa.rs originating on steep slopes. Their purpose is to reduce the velocity of the water and to arrest the ail t which comes with run-off. Both loose and masonry- dams are used. When these structures are carefully dssi6Qed and constructed they result in a. great reduc tion of erosion. 'l'hey have not, however, received sufficient attention in soil conservation projects.
were not tho baain per ae (where terraces ., oro eonatrueted) 1 but the waterways and atre~
Intensive erosion studies in Morocco have shown. that the major sources of sedi10ent
banks which were onlarging at an alarming rate as a resul t of inappropriate land use in the basin. 'l'he presant tendency is toward a better consideration of channel areas. In Tunisia, this hae led to the investigation of suital>l e biological measures. 4 'l'IIE INTEGRATED APPROACH
Until recently the above, purely technical, measures for controlling soil erosion were considered in isolation and no attempt had been made to integrate them properly into a coherent watershed management programme. There have been some dramatic changes in watershed management policies of a poeitive nature, although in terms of implementation nothing has yet been done. The soil conservation programmes are to focus on the definition of new systems of land use better adapted to the real soil capabilities and geared to improving the economic conditions of the watershed population and solving the ecological problems. In Tunisia, the programme takes the form of an ''integrated approach", where the basic principle i l to replace "harmful activities" with "non-harmful" activities. 'l'his includes t he replacement of wheat cropping on high slopes dith permanent pasture, the planting of fruit treee
on favourable aoila 1 oreation of fodder reserves, treatment of degraded lands and waterw83's,
creation of new forage reaoureee outside the watershed, increasing the agricultural productivity downstream, regrouping the watershed population into new communities with a social i.n.frastrueture and agriculture possibi,J.ities. Such an integrated approach, ,although attractive, is encountering several difficulties: (i) difficulties in changing the land use eywtem; (ii) the time needed for tree planting to ~ economical; (iii) the difficulty of stabilizing the animal population; (iv) land tenure problems and {v) the need for more competence than t hat generally required for the construction of physical structures and tree planting. It will take a lot of time and cost a lot of money before such integrated programmes oan be efficiently implemented. The present tendency is to focus on small-soale projects carefully eeleoted a~~eng a large spectrum ot priorities, implemented in close cooperation
with the loo&l. people. The Derro project in Morocco and the Ou.arra and Zero\14 project in
TUnisia are typical examples .
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5.
MEA3JRES
'!'()
CONTROL WIND EROSION
These measures include ehelterbelts, which reduce wind speed en faralanda 1 and vegetative devioeo, to stabilize sand dunes.
Control of wind speed, through the eetablishment of a vegetative or physical barrier, baa been known and practiaed throughout the region, although in terms of i mplementation of a rational network of ahelterbel t systems, little baa bean achieved. Nonetheless, timely actions were undertaken in three countries, focused essentially on the protection of a.all groves of fruit treee (citrue, in particular). This involved the establishment of a system of ahelterbelte. These ehelterbelte were ua11ally very dense. In Tunisia they are suffering severe insect attacks.
A more recent effort in eouthern Tunisia was the experiental ahelterbelt project instal led on 200 hectare of farmland and 'designed to olow down the deasicating suuer wind blowing off the Sahara. A oecond objective ia to produce rural wood supplies. Two types of shelterbelto were tested: (1 ) perimeter windbreak which consisted of two interior rows of "fast" growing eucalypts (E. brockw;rt, E. salmonophloia, E. occidentalia) flan.ked on each aide by two slo,...growing eucalypts>:. torguata, E. campaape, E. oleosa, E. salubris, E. sargent H) whioh were in turn flan.ked by two rows of slo....growing acaciae; (2) an interior windbreak which consisted of a eingle row of poplars spaced approximately 4 metree apart. Although the ehelterbelt design and the species employed ware not the best for such 11Ultiple uee purposes, the feasibility of developing rural wood supplies was demonstrated.
To the south of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, eo11e 200 000 ha have been treated by planting . gomphocephala in t he form of isolated blocks in s.all farm holdings. The result is a half-wooded landscape which apparently has resulted in a significant decrease of wind epeed. Planting was carried out by t he farners t he.uelvea , who realized an eoon011io return by sel ling Eucalyptus logs for making fish boxee. Eltamples of shelterbelto on pasture lands are very rare. In the central part of Tunieia a few hundred hectares have been protected with a network of shelterbelts and this has result ed in a significant increase of forage production. Similar work was carried out on 900 ha of the Doukhoulas rangeland in Morocco, whioh generated considerable enthusiau by pastoral tribes in view of the interesting results obtained. For sand dune stabilization, the technology evolved in the three countries ie baaed on the conventional method where hedgeo of dead shrubs are established in a checkerboard
pattern and t he &J)aoe between the hedged plots is oovered with a. vegetative l'lllleh. Later
tho plots a.re planted with coniferous t:reea (Pinus pinaster,. Pinus pineal or Joaoia apeoioo (coastal dunes). Where t he object of stabilization of continental dunes is to provide proteotioo to oases, human dwellings and roads, sand dune barriers or artificial hedges of palm branches are erected every 200 to 300 m. As the dune barriers rise and cover the branch hedges, new branches are added to raise the height of the dunes. In areae Where palm branches are not abundant, corrugated aabesto-ceroent sheets are used. These are also raised ae the dunes rise. other techniques for sand dune stabilization involving the use of chemical emulsions (petroleum by-producto, rubber emulsions, lignin materials) have been tried throughout the countries with a varying degree of success. In general, the traditional method appears to be the most reliable one, but it is labour-intensive and requires considerable quantities of dead material. In Tunisia, nylon nets nave been used experimentally to stabilize dunes in the Douz region. The area in between the dunes is planted with drought-resistant speci es.
- 1')9 -
6.
MEASURES TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION
Desertification is a hazard whose potential has only recently bean comprehended. Early efforts foc~sed on carrying out small-scale activities such as tree planting, creation of fodder reaervea and sand ~ne stabilization. In Algeria a sol~t ion was eought throngh the creation of a "green belt" in the southern part of the country. Tbis green belt with a length of over 1 000 km and a width of 10-15 km was intended to arrest the northward advance of the Sahara.. Another approach considered througho~t t he three oo~tries is rationDl management of the land& threatened by desertification. Planned actions are the improvement of range land and liveetock production. Most efforts are directed toward the development of technical information for the implementation of these programmes. Importllllt projects are the integrated project in the \iila.ya of Sa.ida in Algeria, the management of rangeland& in the pre-Saharian zone in Morocco and the Oklat Marteba project in southern Tunisia.
7.
CONCLUSIONS
Soil conservation practieee id North Africa have been focused mainly on corrective mechanical measures, which in most cases have been in~fficient or nat suitably adapted to c~ter erosion problems. Despite t he fact that the three e~triee discussed in this paper have launched large soil conservat ion projects, mueh still remains to be learned, both in terms of ba.eie scientific facts ae well as consideration of the plant species which may be uaed for t he reatoration of eroded sites. No one seems to nave an intimate knowledge of the successional capacity of t he native plant cover which can be used to rehabilitate degraded l and. There is only scant knowledge of t he effectiveness of different plant covers, soil preparation methods, engineering teehniqu.es or combinations t hereof for controlling erosion. Terraces are not a cure-all for every degraded watrshed, particularly on badlands and clayey soils. Biological measures need greater consideration. The economies of the vari~s conservation measures are in need of much b etter qu.antification. The soeioeconoraie framework that has given rise to destrocti ve land use in the coWltries has not bean. fully taken into account.
As regards wind erosion, existing knowledge is based on studies and research mostly
carried cr~t o~tside t he region. Because such st~dies have not been replicated and their results confirmed, wide gaps exist in o~r current knowledge. Dune control efforts to date have largely been on the basis of trial and error experiences at a few locations within the countries. Not much is known shout the plantsand-water relationships and other phY"iological qu.eetions. Little information is available on h;rdrolog;r and groundwater vis-1>-vis dune afforestation. '~ould thirty>-year old planta.tions on dunes begin to "mine" all the capillary water and groundwater and then begin to die off'? This lack of knowledge is not simpl y an academic concern. There are soil conservation and dune afforestation schemes in these countries dating back thirty years, some succeeding and others failing, ~t without explanation of why. While the present trend is toward better management of t he natural resoorees, there are no guidelines of an integrated nature which can be ~sed t o assure the long..range success of land management programmes now ~der way. Only when we better comprehend erosion problems and t heir processes will we be in a position to provide practical field guidelines and the technical training for suitable land protection and management .
- 160-
,,
~t
"
,...
< ,, '.
'.
; l
,.
Anon. 1967
La conservation et la restauration du sol.
Projet Sebou. Maroc,
' .
'.
I.
L1 4rosion 1 la d'fense et la restauratioo des sols. Le reboiaement an Alg,rie. PUblication du Minist~re de l 1 Agriculture et de la Reforme agraire. pp. 393. B., Kalman, R. et P. Robert. Erosion, transport solide , 'dimentation - Annales de la recherche foreati~re au Maroc. Numero splcial - <ltude sur 1' 'roaion. PP 390.
Saccard;y 1 L.
t
'
"I
1959
N~eesit~ de la lutte contre les des sola et des eaux.
~roaiona.
M~thodes
moderoes de conservation
I
I
'
- 161 -
c,
SOIL AND
\~ATER
Grassland Man:gement
~lAliAGEl!IDIT
CotiSERVA'l'IO!l AS Al-i AID TO RAliGE
by James Naylor Plant Production and Protection Division FAO, Rome The UNDP/FAO Rangeland Conservation and Development Project was a multidisciplinary effort using experts in soil and water conservation engineering, agronomy
and range in order to "investigate all means of reversing t he trend of steadJr deterioration of the productivity of the r angel ands and coordinat ing programmes
and activities, which wi ll result in the beat uae of the vegetation, lives tock and
water resources'' Short term o bjec.t ives of the pro ject , in the north, were "to have emphasis on soil and water conservat i on measures".
1/
Northern Somalia consists of a long, rel atively narrow (200 kilometers) stri p of land facing northward toward the Gulf of Men, with i ts book toward the Ethiopian highlands. The upland plateau which extends into Somalia from Ethiopia is a gently undulating upland of deep, redish, loamy so i ls pa rtially derived from alluvium and part ially derived from residual material. Occasionally, espec i ally in the west, the sharp peaks of partial l y buri ed mountains extend above the soil surface, The
plateau extends northward t o a. :raul t zone '-'hich forma a narrow, rocky , moWlte.inous
belt,
This belt of mountains ends abrupt l y at a north facing block escarpment which
Thi s plain slopec
rises some one thousand meters a bove the sandy coastal plain.
gently from t he foot of the escarpment into the Gulf of Aden. The a rea of highest average annual precipitation i s the mountainous belt just south of the escarpment, which receives a mean annual rainfall between 650 and 750 mm. This area of highest precip itation issmal l, there is little so il on the steep slopes, and little of t he precipitation is retained where i t falls; t herefore the belt has a small productive potent ial for livestock. The area of second highest mean annual precipitat ion, 400 - 650 mm ie the plateau area between the mountains and the E.'thiopian boundary, and extending
westward f'rom. Hargeysa to Borama, an area of good soils and h i gh production. From Hargeyea the mean annual precipi tation decreases eastward both on the plateau and
on the coastal plain until a mean annual precipitat ion of only 50 - 150 mm is received on the eaetern coastal pl ain. The most prominent phys i ognomic feature of the vegetat i on is overuse by livestock. Otherwise the vegetation is open savanna with evergreen Commiphora and Balanites trees and shrubs within t he mountainous belt; deciduoue, thorn-tree savanna on the upland plateau; and on the sandy plain there is an Acacia shrub and low evergreen Balanitee obcularus tree savanna wi th coarse bunch grasses.
I~
is eeen that the ent i re nroa of northern Som4lin nll s within what muet bo
classified arid land, The humidity is, however, generally quite high, 60-70 percent which reduces the evaporat ion and t ranspiration stress and makes early morning dew
a common phenomenon.
!/Proj ect Doe~~~nt number SOM/72/003/E/01/12, 11 June 1974
- 11'2 -
The people of northern Somalia are traditionally livestock owning, herding people who have specialized in sheep, goats and camels. Theee animals onn be independent of water for one and two weeks and thus the people could in the past move over a relatively large area with their l i vestock. This mobility plus a low rate of population increase in both people and livestock was an adequate management practice. The increase in technology and the resulting increase in population growth rates, in both people and livestock, coupled with t he loss of land for other uses has caused the traditional management practices to break down, and as yet no formal management system has been substituted for the traditional practices. The results have been overuse of all of the rangelands. The effects of overuse by livestock is reflected throughout northern Somalia
in the eroding soila, t he arcao of' erosion bad.landB, and the area.e of bare soil.
Such badly eroded areas mey take up as much as 2fll, of the total range area. It was these unhealthy symptoms which stimulated the Government to request aid and the result was t he Rangeland Conservation and Development project,
In response to the stated short-term objeotives of the project, the project personnel in the North chose several s ites for development. This development included water conservation bunds for ponding water in order to increase available soil moisture. The improved moisture conditions will increase fodder production on
t he sit e.
The structures also decrease soil loss due to water erosion.
Somo of
t he sites required construction of dame and canals that will divert spate water from a stream course into the modified area. At other sites it was only necessary to slow and spread the runoff water from the adjoining hil l s. FOr eithe r method,
development requires money, materials, equipment and time. the soil and water conservation sites expensive. These requirements make
Due to the high costs requirod to develop these Gites, it would seem that
only a small percentage of the total range area. can ever be developed for increased fodder product i on. Becauoe the site must be limited in size but will have a relatively high production of fodder resulting in a valuable supply of hay to be harvested and used or sold, some critical questiono may ari se concerning the use of t he oi te such as: 1) who owns the site; 2) who cont rols the s i te; 3) how is the site to be used; 4) who owns the harvested hay; 5) whose livestock gets t he hey; 6) how are these sites to fit into the overall programme for improvement of range cond i tion. All of t hese questions carne up during the time the project
personnel were developing sites.
The variety of answers poss ible to t he above queationE uncovered some
problems which may serve to emphasize the need for studying the local situation prior to, or in oonjunction with, t he preparation of the projeot document. The human population in the project a r ea should not be overlooked . Through Government representatives, meetings should be held with the people to seek local
acceptance of the project.
If necessary, a serious pre-project phase of education
and extension work, t o obtain invo l vement and cooperation of t he local people with the project, st!ould be carrie<! out , The personnel of the concerned Government ministries and the proposed project counterpart should be involved in this
pre-project exercise.
Continued support of the proj ect by the Government is absolutely necessary, Government support at the highest level may be obtained by intensive discussions during the pl anning stage and, if necessary, a aeries of meetings with field trips to the project area may be made during t be discussions . Government officials
and personnel should know what resul t s t o expect from the project and what steps
are necessary to achieve t hese results.

be included in the document.
A schedule for the eXpected result s hould
- 16> . -
.All previous reports, publications ana document s relat i ng to the project area shoul d be oatained and made avail able to t he inte rnational personnel of the new
proj e ct . This io to ensu.r e t hat all potS!S:iblu climatio, edap jl ic and hydrological
data are sturlied so t hat engineering-hydrol ogical des i gns and fiel d ley-outs of any physical structures are adequate for the environment.
In order for projects of t h i s kind to be valuabl e and effective, soil and
water conservation measures must be combined with adequate cont rol of people and
l ivestock in order that the range and watershed ~ be improved. Any improvement in range condition requi res proper range m~~agemer.t. Proper range management
requires t he agreement and cooperat i on of the 1 ivest ock owners who a re uoing t he
range.
'l'here is now a combination of several conditions which can make i t possibl e
to settle the nomadic people of northern
So~al ia
and thereby make i t possible to Another condition is
control thelivestock and manage the range.
One of these conditions is the ability
to have these improved soil and water conservat i on s i tes . set tled.
the des ire of the Government and the people to have the trans humant popul ation
The Government wants to settle t he people so t hat t hey may be governed. The transhumant people wish to settle because they have no real l egal r i ghts now; they are losing their best lands to other uses and other people; the people wish to
have their c hildren attend achoola; t he people wis h to have access to medic al attention and medicines ; they wish to be near water and trading areas. The
l ivestock owners are wel l aware of the deteriorating condit ion of the range. One way to settle t he people i s to organize t !lem into ranch cooperatives.
Three typea of cooperatives arc needed to provide f or tho different condit ione in nort hern Somal i a. One typo of cooperat ive i s the stock raising cooperat i ve where members are pastoral or nomadic people. A second type is the town or vil l age cooperative whoae members wil l be the lives t ock owners who live in the villages and t owns and whose l ivest ock forage in and around these u, r ban areas. A t hird type
i s a holding ground cooperative whose members are traders who b1~y the exportable animals from the livestock raising peopl e and s el l to markets aeross t he Oulf of Aden. All three types of cooperat ives wil l be centred around one or more wat er conservation sites where the relatively high yield of f orage will be for drought res erve feed, supplemental feed and, in the oase of the st ook ranch cooperat i ves settlement sites, fami ly gardens f or the people. Each sufficient to allow one fourth of the range to be unused. soil and harvest ed raising of the
&oil and water conservation sites will be surrounded by or adjacent tot sufficient rangeland to support t he range animals, plus a.n ad.dition&l amount of range
The rangeland will

consecutive rest
be d ivided int o four unite, eaoh of which wil l receive two yeare
out of each eight yeRr cycle. There exists good evidence that this type of management is sufficient t o change the deteriorating condition of the rangeland
into an improving condition t hrough restoration of healt hy root systems and vigour
to the forage pl ants.
1
. '
- 164-
The work of developing the soil and water conservation sites and the additional stock water improvements will be done by tho cooper ative members largely with
hand labour.
1'hie project has organi zed seven cooperatives consisting of 322 families, There are six more cooperative (494 families) awaiting Government final approval (a law is baing considered}. We have more than 100 applications from other groups. There ia now eupport for these cooperative from the nomadic and semi-nomadic people and from tho Government at the local level. Continuing technical help is urgently needed.
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Paeer No. 12
by T, Ionesco
1, FORFJIO.RD
1/
It is unanimously recognized that the erosion problem i s moNO acute in arid and semi-arid zones than in the temperate and tropical beoauee o~ climatic, soil, land use and other conditions, .and the lower average smount of ground i:lover in the a.rid environment tends to aggravatethe situation , Many of t he developing countries are locat ed entirely or partially in the a~id and semi-arid zones.
In other respects, it ia also recognized that the rangeland areas - which
provide the principal feed resource for livestock production - cover the largeet part of the arid zone, Nevertheless, these rangelands are misused by overetocking, clearing for cultivation, burning and removal of woody species for firewood, cha.rooal or distillation, etc. and thi s results in degradation of the plant cover, increased erosion, reduction in production and in productivity of rangelands, etc. As populations expand and feed demands incr<~aee as well, the improvement and better management of rangeland in order to maintain or even increase livestock production is indispensable. From our point of v i ew, thi s is the main goal to attain, except for the too d&graded areas where the first priority is the reestablishment of vegetative cover for soil conservation.
Thus soil conservation and erosion control in the productive rangeland areas are not activities ear se, but the particular consequence of rangeland and fodder crop management. Of course, some exceptions exist in some critical areas.
2.
POTENTIAL AND PROBL91S IN EROSION CONTROL BY GRAZINa LJIND MANAa!)(ENT

tin Mediterranean zone)
As mentioned, most of the arid and semi-arid rangelands are now degraded or
eroded. As regards potent i al and technical improvements, it is worth taking into account three main zones: semi-arid, receiving more than 400/350 mm (mean annual rainfall). The isohyet a fro m 350 to 400 mm correspond to the northern 1 imit of the steppe vegetation and t o the southern limit of regular and productive cereal cultivation \mder dryland farming condi tione; arid, the average annual rainfall varies from 100 111111 to 400/3')0. The ioo mm isohyet is the extreme southern l i mit of non-irrigated agricul ture; desert , below 100 mm.
!/ Technical
Officer Crop and arassland Production Service
" V 6
2.1
The
semi~id
zone
The main pasture resources in this zone concern:
natural ranpland, particularly forest degraded fomations, BUoh as matorral, prril!\le, moquia, award, etc. forests (Topic C)
BOlin
pastures and pennanent I!Wards, fallows
fodder orcp cultivation.
AlthoUh degraded, the natural ri!Zipland potential is still high and pasture rehabilitation, soil conservation and erosion control can be realiJied through technical improTements BUoh as: rllllg8 development, rotation and/or deferred grazing adapting etooking rates to carrying capacity; eetablillhllent of gruing reserves, etc. In some parts ot the rllllg8lands erosion can be easily controlled by plmting adapting species, particularly fodder orops euoh as bushes or perennial grasses and le~~Umes , Qeunha ficu.a-indioa, !triplex un-Jlaria, Acacia oyanophilla 1 Festuoa slatior, l!ed;yearum coronarilUII, Phalaris trunoata, p;;;;;;isstum cUiars, Penniaetum clandestinum, Panioum antidotale, Or;raopaia llliliacea, Daatzlis glomerate, Lolium perenne, etc. Concerning the sown pastures, permanent award& and the fodder oropa in cultivation areas, no specific r&Dpland techniques e:rist, e:mept respecting the rllllg8land livestock menspment calendar.
On the whole, ae regards rllllg8land and the fodder crop potential of this
one, there is no particular problem with eoil conservation ~U~d erosion oontrol apart from application of the usual manspment techniques. It is here that improvement both in the agronoll\)" (seeding and planting) and animal IIIAIZI&plllent can show the beat gains. 2.2 The arid zone
ln this zone, the main pasture resources ooncem:
natural rangeland formation (steppes) fallowe fodder orops under irrigation.
AIJ is well know, the rangelands are now degraded, but exoept for acme irrevereible &reBB - oompletely desertitied - the possibilities for illlprovement are real and important. Nevertheless, the ohanoea of BUooeseful eetabliahment and persistance of sown pasture and fodder crop cultivation in dr,y farming are eoaroe and the operation is not generally recommended except on fallow lands. Pasture rehabilitation, soil conservation and erosion oontrol oan be carried out throUgh rotational and/ or deferred gruing end adapting stocking rates to the lotlB'"terlll carrying capacity. Ch the other hand, the eetablishllent of fodder rese rves (9ll!tia, r.riplex, .Aoaoi!'-J Prosopis 1 etc) ie posllible (soU conditions being favourable~ At the same time, t heae reserves can be utilised as soil atabiliEation epecies . In this l atter oaae, aa regards t heir consumption by the ani mals, zero grazing is recc11111snded 1 or cutting feed and keeping the animals outside these fragile areas.
- 167 -
Concerni.ng the irreversible degraded zones, the re-establishment of a vegetative cover, ae reprda soil conservation and erosion control, can be carried out by us in& O'lllTent teohniquea without taking into aocount the rfUl8"land problems before obtaining a aucceaatul result. Eut the use of certain fodder species is aloo recommendable.
!:n some countries, the combination of pitti.n&, terracing end water spreading
have been very beneficial iD restoring vegetation cover both with and without seedi.n&. Ii ahould be uaeflll in developing countries.
SUIIURJ
The two most critical problema of arid and semi-arid rangeland regions are:
i.
the general with a view development a oorolla.r;r the adverse
overstocking and complete lack of any fo.,. of animal manipulation to forage management - coupled with the well-i.ntentioned of water for various reasons, but the lack of ~lemen~ation o~ grazi.ng management programme has further compounded and spread effects of overstocking;
ii. the pressure of bu-. populations which is oauei.n& rapid eJ<pBnsion of cultivation into the rfUl8"land areae, especially on the semi-arid/arid fringe. This further restricts and compounds the gr&Zing land management problem and adds to deterioration of tbe feed resources for the animals. In addition, the problem becomes IDUch 1110re serious w hen the cropland fringe is pushed beyond the olimatio margin of economic production for cropa and when particularly fragile soils are cultivated or tilled with inappropriate techniques one of the moat critical needs is for comprehensive ecological and land use 8Ul'V8;y8 that will provide essential info:mation to suide these kinde of necessary upenaion progr......,s and gives a suide to the rangeland areae that can be improved to compensate the loss of land for livestock use . The problem is not all that hopeless beoauee throughout the arid end semi-arid repn. of the world, particularly the latter, grazing maa~agement experiments 81ld d8110118trationa ae well ae a f<N large operating ranches have demonstrated that natural pltnt succession under proper animal management (application of principles of proper stocking, off-take, saaeon, frequency and intensity of gra.zi.n& uae with , often, some simple eoheme of rotational management) oan remarkably improve the potential of many ranges considered to be irreparably degenerated. Agronomic range ilnprovBDent is another tool that can often provide the flexibility required to i.nstitute improved animal management on remaining rangelands. Similarly more work and application is needed in areas of long tam fallow to work forage and fodder crops into the food-crop rot at ions and to use adapted graea-legume on the fallow lands (where fallowed from 2 to 7 or more years). This not only stabili~es the soil and improves fertility and aoil organic matter, but provides an illportant forage reserve.
- 169-
D.
J!eae&l'<lh, Orga;oisation, Education, Erlenaion and Envirolllllent
Pe.per No, Q
RESEARCH NEED5 FOR SOIL CONSERVA TIOII IN DEVELOPiliO COUN'IRIES
by B.W. Hudson Professor of Field Engineering National College of Agricul ~ura1 Engineering Or&nfield Institute of Technology
II'IIIODUC'l'IOI
Tbe .,.,. ..,tio~~&l approach io to didde reeoarch U.to pure reeoarch ud applied reeearoh. I would like to lllg&"at that fer aoil erosion and aoil eenaervation a
bettor divieien ia into .ubjocte which haTe geaeral or worldwide application,. and thoae which haft local application. Thie i perhape aot really a different approach, beoauee ~he topice ef universal interest are aainly conceraad with underatandinc the baaie prl.Jaeiplee and proeeaau of erosion and eo they are fairly el01e to the concept ef pure roHaroh, while the lecaliMd intereete are mere cencerned with eolviJI& local preblema and eo are cleaer to applied reaearoh. '!'he purpoae ef thia paper is to review the preaent atata of knewled&e md henoa te identity weakbeaaee or deficiencies which oan indicate roaearoh neede. In trying to arrive at priorities fer reaearch which should be incorporated into an action pre~ it ~ b4 helptul ~o ~P in aind thie di~~er.noe b4tv.~ "pur." .~udiea ~ worldwideprinoiples and "applied" studies of more localised aelutiona to local prebl....
In recent years the urgent 11eed to i11oreaae toad production hae toouoHd attention en soil erosion, te the point where almoet all &OY&rnmente and statee ore aware ef th preble, thlllh whether &117 et the are ta.c.kling the preble adequately is wch leBB .-rtain. When leokin &t the erte11t .r eoil eroaien and deeidinfr hew bad it ie we IOisbt coneider t ... pointe.
1.2.1
E%ploitatien or Develop!!nt? We must be careful to differentiate between "exploitation" in t he sense of the unwise consumption of non-renewable resources, and legitimate exploitation i.e. t he sensible development of resources, No-one criticises the oil-,.rioh states of the Middle East for exploiting (i.e. developing) their oil and po;,ring t he inoome into the devolopment of a lonB'"'term: agricultural il'ldiiatey. I the situation really so d ifferent when a South American country like Brazil deliberately exploits its land resources for ooffee production? or Argentina through meat production? and uses this to generate national wealth o; to create an industrial society or even for &ducation?
1 2 2
'l'he d!1!!4!r of erafllt!l'aUon
It ie eaey te be oarried away by the a.wfulneae" o! eroeion ae eeen throusn the of the epecialiet. A claee1o example 1 Leeothot formerly Baeutoland, in Southern Africa, where before 1900, the ftret white eettlere reported en the "aloet total daatruot ien of the land throuel> ovor-vacing". In their olaeaie aurva,y of worldwide erosion, Jacka and White (1939) e&id the .... , and e-ry 10 or 15 yaare a report on eroeien in the country prodicte >-diate and total dieaeter. It ia quite true that the gullies are appalling, and the eoil lose and the silt load in rivera extraordinarily hi!h, but the cattle are etill fat aad the people appear to be thrivillg and roa..nably fed. Surely it ie a contra.dietien fer "di eaeter ta be a etablo etate or quilibriua.
Y.
- 1 70 -
13
laaoeein tho effectivenoee of eoil coneerwatien Unfortunately few reliable and quantitative eurYOye have bean Bade ef the affoctiveneae of u&tianal soil conservation progr... The thorousn ia naturally in the USl, where Hold and Clawean (1965) atteapted ta review the eucoeee of the USDA SCS ein.,. a nathnal aurvay in 1934 ah-d the alal'llling faot that reusJ>ly thft._ quarters of the arable land of the US vaa eerieuely daa&<d by eraeien (Bennatt, 1939).
at
l eilllpliried ew.ary ef lldd and claveon'a conclueiene ie that in the United States, erasion baa bean juet about bald in check, and if that ia the roault after a <neration of work by the aaet eoPbieticated c ..eervatian service in the world what hope ie there in developing countries where the problea ie eo ..,ob greater but the capacity to operate a oonaervation aervioe is eo .ucb leea?
It ie relevant to coneidar, lf!>en looking at deficianci.. and needs, bow .uch the need ie for technical aolutione, and how much the problea ie to learn how to apply tba &lreaq knolll> aolutione. Another provocative thought ie that if the knoaolu1ions are not baiug applied, then they IIUet by definition be not the ript eolutiona.
apart from teohnioal expertise many other factora ~ be the liaiti.ng oonetraint on effective eoil conaervation - for ezaaple, the availability of aoney, or of trained peraonnal, or social, palitioal, or legislative raetrainta.
~ito
1.4
The epeoial probleae of developing eountriea
1.4.1 Dewloein and dawloped countries

It ie only natural that the developing countri es should look to the developed countries for a lead in soil conservation, and particularly to the United Statae which bee led the world in thie field.
llowever, the leeeon of the develo~nt of ooneervation in the USA ie that we ehould understand and appreciate the chaugi.ng pattern there, but not necee... arily follow it, at leaet at the 11oonant. lloat developing countri.. are on the whole at the point which the United States roached in the thirties and forties, that ie a rapid increase in the nuaber of 811&11 traotora, tatd a
r.qui.re-.a't tor raaxieu.. eroion control 1.hrough .u.lohiJ:le and teJTaOi.a.
'Ihe
current trend in the USl towards IIUCh aore aopbiaticated and expeneiw control aeuurea reaulta partly fr011 the adoption of IIIUOh larpr lii&Chinn (e.g. 6 and 8 row planter in the 11id.oweet ) and partly from the ability in the United Statae to inwet .....,.i... ounta ot capital in l and JUnipulation, e.g. &fto&eed.o back bench terraces, deaiSDed to euit the larp machinea. Another factor not reproduced in developing oountrie~ ia that a high level or industrial devaloPMnt l eade to a abitt in eaphaaie trOIII aoil conservation to water conservation. Far lllora effort is nov devoted' in the United States to the effeotive .uee of water and the control of water pollution, than to soil conservation. Moat developing countries are fortunate in that thie problem ie not yet ao eerious.
1.4.2 Tropical and t emP!rate climates

If the developing countries have leee man-made problema, theee are counterbalanced by the p~ioal factare which lead to a greater erosion haiiU'd in the tropics 1111d eub-.tropice than in temperate eli-tee. In the tropics the tQpograpb;y ie often more conducive to eroeion (Boeuza, 1953) and the eoile 1110ro vulnerable (Eden, 1964) and the rainfall more erosive (Badaon, 1976).
- 171 -
1.4.3 Land preasurea The denaity of population variea widely in developing countries, but one, o~on factor ie the rapid increase in population, which results in changing pnsaure on the land. The population density in the Sahelian region of Africa may be low in ccmparieon with other regions, but a ~ increase in either human or cattle population ia likely to cause druatic cbanpa at any level of land uae. Later, when diacuasing land selection and land classification we will conaider the fact that a elaeeificaticn echeme may aeneibly put land into the category "unsuitable for cultivation" when there is plenty of other land available. But in lll&nY countriee all the pntly eloping land ia already uaed or oveJ"ooused and tbie pute a different comple%ion on the ieaue of the elope limit at which cultivation should atop. 1.4.4 UDe%pected bzproducts or development There are eometimee unexpected and undeeirable eide-effeeta of development projects which &l'e tbemaelV&a deairable. For example, the change from ehifting cultivation to settled arable r ...... ing 11ay lead to increaeed food production and higher inc- but at the &OIRe time cause increaeed erosion. Another interesting exa~~ple ia where the euceeaa of the C&llp&i gn to eradicate cattle diaeuea in the Sahelian one of Africa has led to auch 11aaain increaaeo in cattle population that Ovel'-gr&&ing is 110at al&r~~ing, and could lead to an irreverai'ble change iD the ecological balance (Orllerod 1976).
2,
AliA LYSIS OF TilE SITUATIO!f
2.1
The factora affecting eroaion of bringing -topther all the factors whioh de.,ermine how oauch erosion will tal<e place in a given situation. lihen conaidaring the titate of knowledp it will be con'YeJlient to look at each of these factors iD turn. lie abould aloo conai der how much we can exerciee any influence on eroaion, and which of the factors can be modified.
Figure 1 ehowe one
w~
2. 2
How erosion can be controlled

In the case of rainfall t here is clearly ver.y little scope for manipulation or 11anapment. SOllie alight l!IOdifioaticn to rainfall patterns may be possible through aloud seeding or similar techniques but at present these are likely to be. localized and of Bm&ll consequence. FDr practical purposes erosivity can be considered as fi:md; we can study it and measure it 'but we cannot change it.
The situation is very aimilar for erodibility. The inherent characteriatico of soil auoh &a the .echanical composition can seldom be manipulated aenaibly er economically. Some modification can be mada to eoil characteristics like tilth, or structure, or organic D&tter but such cbanps aa can be achieved are all the result of manageent and o.an be ooneideN4 under tha.t head.
!opograpr;y oan certainly be modified, and whether it io sensible to de eo 1$ a qu8stion of eoen&~~ico. If the coat-benefit ratio ie right, the elepe can be chanpd by bench terracing or the length by building channel terraces.
'
- 172-
SOIL EROSION is a function of
EROSIVITY
enti rely a property of the rainfall
ERODIBILITY
entirely a property ot the soil
TOPOGRAPHY
a pr operty ot t he land.
HANAGEimlT
entirel y contributed
by man
Detachability
.--------L----------,
Slope
Transportability r-------.:...,....______-----, Length Rel ation to other land

Land use
Crop Management
Land Sel eotion
Land
Management
Fig. 1
Factors influencing eros ion
- 173 :...
!owoftl' i t ie in tho area or IIIUI~ent that oroe1011 can hoet ho oODtrollod, and tho qu&QUtaUw cliftero120o in aaeunte of eroeien undor c11rreront et1lee or nt ia wry auch groator than 1he difroronoo reeulti.n tr011 va:riotiODS in the other tootore. Puttiq nwabora to thia concept, the varioti011 in tho eroaivit7 within a countey or troa JO&r to JO&r mipt ho in the ratio or 5 to 1. The effect or ditreront erodibiliUee would be eioilar-ratioe or up to 5 to 1 . The ertoot or chazmol torracoe ia rouply to halw erosion, i.o. a ratio or 2 to 1. But different land and crop liAIIIIBMODt ieohniquee could r ..ul t in the orosi on ohangizl cy a ratio ot 1 000 to 1.
Mll.,...
Whether or 11et we can do an,rthiq to chan8'1 the pattom, we etill nood to tnov and unuretand tho proooeeoa, eo vo neod u much int..,..Hon u we can set abaut ewey ao~ot ot oroeion. But looking at tho ,...ioue faatore vhioh influence oroei"" we can "" tho eipificance ot the divieion augeeted in Section 1. 1 betvoen 8'1111rliaod or pure roaearch, and loooliaed or applied reeearch.
In the oaee or oroei vit;y and erodibilit;y the queatio11e to uk are: "What do ve alre&d,y knov?" md "What do vo thoretoro need to know?" The probl011a eo utined will bo or a 8'111ral nature aDd &111 enewre will ban widoepread application. .l prosr- or roaearch on -thoH topioe ebould therefore ho worldwiu and conool'Did with rundamontal e.
When IIIIIUI8'Ifl"nt ie iltvolved, ae in land H l ection or aoditioation, end crop ....,.,..ent, the quoetione to aek are: "What ie the preeent practice?" and tollowinc that, ".lro tho pralllllt prootioee adequate?" and it not, "hov can tho;y ho ilnprowd?" TboH aro oeaeniially localized queetiODe. Tho anavera in one country 11ay ho quite inapproprah in another, and eo -:research em these applied prolilems will liave.. t o be aone'8iparafelyror eaoh different set of conditions,
). TilE li!IOSIVITY OF R.liiPALL
31
Dotigition agd application Tho utlllition ot eroeivit;y ie the potential abilit;y or rain to cause erosion. It ie a tuncUt111 or the ph,yaical oh&raoteriet ice of rainfall and i t ie lcnown that the charaoteriatico which are oloaely related to eroeivit;y aro intonaity end t'unotiona ot raindrop ues and teminol velocit;y auch ao kinoUc oner111 or motlentwa.
at
The ability to quantity erosivity baa -two aain applications. I t it ia l1n01111 tha-t the eroeivit;y 111 Region X ie IIUch groahr 'than in Region Y, than roc-nud soil ocmaOJ'Y&tion aoaouroe O&D ho ueipod accerdiqly. . The ether uee ie 1n reaearch. Tho rowUe trOll field plot e:r;porilaonte are auoh aoro ueoful i t it ia ~eible to caloulate, and &llow fo.r, the va;iat19n.whioh ~e du~ to the ditior&nt eroeivit;y ot ditterent 8\0I'llle or ot ditteront eeaeona. In labor&tOZ')' etudi ... md work with railttall eiaulatora, a quantitative aouure of erosivity ia eaaeatial if &111 preoieion i8 te ho achieTed. 3.2 Meuuroet or oreaivitz lreaivit;y can ho Maeured direotly b;y obaorrill8 how IIIU!'h. !'~ion ill. cauaod py a particular etorm or aeries or etome. 'lbia O&D ho dono b;r field experimental plote, but for IINl.Y pgrpoeee i t ie aiapler and moro accurate to eliminate the variable ecil tactora lib eoil t1PO, oieture, elope and orop which are notbiq to do with oroeivit;y md eo COD onl;y oontuu the iaeue. Per the aeaa-nt or eplaehability', i.e. tho ability to oauao detachment, the aothod ot Elliaon-t;ype epluh oupe ie roo I uonded. With uftlopmollto in u:perilaontal technique. (Biaal, 1950; lludocm, 1965) this aethod gina a eiaplo but reliable and accurate ae&eUJ'8118Dt.
- 174-
It is possible that there could be an interaction effect between erosivity and erodibility. In that case a measure of erosivity based on the ability of rain to cause detacbment might not be the ...., ae a ... a.eure of erosivity based on the ability to transport soil. However this is moat unlikely. A carefully controlled series of experiments in Africa (Hudson, 1976 p. 68) showed that an equally preciee correlation obtained between eroaivi ty and eroaion, whether the eroeion was measured by splaeb alone, or by splash and run-off from Frea-t.rpe soil pane, or by field erosion from experi,..,ntal ploh . 3.3 Indirect asaeaement of erosivity If, i neteed of' having to start taking measurements of erosivity, i t was possible to calculate it from already exi eUng rainfall data, this would gJ'eatly increase the available store of knowledge. I t is exactly parallel to infor~~~ation on water evaporation - one can either measure it direeUy by setting up an evaporation pan, or one ean lllake an estimate from existing data on te..Perature, humidity, etc. The catcb ie that all such indirect eatim.tee are empirical, ~hat is 1hey use relationships which are created to f i t observed data. The relationship can be expected to apply within the conditione of the data, but there ia absolutely no reason why the rel ationship should be valid in other eireumataDOea. Unfortunat~ly thia basic principle of acientific reeearoh ie all too often i gnored in the desire to eXtend the UBe of an. empirical solution by applying i t outside its limits. We have today several alternative empirical methode for oaleulati~ eroaiYity from rai nfall. 'l'be beat known is the n 3o indax (Wiscb. .ier at al., 1958) in whioh soil loas from experial<mtal plots waa foUnd to be well correlated with the kinetic ener&r of the ator E,and an arbitrarily cboaen p&rUiehr I30 There ia no theoey to crplain llhy it should be I30 rather than l6o or the lli&Jl7 other par81118tera teated. I t was observed to give the best fit and that ia all. Since I30 ia a function of the kind of rain or t7P" of storm there is no reason wlzy- "the same relationship should bold for other rainfa ll patterns, and indeed studies have ebown that the correlation ie not eo precise in the ease of higb-intenai ty tropical rai nfall (Hudson, 1965). Another di sadvantage of this i ndex is that it requires the laborious extraction of data rro~ autooatie raingauge charte. Seeking an alternative index sui table for Arrica the author established KE>25, that i.e the tota l k i netic energy of all the rain falling at intensitiea greater than 25 maVhour (Hudson, 1965) Within the conditions of the experiment-this was found to be very efficient and practical and it baa the advantage of be ing 1110re easily computed than EI30, but again it is empirical., and in other situations t here woul.d be other parametere giving a better fit , " a nd th" is line "has been extons "ivoly pursued by Elwell & Stocking (1973). Yet another formula bae been developed using data from Ni geria by Lal (1976). 'l'bat index ia AimV where A is the amount of rain in a storm which bae lliBXiiiiWil intenaity Im, and V is an optional refinement allowing for the i ncreased terotinal velocity of rain accompanied by wind. All of t hes e ~ethode depend upon calculations of erosivity for each storm and a BWJWO.tion to give an annual value. Long term average annual values can then be calculated if eufficient r~eorda are available. For research purpoees the precision obtainable by separate calculat ior.s f or each storm ' is desirable, but an annual index calculated direotly f rom dai l y, weekly , monthly, or annual rainfall would be very useful. Est imates of annual erosivity have been derived from both daily and annual rainfall in ~ialayaia. by H organ (1974 ). The only such asse ssment i n general u se is t he index P."(Fournier 1969, Low 1967) 1 1hie h ~ives a rough 1\'U ide to nrumal erosivity f r om t he P relat ioncl\i !> bet ween annual rainfal l P, and the rainfall in t he wettest mont h !l
- 1 75
34
Research needs on erosivity Although we have several usable techniques available they are all e~pirical and all have limitations . Clearly. a search for a truly causative relationsht~ is desirable; aa1 is an area of basic or general resea roh where a combined oo-ordmated prosr-e a1gnt
be 110re efteotive than individual ettorta.
Plans for starting auch a progra:aae were made at the International Workshop on Soil Conservation and Management in the Humid
Tropics, which took place at the International Institute tor Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan in June 1975 This pl an envisaged a worldwide network of stations which would operate a common programme of experiments on erosivity, ueing standardized equip~~eat. One of the difficulties is developing suitable equipiiiOnt. A for111 of splash cup will serve to measure aplash erosion but we need a universally applicable device to record erosivity. At both the University of Ghent, Belgium, and the National College ot Agricultural Engineering, England, studies are being carried out on instruments using the acoustic principle (following Kinnell, 1968; ~rrest, 1970) and pressure traasducrs (following Kowal t al., 1973) to record the irapact ot reindrops.
In applied research at regional or loeal level there is a need for more atudiea of rainfall. In the past i t was considered sufficient to record only the aapunte of rain. ~r erosion reaearch we need to know about erosivity, maximum
intensities, intenaity/duration relationships and frequencies of severe etorma.
4.
!l'HF; ERODIBILI'l! OF SOIL
4.1
Definition and application Tbe def inition of eoil erodibility is ita susceptibility or vulnerability to erosion, that ie to say the reciproca l of resistance to erosion. It can either refer only to the physical characteristics of soil, like texture and atructure, or it can include manage~ent taetora which can affect erosion, such as how the soil ie cultivated. In this discuesion the narrow definition will be adopted, corresponding with the X of the Universal Soil Lose Equation. Tbe applications or uses of a quantitative measure of erodibility are ai~lar to those of erosivity. There is the practical application in the design of control measures which need to be intensified for a vulnerable soil or relaxed for a more resistant soil. Tbere is also the use as a research tool where the ability to allow for variations due to soil erodibility allows us to interpret the effeots of other variables.
4.2
Direct
measure~ents
of erodibility
If w e subject d ifferent soils to the same erosivity and measure the soil loss, tben we have a direct measure of erodibility. The problem is that we may get different answers according to how we measure the soil lose. point of 30 years ago , and it seems unl ike l y t hat any one single meaomre ~f. erodibility can account for t he separate proper ties of re~ istauoe to spla<sh (d.e tachab1ht:,<) and rer;istance to ~~urface f'lot: (transportabil ity). There are other problems associated with direct measurement of erodibility. W ith field experiments under natural rainfall it is not possible to control the erosivity; with laboratory experiments the si..Uated rainfall ce.n be controlled but
the aoil ie not the eame aa in the ield, and even in the beat combination of a
Today onr t hinking on erodibil it~r has gone ri~ht ba.ck to Elliaotl 1 s atarting
rainfall simulator used in the field, there is still the problem of separating ut management effect a 1 ike previous cropping pract i oe
- 176 -
4.3
Indirect assessment of erodibilitz In view of these doubts about how erodibility can be directly measured it ie not surprising that indirect aesessnl<onts baaed on other measured characteriatiee have not been very eucceseful. There is a vast 1iterature on the subject -.hich hae been well reviewed, for example Bryan (1968), and a wide range of techniques have been developed since the atte,.pta ot the American soil scientists in the 1930s to oorrelate erodibility witb simple factors like mechanical co~sition. This approach to the subject received a great boost when Wischmeier produced empirical relationshipe, first using 15 factors (Wischmeier &. Mannering, 1969) and later a simpler variation for practical application with 5 f actors (Wischmeier, J ohnson & Cross, 1971). However the point made earlier about empirical erosivity relationships applies equally here. The Wischmeier nomograph is derived from data on American soils and can be expected to work in the United States, but one cannot either assume or expect that it will be equally valid for different soils in t he hulllid tropics or in arid regions, and indeed atte01pts to extrapolate it be,ond the measured range have so far been disappointing.
44
Research needs on erodibility 'the first priority would seem to be basic research on the fundamentals of erodibility. can any single index or parameter adequately describe and quantify reaiotanoe to erosion? Or abould the various component such as resistance tq detachment be assessed separately, end then combined? Since this is long-term basic research which will have worldvida application i t would be appropriate to 1a0unt a combined programme i~olving research workers in ~ countries. At the same time, the long-term search for real understanding should not slow local attempt& to find local aolutions . In many developing countries a real step forward would be achieved by simple comparative studies of the relative erodibility of the lll&jor soil types. I suggest that current thinking would point to this being best achi..-ved by rainfall siO>Ulators operated on field plots. Some atandardir.ation of technique is desirable,and the IITA 1975 conference considered this, but there is a gap here which needs to be f i lled.
5
5.1
EWECTS OF '!OFOGRAPHY
Slol'e
The effect of slope on erosi on bas been extensi vely atudiaa and ia well documented. Mathematically the relation is
Erosion
a sb
where S is the slope expressed as a percentage, and a and b are constants. 'l'be value of a depends on maey factors, mainly management of the soil, and b i s an exponent which varies according to soil type and land use but is usually between 1.3 and 2 .0. The rotlevant question here is to what extent i s it sensible to try to 180dify the natural slope. Because of the form of tbe mathematical relationship a reduction in elope will reduce the erosion 010re than the proportion by -.hieh the slope is reduced, but slope modification has three main proble ma. a) Earth !IJOVing on a large scale is so upensive that i t can only be justified in special eases. Some examples are ancient bench terrace a;yatems -.hich could be built because of slave labour, or modern benCh terraces which have to be made because there is no alternative. Very high costs ray be justified by expected high returns; e.g. large terraces in the United States to allow level operation of sophisticated machinery, or terracing for high-yield crops like olives, vines,
- 177 fruit, or irrigated crops. In southern Czechoslovakia land shaping i s being carried out on a massive scal e with cuts of up to 10 metres, andih ~his oaee the
motivation is the political
determdnat~on
to increase food production regardless
of cost.
b)
In high rainfall areas there still remains after terracing the problem of how to safely dispose of surface run-off . Indeed the construction of terraces often makes this problcro more difficult. Unless the soil is unusually deep and uniform or unlese the topeoil is carefully replaced, the proceee of terracing is likely to result in lower fertility.
c)
Slope modification need not be a complete change to bench terraces. A partial terracing effect baa been del iberately encouraged in many countries by a combinat i on
of moving soi l downhill by cultivation, and holding aoil by contour bunds or banks .
Again, the effect of length of slope is well documented.

Erosion
c
In a eimilar relation
where L is the length of slope and c and d are constants.

If erosi on is expressed in loss per unit area the value of the exponent d wi ll be less than 1.0, and typically about 0.5, showing that erosion ie less eensitive to length of slope than it is to the degree of slope .
In the Universal Soil Loss Equation the effects of length a nd steepness are combi ned into a single factor. Although t he relationships of 5 and L are empiri cal and derived from US data., here is one oase where the relation ship appears to be
equally valid in other situations. In gener&l the etteet ot these two topOgraphic
factors is well underetood. The effective length of slope can be easily modified by cross-elope mechanical protecti on methods such as graded channel terraces, as wel l as bench ter racing. These practices will be diacuesed under the effects of management in Section 6.
53
Effect of adjacent land Surface rlllH)ff lllllY be affected by surrounding land. Higher land lllllY discharge surface run-off onto a field and so make the problem of erosion cont rol much more difficult. Similarly most systems of mechanical erosion control on arabl e land depend upon gathering the run-off and disposing of i t in an orderly !Qanner, and this may be di fficult if the lower land has been so devel oped that there are no suitable drainage ways. Tbia may roean that the technical solution to erosion ce.nnot be applied to sORll pieces of land or to individual farms, but must be applied on a
larger scale. An extreme example of t bia pl"''blem occurs in central In:Ha. where intensive cultivation of small field~ ~nd progrecaive subdivision, have led to a
patchwork of arable l and covering the whole land surf ace. Any attempts at logical soil and w ater control are frustrated becauee there are no adequate drainage channels and no available land where they oould be constructed.
However thie
i~
essentially a problem of aoeio-economies, legislation and

~et
extension. Our underetanding of the effects of topography is adequate, and the question is whether we have the right techniques for effecting desirable changes .
Present practices,and whether they section. the requirement,are considered in the next
- 1786.
EFFEC'l'S OF IIANAGEmlT
Land selection The first principle of sensible soil conservation and management ie appropriate land use, which means matching the use of land to what the Pll.raical and ecological conditione make possible. We can eaee the constraintscaused by waterlogging if we drain land, and we can reduce the risk of erosion by applying soil conservation methode, but there are limits to the oodificationo which we can make. If land ia inherently unsuitable for arable use, it is better to use it for some other purpose rather than to try to change the l imitations. The difficulty of applying this principle in practi ce ia that it may conflict with regional or national wishes. I t may be ecologically right for a eountr.r to put all ita land under, say, rubber trees and import all its food, but self-eufficiency and import substitution are the battle-cries of today's politicians and economists. Fortunately we do have some useful tools with which to carry out sensible land use plo.nning if politics permit. Where conditions are roughly comp&rable to thoae in the USA, i.e. lots or good land and a good appreciation that it is an asset to be used but not over-exploited, then the Land Capability Classification first developed by the USDA SCS is the starting point. Subsequent ll>dificatione in mcy eountriea have shown that with some adaptation to local requirements it is surprisingly versatile. However, it was derived for land with moderate slopes and a temperate climate, and is unsuitable for the steep elopes and barah climates of the humid tropics and for the semi-arid regions of the subtropics . We do have the outline of a classification system !or the steep lands of the humid tropics, developed mainly by Sheng from experience in Taiwan, Malaysia and the Caribbean (Sheng, 1971), but thi s system has not been adequately published or tested
on a large scale.
6.1
In the eaee of the semi-&rid regions the distinction between land use aixl land manage111ent becomes bl urred . With low rainfall the land use must be dolllinantly grazing, but it would be helpful if we bad a syetem for assessing the capabi l ity of grazing land in the same way that we can differentiate be tween different classes of arable land, and then go on to specify the l!lllnagement techniquea appropriate for each clue. Perhaps there is a need here for another coordinated worldwide research study of the basic principles.
tro~
The question of land classification and recor.unended use cannot be separated the pressure on the land. These pressures may be the result ot social habit
tor example, in some countries in AfriC"..& the population
rather than real requiremeut;
density bas in the past been so low that there was always enoll(!tl land for everyone. This has led t o the cultural ethic that everybody bas the right to own his own land, a preposition which is becoming untenable ae the population increases. Another form of pressure on the land comes with hereditary fragmentation of landholdings. ~is must inevitably lead to more people on small er holdings and eventually the point comes where t he preasure is so heavy that rational long-term land use is not possible. An interesting example of the interaction between technical opinion and pragmatie action comes in a recent issue of the Indian Digest of Soil and Water Conservation. The journal invites comment from all interested partiee, and particularly the professional conservationists for whom the journal is intended, on whether the present limitation of cultivation should be relaxed. The points for and agaimt listed in the questionnai r e (attached as Appendix A) show the difficulty of reconciling the confl ict ing requirements.
- 179-
6. 2
Lani ...nagement It is convenient to divide conservation control into mechanical protection measures and M!'Onomic or bioloS=cal measures. 'lhoae works which involve a large aQOunt of earth-moving clearly fall into the class of mechanical protection, but the dividing line is not precise - for example, contour ploughing migbt well be included in either group. Neither is it etrai ghtforward to separate land management, i.e. the
manipulation of' the soil ard lard, frorq crop tM.n&g$ment. Again, i n whi ch group does
contour ploughing fit? Since this paper is concerned mainly with the protection of arable lands it may be appropriate to review current practices in groupe according to the kind of arable farming. 6,2,1 Gentle
s lo~s
Up to about 1 elopes it is usually possible to control erosion by simple methods such as strip cropping and contour pl oughing. At JO or 2 it becomes neceaeary to introduce eo.. ayahm of regular drainage, and between 2 and T' the elaalical mechanical control system developed in l'orth Amorica comes into its own. There are three basic components of the system as shown in Pigure 2. At tho top ie the stormwater diversion drain to intercept the storm run-off which would otherwise tlow down from the higber ground on to the arable land whioh it protecta. It is an open drain, usually in bare earth, and on a gentle gradient. It ie the firet line of defence and all the structures lover dovn will be deaigned on the aasumption that i t will effectively c.ontJ:Ol all the run-off from outaide the arable land. If it fails to do thie, and is breaohed the wahr released will almost oertainly breaoh the lower works, It may be oall~ a storm drain, stormwater channel, diversion terrace, or diversion ditoh. 'l!le r,.,...,ft from the arable lani is caught in aimilar but smaller drains spaoed at regular intervale dovn the elope. 'lhe channel is usually kept free from vegetation and the excavated soil forma a bank on the downhi l l side. 'l'be;y are usually on a gentle gradient to lead the run-off safely ott the arable land. In different coumries they may be called channel terracea, or graded terraces, or eo~our ridges. !he atormwater drains and t he channel terraoeo can disoharr into a natural drainage channel if there is a suitable one in a convenien position. When this is not possible1 an artificial channel must be provided, This will also be a shallow open drain, IIUt wUh a g<>od grass oovar, and running straight down the elope, It needs oareful design to avoid the flow causing erosion, The usual names are
grass wa:terw!y or meadow strip.
'l.'his ayshm bas proved to be effective in many countries, ani over a wide range of rainfall. It ia perticularly suitable where low pressure on the land makes it poasible to restrict arable land to slopes less than about or 8 (12-15:'). 'lhe design procedures for these worlca are well developed and. docu.anted (Cormack, 1951; Sohvab et al., 1966, Hudson, 1976).
ro
6.2.2 Steeper slopes At slopes above T' (l~) it becomes increaaingly difficult to construct ohannel terraces and the proporUon of land taken out of cultivation increases. At this point peraanent arable land is beat achieved by bench terracing. Apin the technique ia well developed (Sheng, 1971), 'l'lle variables ara the width aDd heigh~ of the terraces, deterldned bT the ooil depth and the crop roquiromeate, and the elope of the rioer, determined by the stability of the soil. Oraao-baelted ~erracea are inoreasiugly popular in the United States, ani a planted aod-forming grass is used to stabilize the back slope at a steeper
angle than would otherwise be possible.
,,
I
'
'
- 1CO -
' I
Channt l urr.ul
channel terrace
SECTION cf
- SECTION t1i
gross waleriDJ'
Fig. 2 The basic components of mechanical protection a) b) c) the stormwater drain w hich diverts storm run-o!! ori ginating off the arable land. the graded channel terraces leading away the runof f from the arable land. the grass wat erway into which both s tormwater drain and ehannel terrace discharge ,
ted
~atera
18 1 -
IJI the lam elope increaaea i t require an increasing amount of
IL&l'~hmoving
to coll8tru.et terracee which are vide enough to be treated ae arable land. 'l'lle upper lillit or elope auitable for bench hrracea ia about 150 (36~). On ateeper alopea smaller terrace are beet, called etep terracea or orchard terraeee, and are suitable for frui i and o~ber tree crope. arou.n cover iB requ.i rod to protect the grouai beheen the tree from eplaeh am to give aome protection from eurtace run-ott if i t occure. AbWe 25 (~) and up to 33 (6~), dieconU=oua or inhrod.Uent terracing ebould be uaed, re eii!Lll plattorma are levelled for imividual treee, but most or the land ia either left undieturbed or, better still, planted to a close-growing cover crop. Above 33 &nT cultivation ie both difficult and undeeirable. A aum..,.cy of thie approach to OOII8ervaiion practic" on ateep elopes iB ehovn in ll'igure 3.
H ia in the area ot crop na~ment that the moat eftecti ve control of eroaion on arable land can be achieved. 'l!>e eiszrl.ficaDCe of apluh erosion u the starting point of the eroaion proceu vee onl;y a ppreciated after the vork or nliaon in the l940e, but the taot that eroeion can be largel;y controlled b;y the prort8ion of a protecting cover at the aoil nrtace had been d&IIOnatrated in the 1890 b;r llolln;r in Gar~~aJ~;T on aii!Lll plots, and the aa11e principle vu diacovered anev b;r lliller in the 1930 in field uperi~~eme. In the pioneer oonaervaiion vorl< in the USA between 1930 and 1950 the lte;r factora vera 11echamcal control baaed on the chamul terrace, and the introduction or cloae-groving cropa and crop.reaiduea, and the uae or eod-torllling crope in rotationa. Since then, the effect or crop ~~&~~&geiMnt in ..,at we lllight call Jorib-AMrican at:rle arable farlll.ng baa been thorougbl;r studied and ever;,. aepect e'faluated. In the Ullivera&l Soil Loa Jllquation the C factor repre..ating cropping practice can be aeaeaaed vi ill ""'ch fll'eated preciaion than 1m3 of the other taetora in the equation. Wherever the 88JD8 at:rle or arable tarllling ie practiead, i.e. larp-ec&le, ..cham sed and concentrating on cereal cropa in rotation vith forage crops, the results can be applied with onl:r alight local modifications. However in III8D1 dneloping countriea ibia ia not the pattern or arable farllling.
I t ie 110re UltelJ' to be eii!Lllacale and ime1110iva, 111lt1-cropping rather than single
crope, with little or no mechanisation, and quite likel:r a completel:r different philoaopb;r on veed oontrol. In thia aHuation our ltnovledga ia inadequate am thare ill a need for a major research effort. 6.4 Re11earch needa tor -IS!ment In the field or mechanical protection and land menage..,t ve have a wide choice of tedmiquea. Xoet are vall ueed and deeign ,..iboda are avai l able. '!'here will alw&18 be BOlle place tor localised applied teati~ to aee Mbich technique or which daaign ia beat, but on tbe whole the available practicaa are adeqllate. In crop 1118J18gement tor ..,at I have terlled the J'orib-jj~erican pattern of arable farllling the poaition ia eiailar. 'l!>e prlnciplee are wall Jcnovn, a great deal of detailed vorl< baa been done, and all that ie required 111 lilllited local t ..ting am develop.nt. llovevar, in the case ot the aii!Lll-ecale iniell8ive arable farodng ao videepraad in the developing COumrieB the )>OBi tion ie ver;y differeat. Something IIDre ia required than a IIIOdification of the praetioea dnelopod in a different eUuation. !for ia i t 11utfieient to think of reaearch on erosion control in isolation. What ia required ia a atud:r of the whole BJ'lltem or arable taraing in developing countries.
- 182 -
At two of the International Inst itutes such & programme ia under __,:
at
II~
for
the hUJDid. trop1ca, and ICRISAT f or the semi-arid tropics. But these two progr&llllles together only muster a handful ~f scientists. The scale of the problem and the urgency of it, .,..ggest that there should be a bWldred times more.
LAND
CLASS
MAXIMUM SLOFE
DEGREES
11INIMU11
SOIL
DEPTH
(IIVII)
CONSERVATION TREATMENT
MAXIMUI1 INTENSITY OF LANO..USE
(Note 1)
(Note 2)
0- 2 Contour AD:! cultivation 2- 7 Channel Terraces

Airy
15
1000 500
Bench Terr aces Step Terraces Close- cover crops and semi- perennials Tree crops with ground cover
20
25
500
Step terraces or hillside ditches Orchard terraces or platforms
33
250
Tree crops with ground cover (no cultivation) Forest onJ..y.
More than 33 1. 2.
None
Notes:
Equivalent slopes are 12, 27, 36, 42, 65 per cent. Minimim soil depths are required when terraces are to be cut into the hillside.
Criter ia for land capability classes in the humid tropics
- 1()3 -
Bcnott , H. H. 1969
Soil Conservation. NcO raw- H i ll, New York and London.

flg; ,
m~.
!li$al , P. 1950
Cal ibr at ion of 8plaeh Cup or Soil ii. ' ros i on Studi es .
31:621.
llosazza , V,L. On t he Eroclioility of So i b , African Soils , 2, 3 And 4. 337 p. 195 3 Bryar. , H. B. The 1level o;>l:lcr.t , Ue.e and Effic i ency of Ind i ces of Soil Erodibi lity. 1968 Geodenna 2(1): 5- ?6.
Com-ack, H .J .r. f'il. The lfechanice...l Ptot ection of' !'\!'able Land . 19.5 1 48(2):1 35 - 164.
lli.en, T .
1 S:-64
Rhod, Agri c . Journ.
E."lemente of Tropic al So i l Science .
M acmi l lan , London .
Elwell , H. A. & Stocking , J .i. A. Rainfal l Pa.r.arncte:rs to Pred ict Surface Runoff Yielde Md 1973 Soil Loss e s from Selected Fi eld-Plot St udies , Rhod . Jour ~ic . Res . 11: 123 - 129,
. The Developrro ent of T'.-~o Field Instrument$ to ttieasure Erosivity. Forrest , P. M Diosertat i on, NCAE, Silsoe, Bedford, Engl and, 1970 Fourn i er, F. Suopended. Load Transport by StreamfloNa .
B. Se . Hone .
Dull. I .A.S , H., 14 ( 3) :7 - 49. J. Hopkins , Princetoi\'ll M . Sc, The sis,
1969
He l d, R. B. & Cl a\vson, X. 1965 Soi l Con servation in Per spect i,,e.
Hudson, N, t/ , 1'hc Ini'luonce of ilainfall on the )lecha.n i cs of So il Erosion , 196.5 Uni v, of Cape T01m.
Hudson, 11 , \f . Soil f'.onservation, 4th Printing Batsford, London , and Cornel l

1976
Univ. Prese , Ne\., Y or k.
J acks, G, V. & lthyte, R. O, 1939 Kinnell , P, I . A. 1972 The Rape of t he Barth, Faber & Faber, London .
The Acoustic J.:ear;urem ent of H ater Dr op I mpacts .
J. App . Het. 11 : 691-694
1 ~. " 'K ' 1 J l t ... 1'1 1 JCHS 1 r.t " ' ' W1Cl ...a ~31;:?.ln t "'
and Inten:::ity of Rains t o i-ms .
A G1 mp 1C ~ f or Jonalysing t he liherg:y Load LA:VlCe A.:1-ric . J~et . l2 : 27 1 - 280 .
La.l, R. 1976
Soil Eroeion Probl crnc on ~ ..n Alficol L11 l i cstcrn Ni geria , and t heir Control . I . I . T. A. i~rJnO~&ph lJo . ~ .
Estirnat in~ ~Jt ent ial
, F,K Lo.. ', 19(>1
Con ~etv"t ion, 22 (4 ): 149 -
L TQs i on in Deve l opin8 C ountries .

152.
Journal Soil &;. rsater
1974
I~Or,5d.n 1
R .P.c.
Est imat i ng regional vari at i ons in s o il eros i on ht\zard i n Peninsulat" ftlala.;rsia . ~lal~v . 1 \at . J . 2>':1 (2) : 94 - 106 .
.u.-:o1-ogi~al 3ff cct of Control o;." A.fr"'i.c.an Trypano$omiacis.
Ormerod , H. H.
Science , 191 : 8 1) - 8 21 .
1976
'
- 1/' >4 '
''
SctMa b, G. C. 1 Frevert, R.K . , l:l:lmi nrrt er, T. r;. and Barnes , K. K. Soil & Hater Cons ervation 1966 lligi neeri ng . ( 2nd . &:..). l'H ley , New Y or k .
'
Sheng , T. c. Bench rerrr..cinc .

1971 1971
';,rgen.; 1n a . 1
..
Lnt in American
~iat ershcd
J;.ana. ge m ent Semin:.1r, La Plata,
S'neng , T. C. 19TI .
A Tt'Cat rr:.ent -oriented I..and C4tpc>.b i l i t .;y Cla:.:;sif ication Scheme (fo:r Hil l y E !A.r ?innl LnJ"Kt in t ho Hur.lid. IJ.'Noi cs }. Lat i n Americ.a.n ~ia.tershed t.-lanaP.em ent Seminar, y La Platn, l\rgontina .
~
1e1 1 , \'i.I. W.d Ca.pa.bi l i t y Su rvey a. "1d land Use Pl ann i ng of Kenn i h.rortb Sheng, T.c. a.ml P0\ Property . UNDP/FAO Speci a l Fund Pro ject JAN 5, Kingston, Je.rnai c:1 . Wischme ier 1 ~l. H. , Jof'.nson, C. B. & Crose, D.V. A Soil Erod i bil i ty llomograph for Farmland and 1971 CoMtruct i on Sit eo . Jour. So i l & Hater Cons e rvat i on , 26(5) : 189 - 192,
W i schmeier, \'l.H. and lo:amtering, J.v. Rel~tion of Soil Properties to ita Erodibil i ty . 1969 Soil Sci , ~oc . Am. Proc. , 33(1) : 131- 137.
1
' 'I
I
ili scl-.me i er, 1-i. H., Smith , D.D., tr !'.land, R. E. Evaluat i on of' Fact ors in the Soi l - Loss 1958 i!l:juat i oll , Agric . Engi neering 39(8 ): 458 - 562.
i
"
"
"
" II
l
I
- 1C5 -
Paper llo. 14
\)y
N, Oil
THE PROBL.l'li
1.1
Existing Servioea In moat developing countries certain co!,,ponents of soil and water services exist; sometimes they are found as different tlepartmento in one ministry but very often two or more ministries m&y be involved. The services proV"ided by these many units are usually not coordinated and cooperation between them, in most cases, is
non existent.
1.2
So ils Surveys
M d land u.aa surveys have been carried out in many countries or are part of their development plan to be impl emented, Assisted by internal institutions or bilateral a id auc h $UrYeys are c arried o ut on a reconnaissanee or semi-detailed scale, Soil l aboratories witl sophisticated moden> equipment are often part of su.eh projects whi ch a.lao inol ude t he training of loca l scientists . Generall;r, Latel,y soil
a hi gh scientifi c l evnl is applied and folload up by mo:N! or l eas intensive research on specific problems found during t hese surveys.
Special m aps are pt-epared as a result of the s urveys , mostly on a soa.le of 1:25 000 or 1:50 000 , Furthermore t he soil survey nnit is a spec ial service >rhil}l may sometimes be ca l led for as a iatance on s pecific problems but is not involved in tl1 e da.ily requi rements of land use and farm manaa-ement of individual farmers or small village oornon~'lities . Sometimes t he reoult a of t hese surveys may al so be available a.nd used. 01: tha prootiMl level of direct application on the l and. Very of'ten llowever there will \le 1 ittle or no contaot between tl<e soil scientists and the field extension worker, who generally has e. much lower l evel of od~teat ion and hes no t raining in t his specific . m .f ojeet .
Y litJ, regard to fann management wt> ich necessarily includes good ooil m s.na.gement,
i t wi ll be of'tcn t he soil scientist who le.cks knowled&"' on t his subject and ve rJ often is not even i.nterested in it.
1 3
Hater Servicec
I:n rnost countries ~~) ere i rrigation ir,; req\ lired., aome sort o f water services exist. The.Y may ha.ve very d.iffe rent organi? ..at iona.l structures and nomet imes be lone
to ministri.es w hich are not di rectly comtected >lith aericultural prodttction. Fa.rmera irrieation aa soo iatioP~, vrith or >ti t hout government supervision, may often be rer;pons iblc f or di.ctr ibution of i rri ent i on water. \'li.t}~ a few exca-ptions s ome wa.ter la.->s and regulations exist . In most cases t hey are based on tradi~ional customs and are not acl junted to t he :req:.~ i rements of t he c h&nged conditions of today. Even
i 1:1proved lawa, ff::lw aa t he y are, may be di:ff'icult to enforce to bring about t he necessarJ' improvement& t o meet t he rising demand f or i rrigation ,.,-a.ter, i 'lia proper
distribution and its s upervi s ed use .

Practica l l y "Nitl,out exception t here i s wat.rtef ul use of t he l i mited resouroes of irri gation \-:e,ter . l:!.Ven , in ne~J projects l~lc of counideration for the requirements of e f fective i rrige.tion can be o1:m erved. Ilea a!lll laree i rri eaUon sc hemer; tave often
- 186 -
caut>e-d severe darnstge to t he lA.nd. t hroueh alkalinity, ri$ing wA.tertablen a.ncl creation of ma.n-madc swam~s. Some of the maj or c haracteristics of most water distribution systema are t he losses i n canals, t hG laek of proper and continuous rnai_ n t ona.nce and t he d istribution aocordint; to area irrigated and acco rding to quantities supplied . Pay ment is also are installed and pay ment collected per m~ used. Consequently , wasteful irrigat i on can be o bserved in countri e s or locations w~ere t lle m1pply o f additional >Tater for irrigation i a a majo r problem.
according to area unit irrigated and
only~
in rare oases exact water measurine devices
Fl>rthermore, except in areas irrigated from large rivers with fa i rly constant flow, a gradual decrease in available water is evident, caused by deterioration of wat er sheds t hrough m an ' s activities. Se ldom, however, do \rrlater services have any part i n or ooncern wit !l th i s phenomenon whose very real i mpl i cations touch t he water services t hemselves. Flash floods, sediment!ltion in reservoirs , diminishing flow during dry eeaeons and fall ing ground-tar tables are the resul ts of destruntive aotivitiea in wateraheds. b ut water aecrvicea a re general ly not involved i n the activities to restore the water balance i n a given area or a whole country.
1.4
The M issint; Link
Tt:ere are serviceD wl~ior deal with some aapoeta or so il oonaervation on arable land; othe r services or m inistries, such ar; forest department s , may be oonoerned with erosion control on uncultivated a~as. Special tmits may be involved in irrigation and/or drainage act i vities . Separate farm manat;ement un i ts m ay be active i n t he framework o f extenAion $erviees, mos t ly on a. l i mited se ale. But no s pec i al service
f o r comprehensive soil and water conservation exists in any developing country. Suoh a serviee could be g iven d ifferent nsmes, it c ould be part of a ministry, or an independent ministry, it could be a coordinat ing body between d epartment and minis't ries. To be effective it must have ,uthority on all aspeots of land and water use end the conservation of the avail~ble natural resources . Witt out such a c ompre hens ive and i ntegrated a pp roach and a responGi ble autt.o rit,y for imr>lem enta. t i on, no Oe.s i c >JlMI;f'!3 in the pr eF.:ent El i t ua.tion of unrelated and non-exi sting a.etivities to nonaerve anrl i mprove t he r apidly d eteri orat i ng nat\lrs..l r eaour oee for agrioul tural production can be eXJ>ected. The e s tablis lment of euoh a mul t id isoiplinary at;enoy in o ountries with a vertical administrative set up with very little or no h o~izon tal coordination is certainly ~ major and difficult undertakint;.
2.
2. 1
SOLUTIONS
General TJ-.e multidisci plinar~' ~h aracter of s oil and 'Water conservat i on AtJd t be devel opment of adequate s o il and \>tater ser vic es in d.evelopinr, countries i s a d i fficult pr oblem . Tt-e urgen~y t o ef:lta bl i$~ suo! aervir:ee i n moBt oount t"ies i a evid ent. Rap idl:r in.,reaa i,n g populat i on Ni(l dimini at.ing reaourcee of lend and we.t er on an oo~e l.er.ted seale are <'lear ind i<'lation of t he nece s s i t y to act ~<it bout furt her delay to prevent ' add {t ional losses and to repair damaee already d one. ~e exiet in8 a(,minis tr4 tive and pr-ofe ~siona..t 1.ut:it s in gove rnment s , e~r de Aling wit h one or t wo Sl)<'cifi<:> subjeets , are indeed f ully ~wAre of t he dangers and mRJ<e effort s to s olve t he d i f f i "ulties and probl ema in t heir own limi ted f ields of activiti es. ~eque$t s f or a ss ist ance are increas ing M d large amounts of money are spent on proje.,ts d es.ling ith t hese subj&ets . H<v.< ever the result s are ratl>er d isco.,ra8ing. So me possibl e ways t o establisl-. such es sential servi~cs ''! ill be discussed Md evaluated.
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2. 2
Suggest i ons
i.
To
t~ain
technicians of the d i f ferent exiating services, dealinz

To return t.he!Je teohl'1icia.n6 after
with som e of the components, in a comprehensive and integrated approach to t he multidis ciplinar y characte r and requ i rement s of
land and wa ter oervicO;o.
training to t he i r ori g inal posit ions i n their diverf.le units.

Th i s G ,ystern of training aea siorand workshops on .specific probl em$ i& lln highly estimated and often used met hod by m any international and bilateral aid organiea.t ions . It is baaed on the general princ i ple t hat education is the first stop towarda progress. However, by closer e xaminat ion of t he poss i ble positive result s of suo h a.ctivit ie& in this apocifio and unique f i eld i t soon becomes ev ident that pract ically not f"!ing can be gai ned by suoh training coursea , except the &<>nera.l and laudabl e educat; onal progre sa of indiv idual teoh nioiM S. In moat eaaea j1m ior teeh:ni.oinns will tak-e part in such ~orkshops. Bven if nenior officers are deleif<>t ed, t hey wi ll be in no r>osition to "br ing about changes in the adm in ist rative set-up. Pol i cies are r.~a.de on a. much hlgher level and i.n moat cases not by pr ofess ional n in n ce'!"tain d i s cipline bu t by fldminir::t.r-ative o:fficers and
t op governm ent bodies .

Uo t-upport Ahould be e:iven to ~'i) teat~ for uee it s influence and money fo r !>Ut'!}: project s .
ii.
th(~
fl..bovo $yt,tem nor t3honld FAO
To establish a special soil conservation service 'I'Jhic[l may f i l l t he needs for erosion control ~d ~oil 8~d w~ter management not cover ed
by alre~y existing servi ces . ~'his no" s ervice may also be given the task of technical a.c;sistance to other departmentc.
This approach i s not l ikely to g ive better results then ( i ) above. It mey gi ve some valuabl e assistance in the field and improve cert ain aspects o.f l and Md water management, but it would be in no pos i tion to bri ng about the neoesvary basi c c hangee i n t he pro fet.s i onAl P.:nd admin istr3t i ve orga.n izat i on within a. gOvernment . li\J.rthermore , i.ts ad.v i~ory f'unction t'fould be of little value even if such a.dvl.ce is sought, t.;hich ia rather doubtfUl . tldvice may be necopted or rejecte<l . In m ost cases, i t wil l be rejected becaus e i t may creat e difficulties
whi~h
were not encountered before .
So il and water conservat i on and. the services
}';'eqllire(l from such a related orgnniza.t ion cannot depend on the goodwill of others.
iii .
'J:Io eatablish a etrong aoi.l and water eervice, t-~hic h will deal directly and from t he grase roots to t he pol icy mak ing level Hith " 11 the many subject s to be c overed by a mul'tidisciplina.r,y agency. Thi s would mean t hat activities, f ormerly carried out
by other agenr:ies, be tranofcrred together wit h their professional

staff, to t his new and s trong o r gani>.at i on . Thic S',/Stem >~oul d have a good c hance of success. It is however doubtful if eovemmenta >rould take such extreme steps in changing t heir existing org6llizations which have been evol ved over a. lone period o f time. Should a government however take such ateps <U'Id apply for assi stance, it ahould certainly be granted. The role of g<>vermnenta and of FAO in such proj ects will 3 and 4 below. iv.
oo
discussed under
To follow up t l1e syatc.,. under (ii) and (iii), i t is possible to find another w2if to build up gradually a strong and integrated coil mtd wat er serviea.
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Aa a start , a small soil conservation unit as explain.,<l under (ii) ooul d be established >tith a pre- planned sequence and timetabl e to absorb gradually other d i.aoi9l i ne s in a s oil and water serv-ioe l'fitlJ <l ifferent divisions und.er one overn.ll management . Such a service should ineludo , after 1.1. number of years, many departmonta, for example: land ~ tae, soil and farm managem ent , erosion control , soil conservAtion on agricultural lands, land consolidat ion, range management, i rr igation an<l dra in:l(,e, t'lood control , allr f "'>e ,,.,.ter ctora.ge, ground..-mter reoov.rees, etc. I t could e.lso conta in one s paci a l cect ion f or comprehonr;ive \\1a t et"shcd manc.gcment. Such a unit could even be t lte f irst s ection i n t hi s new servl.oP., being invol ved in practical l y all di nni.pline ~ mentioned above.
v.
This Hate r s le<l management unit coul d he an impor tant stepping atone in the estaol is~~ent of ooil and water services. It could and should start with rat her small projects, coveri ne one or t.10 subwatershe<ts, prepare t l:e pl ans and be responsible for their implementation.
Durir.g t his p<!riod it i o lil<ely t hat a number of hidden .ml unexpected f a.otors of a toebnioal Nld administrative nature will a rise and t-u\.ys to overoomG su.ch O.iff i culties could be explored . l'ortilitously t his may be a goo(l start becanse of tl;e multi<'.i,cipl i nary character of Hr< act;vities and it<> s t aff. 1'\trthannore i t Hould be an ear;y !if8::J to demonatra t e t he comprehens i ve P..nd i.ntegra.tO<i approa.eb, to observe its advantl'lge an~, <lis&lvP..ntaees, e.nd 1>o t he foundation on lfhicl1 1!Qvernment deci oions f or thCl establishm ent of unif ied. soi l and Nater uorvioes could be based.
3,
THE !101.8 OF GO\TERNl;ENTS Jll SSTABLI SHlliG SOIL AND WATER SERVICE Land and water are the basic natural resources. The rural population should be added a" tile t hird resource, ..., t hey are the benefi ciaries and the dri vine force -ror the e f fective and sustained use of the resouroea. " Governments have a sked and received assistance fo r l arge projects, deal ing in most eases with oingle subjects. This may help to solve individual problems. Such projects, even if suocea<fully ooncluded, have all the short-comings of a patchwork approach. The reeulte are available, the local staff has been trained and aometimec even continues work on the project eubjeoto, but the impaot on the overall improvements i n land and water management remai ns extremely l i mited. Also very often there is no continuity after the termination of project<!. Tt.e trained staff i o aboorbed into other serv i.oes which have no rei ation to the project subjeeta .
If a government seriously wishec to improve tts land and water resources, a very radi.,al change in poliooies will have to take place regarding ita own ocntributions and its dependency on foreign advisers. In the field of l and and water services no l arge scale projects wi th heavy inputs for equipment, laboratories and services of expatriate teehnie i a.ne should be expected. No monuments will be created. lt is mostly the government itself which has to make decision and take t he neceesar,y eteps for implementation within t he framework of its own polioiea.
Assistance will certainly be needed, but mu~h more of the locally available resources of techn icians, adlnJ.niatratore and equipment should be involved to find the solutions and to carry them out, whatever the find ings may be. Land and water servicea are so closely related to the day to day life of the population and to the nat i onal econo~, that without deoir.ions and aotiona from the highest level of government down t o t he field technician at t he village level, no practical resultc ea.n be expected.
- 189 -
4.
ASSIST Rl CE TO DEVELOPDlG CCUNTRIES One of t he i mport.e.nt phaaea of a. aa i stance to developing countr-ie s may be the e.r planation of the p<>licies laid down under 3 above. I f a clear and pos i tive understanding can be reached on t his point, it will be easier to define the limits and the form of ass i stance that can be a&ked f or by - a&ld be given to - governments for the e s tablishment of efficient soil and ~>~ater services. This basi" explanato..-y d...-ive could be carri ed out by the Reeional Offi ces or by s enior Headquarters staff and no s pec ial expenditure would be required. The next atop would be the preparation of a pr-oject document, joi ntly agreed by government and FAO. This could beat be done by a one-man mi ssion of a highly exper i enced staff member or consultant t o the country requesting assistance. Such a mission would require ~:<!tween 1-2 months of i nvestigations, negotiations, discussions and prepar-ation of the document which s hould incl ude all details of
work, schedules, staffin g, equipment, office~, s upport i ng s ervices, budgets etc. Above all, it must include a clear <rl>atement of intention by the government 1 its decisions on legiolation and regulation~ - if r-eq\\i red. - and i ta col!11li ttment to follow-up after termination of the projec t. It wil l a lso cont ain the servieea of
a.dvi aers. Not more than one permanent advi aer aloould be allocated for the dUN>tion of tto e project. All other expert ser-vices nhould be \'C<ltricted to ahort-term consultancies . Tloe ma in burden s hould be borne by loeal techn icians. Projeots of this kind should have a duration of 1-2 years not counting the preparator,r mission. The assistance ill monetary terms would be small and not over $ 250 000. W i t hin the structure presented i n this paper, v i able projects at l ow cost could be carried out for the development of soil and water services in developing countries. It can also be hoped that, due to the close involvement of governments and their agenc i es there might ba a s uooes aful follow- up afte r the termination of such proj ecto .
- 191 -
P!J!er
~o.
15
TRAINING,
by
O.F. Jonea
A soil conservation action programme must provide the education, technical e%pertise,
and neceseary in~entives eo that the land users will use t he soil within the limits of its physical characteristics and protect it from unalterable limitations of climate and topogr&phy. It is essential that we have a clear understanding of what is involvad in a soil conservat i on programme to make it an effective one. Ass i sting land users to do this is a very big task. It requires e2pertise in many disciplines. The f~, t hat soil conservation is multi~isciplinary in nature, makes it difficult to train a staff to a c ompetent level of proficiency, The problem of training is
not necessarily made difficult beoauae a number of
diffe~nt
disciplines are neededt but
most ly because almost all of the disc i pl ines must have some apprec iation and understandi ng of other disciplines involved. Ideally, the soil conservation planner should have a working knowladge of all of t he d i sciplines w hich are needad. Without that kind of an e2pert, it is necessary to use a team approach to planning. Experts in soils, agrono~, and engineering are usually neaded t o adequately plan a project area. Experts in many other fields such as economics, irri gation, biology, hydrology, geol ogy, and other disciplines may be useful and needed in many cases for the planning of a soil conservation project and application of practices.
A look at the types of jobs wh ich need to be done t o pl an and apply a conservation programme on a project area, will give an even better insight as to the kinds and amount of training neaded by t he technical staff.
1 1,1 PLANNING PROCEDURE Information on t he area needs t o be gathered a bout soils, topography , and c l imate on all project areas, regardl ess of s i ze. On the larger areas data shoul d be gathered on c rops, population, social structure, infrastructure, and other factors which ma.y affect planning as well. The planner is probably well aware of the effect of thos e factors on smaller project areas. This involves gathering data in t he form of maps, publications, and reports, as well as data which may need to be gathered in t he field . Soil degradat ion problems should be i dentifi ed . This r equ ireo.an ability to recognize at a l l atsgee, the many procesaea of soil degradation suoh as wi nd and
water eroaion, waterlogging, salin i zation or alkalization, and pollution.
1.2
1.3
A determinat i on of the land treatment needs should be made. This requires an understanding of the kinds of practices or treatment measures which are needed to control or correct t he degradation process which is taking place. A thorough knowledge is necessary of about 100 pract i ces as to when, where and how they apply. All a l ternat ive solutions need to be conaidered as well . Rough cost estimates may be needed for
making a practic al evaluation of alternatives.
- 192-
1 ,4
All alternlltiw solutions shoul d be presented to the deci sion maker, Th i s involves having a cl ear underatandi.n g of what eaeh praotieo will accomplish, AS well ac the benefits which can be expected as compared to the cost of installation for all t he alternat iveo . lt is also essential to ant i c i pate and analyse any installation difficul ties and work out a real i stic timetabl e for application, Final plan preparation involves the assembly of all pertinent information needed to earr:v out tile pltU! in an orderly manner.
PL.ItN APPLlCATIOII
1,5
2,
Application of the plan includes the design, stake out, construct ion , checking of adequacy, monitoring effectiveness, and maintenance. 2,1 people associate desil!%1 with engineering constructions auch . as dams, drainage system.a ilnd water cont rol structures of all kinds. Other measures may also need to be des i gned and even though they may not require so m uoh in the way of hydrol ogical considerations, they do, in most casea, require ~nomio consideration in relation to soil and climate. All structures s hould have standards for application or specifications which are adaptod to tho local conditions. t!ost pract ices, which involve earth moving, require staking to determine areas from which .atcrial can be excavated and where depositions s hould be made, as well as to locate appurtenances whic!J may be a part of a structure, Stakin& out or layout and design is also needed for most other measures t o determine quantities of materials needed and area to be treated in order to make cost estimates and for reoord-keeping purposes . FOr instance, wit h any conservation practice which involves seeding, sodding, or tree plant ing, it ic essential to know the area involved to detemine t he quant i ty of materials needed, s uch as seed and other soil amendments. Constructions part i cularly t hose which i..>volve earth moving or masonry w ork, require knowledge of capability and limitations of t he equi pncnt , ability to analyse quality of oonstructi.on mater ials and workmans hip, ability to oompute quantities of mnterie1s, and a t horough Jmowledge of construction tecl-.niquen, equipment o perat ion, nncl safety baza.rds involved ,. The r,heck f or adequacy of const ruction requiree a t horough knowledge of t he f.. - pocificat i ons for t he particul a r practi ce, and tho abil i ty t o recognize vi sually uea.Jtnesse s of construction, and to deu ign correct ive mearrures.
l~on itoring t ho ef footiveness of conservation rr.$a.sureo after they are installed , requires a.n understanding of how they are designed to function and a.o ility to analyse whether or not they are perf orming thnt func-tion .
&.n
~lost
2. 2
2.3
2. 4
2 .. 5
2. 6
of desi gn failure.
f,!ai.ntena.nce after installation again r<lql.ires an understandinB' of t he npec ifi ca.t i ons for t he pract i ce i nvolved and l.t ma.,y requi re ability to redesign s e.ction(i of' a. s truc ture or t o rocogni3e the need for o omplote redesign in the eaee
All t he j o Qs i n ~l ooil r;ons.ervation prot7rurvne requi re spec i !ll ski lls of one kind o r anot her, GO tj~e <::lta.ller.e;e is hoN t o impart t hese necea sar./ skills to staf-f i r1 t he m ost cff i~ 'itmt m anne r.
- 193-
3.
TRAINING IIDlUIRDIENTS The effective implementation of a aoil and water conservation programme can
probably be M ost efficiently achieved by a coMbination of people - some who have a broad overall understanding of t he interrelations hips between disciplines and the
general requirements for l and treatment, and t he more specialized type pers onnel who are capabl e of making detailed s t udies, surveys, and deeigns for specific
practices. It is recogni zed that t he overall j ob of planning and applying a conservation programme could usually be accomplished by competent col lege trained people who are classified as professionals. To do t he entire job with only
profess ionals, however, woul d not be efficient from a training requi rement
standpoint, and most developing countries do not have an abundance of college trained people. FOrtunately, many of the jobs which need to be done can be accomplished by staff who are not oollege trained but only trained in how to perform specific tasks. Th i s kind of non-profess i onal personnel can be part i cularly useful in the gat hering of information for design, such as topographic s urveys and cross-sections. The nonprofessional can also become highl y- profieiant in the layout of simple meehanios.l type measures such a.s contour 1 ines 1 terraces, and waterways. The secondary school
leaver with sound basic education and an interest in agriculture can usual ly be trained in these types of ski l l s, pri marily through on-the-job training which does
not require high investment in t raining facilities and special teaching staff. It
also has the advantage of keep ing all of the train.ing job oriented and practical. The alternative to on-the-job training for non-professional staff is a
formalized training programme .
This can be set up as a special cu rriculum at There are advantages and disadvantages
established schools of agriculture or in a training institution established specifically for training soil conservation staff.
to either approach. The advantage of using established t raining institutions is chiefly that, upon completion of the course of study, appropriate certificates or d iplomas are usually awarded which represent the level of academic achievement. ~nese are usually
recognized throughout the government for establishing grade level and salary of employees. Tbe disadvantage is t hat most institutions lack the f acilit i es to
provide sufficient in-the-fi eld practical training; and adequately tra ined teaching staff, with practical field experience, may not be available. The establishment of a training inst ieut ion wi th in the framework of the organization, which has the responsibility for carrying out the soil conservation programme within a country, has the advantage t hat training would be more cl osely tied to actual fiel d projects and instructors would probabl y be practiSing professionals with a better insight into the jobs needing to be done. The facilities established could be alternately used for staff refresher courses and in-service training programmes. It has the d i sadvantage of not being able to offer acsdemie ach ievement
cert ificates and d i plomas unless special arrangements are made wit h academic
institutions. The problems of recruiting and training staff for soil conservation in
developing countries are many .
Some of the more serious problew$ envisaged include:

s~udents
1. t he lack of interect in agriculture or agricultural problems by who have received formal schooling; 2.
reluctance on the part of college trained professionals to become involved
in the field work to the extent necessary to t ransfer textbook knowledge t o practical field applioat i onJ 3. the quality of primary and secondary education many times requi res t hat
additional basic educat i on in m athemat i cs and elementa.ry sciences be given along wit h on-the-job training be fo re proficiency can be ach i evedj
- 194-
4 the lack of emphasis on agricultural development as compared to military,

industrial. and commercial expansion by many governments baa caused positions
in agriculture to be regarded aa less prest i gious than similar poaition_e in
other ministries.
The extreme difficulty whioh may be encountered i n overcoming the above
mentioned problems and others does not minimise the importance of overcoming them, if
sound technical assistance programmes in soil conservation and agriculture in general are to be achieved. Some of the so~utions which seem to be essential to achieve the objectives include:
a.
upgrading of the quality of primary and secondary education;
b. a greater recognition needs to be given to the importance of agriculture, agricultural development, and conservation programmes by many governments. c. more emphasis needs to be placed on practical application of lcnowledge gained in higher degree training; d. improvement in the amenities and terms of service offered agricultural experts by governments needs to be achieved .
4. EXTEJiSIC!I AND IIIPL91ENTATIQI OF SOI L CO!ISERVATIQI PROORAII!ES Ill DEVELOPDIG COUNTRIES
This is discussed as a singl e subject because most developing countries use

extension techniques and extension institutions as vehicles to implement soil
conservation programmes. The fact remains, however, t hat countries which have apparently been most successful in i m plementing strong aetion .programmes in soil and water conservation, such as the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, have all resorted to special institutions to accomplish the taek. At first glance, there would appear to be many advantages to using the extension institutions which already exist in moat developing countries for the implementation of soil conservation programmes. Most political leaders view it as expeditious because it eliminates the oost of establish ing a separate institution.
This reasoning m & .y be valid in oases where budget a a re 1 imited and 'the problems of
soil conservation are simple. Extension organizat i ons are usually understaffed in most developing countries and the addition of further respons ibil i t i es ~ onl y further dilute their overall delivery capabil i ty. As is already wel l known, extension workers in most developing countries are handicapped in the performanoea of their regular duties by many factors, such as lack of facilities, equipment, training, transportation, backstop support, and materials. The well-trained
ertenaion worker can be very effective in instances wl;ere aoil conservation can be achieved by the use of good crop husbandry practices onl-y. It is difficult to
visualize t he situation where an extension worker ooldd effectively handle problema which are complex without strong support from a proficient well-trained technical staff. Many times half-way measures, when applied, result i n more severs soil degradation than i f no treatment were applied at al l. All of the techniques used in ext ens ion work need to be used in bringing about the adoption of soil conservation programmes by land users. It is probably in this 'a rea that the ordinary extension worker can be most useful in a soil and water conservation programme whethar or not a spee i al i nstitution is created for implementation The training and education needed to effectively implement the programme goes far beyond the training of technical staff discussed earlier. lt must be carried to the land user so that he has a clear understanding and appreciation of the need, purpose, and resulto to be achieved.
- 195 -
Some countries have instituted special training couraee for extension workers
or. soil conservation. rnis woul d appear to be a feasible solution to the need for teet.nieally trained personnel and in aome cases it may be, but in some eases, reaulta
have been dieappointine. The chief problem appears to be organi~ational in that when the employee returns after training to work within the regular extension organization, he finds himself outside of the ma instream of the organization for promotion and
advancement, his supervisor may have little understanding or appreciation for h is
newly acquired skills, and he rr.ay be given ass i gnments unrelated to the tasks for
which he was trai ned. 'l'his leads to extrellle empl oyee frustration and resul tant lack of aecomplislunent , These problems should be relatively easy to solve by creation of a spec i al task force or unit within the extension servi ce tor son cOnservation .
The highly specialized skills required i'or planning and application of spec i al
practices for soil conservation precludes, in my opinion, the poss i bility of development within the regular extension organization of an effective soil conservat i on programme, except in rare oases where special practices m~ not be required.
Tho cost of installing many of the practices essential in a soil conservation programme inhibits implementation of the programme unless incentives are provided. Governments generally have recognized the need to assist land users and land owners by paying a part or all of the costs of installation of spec i al practices in addition to providl.ng technical assistance without charge. The land tenure systems which vary from country to country make it impractical to attempt to conc l ude that any particular
e~tem
of incentives ie superior to another.
However, one principle does seem to
prevail, depending upon how much control and long term l.nterest t he land user has i n the land, and that is, that if the land user has some investment in the practice,
he has more understanding and appreciation for the practice and will have more interest
in maintaining i t. The Un i ted States government has had the policy of payl.ng from 50 to 75% of the cost of installation of special conservation practices on private lands, Similar oost sharing arrangements have been carried out in other countries.
In Nigeria, we had a project where costs of construotl.ng hand built terraces were shared botween the farmers and the government . The i'armers contributed one day of labour each week as his share, while he was paid wag<!s for the other five days . Acceptance of this project was better t han those in which the government carried out the whole job without involving the farmers.
Another ver.y ser ious deterrent to establishment of effective country-wide
soil conservation programmes in most countries of the world, is the l ack of

flexibility in land use. The extension organization ie usual l y based within a ministry of agriculture or its equivalent, and as such, serves only what is called
agrioultural land used primarily as cropland. Soil degradation occurs not only on agricultural land but also on lands used f or other purposes such as grazing land
and forests. The same kinds of expert i se and practices are needed to sol ve the soil
degradation problems on t hose lands as are needed on agricultural lands. Without the c reation of a eoil conservation organization whose eervi~ea would be available
to all of the ministries with jurisdict i on over l and, soil conservat ion trai ned and oriented staff would be essential in each of the ministries before effective
soil conservat ion programmes could be i mplemented to cover all lands,
Such dupli-
cation of activity may prove to be a wasteful use of scarce trained manoower resources.
- 196 CQICWSIOIS
.
I
1. To be effective a soil conservation staff must be based within an organizational structure capable of accommodating ita neede, 2. 3.
4
I
I
Technically trained staff is needed to effectively implement a eoil and Incentives for installation of special practices need to be provided.
Mor-e land uae flexib ility oould provide practical alternatives to
water conservation programme.
I.
~
i:
;I
installation of costly special practices in many eases, thus reducing coste subetantially.
..
" '
I,
' II
~
- 197 -
by
L, r. Kadr,r Land &nd W ate r Offi cer for Enviroment al Studies
1. SUMMARY
The (fl'Wi:r-onm<:nt is d e f i n ed .as t hat w h ol e ou t e r phys i cal and bi ol ogical syst e m i n which mM and o t her or ganisms l i ve and int e rac t h 1 accordance with the i r i ntr i n s i c chara.ct e r i at i ca al"Jd n (!~dn . rhQ w i s t~ ma nagement of tha t environment d e p en d G u pon an Wld e r st and i ng o f its compon ents . I t d ema. "ld s pos i t i ve and r ealiat i c pla.rming that balances human need s against t he po tent ial t he envi ronment ha.s f or meecing t hes e nee dn. Good management a void a p ollu t i or! , ".:rosi or1 ar1d the v:astage o f r e t,ourccs by
irrevera ible damago.

Technoloeical i nnovatior1 i n agricult ur" ha s be::n r oat r ait1ed very l i tt l e t od ate hy environmental e:orlsid era.t i on a . A f"anr~er u aea f e-r t i 1 i zera a.ttd p tat icid~ s t o t he extent that h i s knof l edge and judgement su.ggest that it is pro fitable foe him to do s o. He do ea not c onG i d ~ r the~ Clwilonment cll prob l ems t ha t i"01t i lizers <lll.d p es t i c i dv s might create hy polluting and eut sophying d o wn str~aam t'ive rs and l ak ~ s et c .
'rJi'th t h e fol"ementioned conaid l"A :t i on s a.s a backgrow i.d the paper' p:NH$E::nt s r elevant in f o rmat ive accowtt n on - t he rt<;t.tur e and g oals of' land use policy ; l"ol o of l and u so
policy;
euidc hnes f or l M d u se policy and a ction f oc i of land use pol i cy subj ec t
areaa.
2. U ITllOWC'r iON
The environment h ; d\'! f i nod as that ~.;ho le ou ter phynical and b i o l ogi cal syst em in l:hich m ar~ and ot her o rgan i sms live tmd i nt ~~ ract in a cco:rdar.ca -t,oi t h t heir i ntrinsic c harac terist i cs and needs . f.(lhe wise managP.ment o f t hat envi ronrn~ .nt d epond u u pon an un d~ rst and.i ng o f it s compon ents : of i t !:> rocks , mi neral r. and N at e r s 1 of i ~s s oils and the i r p re serlt ard potent i al veget at ion , of i t a ani mal l ift;) and pot ential f o r livest ock hus ba!1dry , and o f its climat e . It d emands posi t i ve a. ' !d r ealist i c planning that balanc tJ.: s huma.n need a agf.ina~ t he pot en tial Cha ~.r:v i ronrn ent ha s f o r meeting t hem. 'l'oo many p1:~opl G thi nk onl y o f p ol lut i on whtm t hey cons id~ r e n vir onmen t a l pro bl eo s . Good managen ~nt a voi ds p ollution , e r osi on , a.r1d 'the wast ag~ of reaources by i rr-e ver a ibl e damage. 'r o p r e v ent such types o f e nvir onment al d egrnda t ion i s e ven mor e chal l engi ng and c ~ rtainl y mor e t!ff i c ient t han t o r edrea G t hem a f t er- t h ey had o ccu rrt-)d .
Bo t h t he c r r::a t i on and the r ecogn it i on of ~nvi ron mcnt al probl ems d ep end clos e ly on t he Fay soci e ty i G o r gan ized , and on it s v alu es and objec t ives . Change s i n t h e t~~ la.ti onsh i p bet .,.;ecn man at1 d hi s physica l crwirorunerlt d e p end t o a l arge <!cg ree on chang es in t he orga niza t ion a.nd aims of soc i ety. If man i s t o es cape f r om a ai t.u.ot ion in whi ch much eti f' l 'gy and r c sour c w ' s arr~ devoted t o corr~ct ing pa st mi st a,kes , his a.i m mua t h e to bu i l d a aoci.t?rt y h i ch i s ir.trins ica.lly compAtib l e , it h i t. s envi r-onment.
r he J'undam;r.t al ne~da of a huma. ' l bei ng or t hem vati us according to our c ul t ure , t i me::
ar ~
a.~ d
hat'd to de fine.
t ecto .nol ot;ica.l
p ~ og rc.~:; s .
Ou r p" rc.,pt ion But sorne
may be congid e rt~d tt1 ,asl t!'' becaus e unl ea~:i th ey ar e !JUffici ')rtt l y satisfi ed , d igrli f i ed and act ive human l i te is impossi bl ~ . They a rl! f ood , shelt e r , heal th , c lo thing , educat i on and c r !~a t i v e p rodu ctiv fo"l \oto r k , nnd thoy ar e f elt by uv a.ry hurnan b ei ng i r r P.ups ct i va o f cal t u)c , :.ac t.! o 1 ::;ex. Close l y linked '11 i th the:m t her e i!~ another &rou.p of.' " ~oc ial 11 o r 11 Culturr~l 11 g on.l a uu c h as oot e rtainment , partici pa tion in social
- 196 -
affairs , travel, c hoice of employment and the like . I t i s hard to dra''' t he l ine between human needs and deaires. Once basi~ human need s al"C satisf ied - -~.nd. thi::; in itSBlf will be d i fficult to ""h i eve throughout t he world - people ntill have >~ant s thich rel ate to i. ' ldividllal otandn'rds but o.lso strongly reflect cu l t ural infl uences. Aspirations and expectat i ons rnotmt a s societ i es develop and economic growth proceeds: t hey are never fully attai ned. It is a f e ature of' man that he is alwa,ya cearching f o r new goo.ln - of knowledge, s uccessf ul rural or Ulban economi c enterp!'i s es, ar t, soc i a l c ho ice , or physi cal qual i t y vf l i fe . It is within t his psychol ogic context t hat t ho l i ves o f t he farnring oomrnunitites: are oriented towards attaining higher level s of accomplishment in protr.ot ing t heir environmental qualities fror.: t he aesthet i c , cul. tul:'a.l and socio-economic points of vie'" Thi s papor ~<ill review the env i ronmer.tal problems t hat confront developing countries as a background fo r del i neahng the probl em, t he nat ure and gOal s of land use policy, t he rol e of laml use policy, the guidel ines for l end use policy and the action foc i of land uso policy eubje~t areas .
3,
THE PROBLEJol
Ter.:l-'.nologioal innovation in ;lf,Ticul ture hns be~n re strai ned very litt l e t o date by enviro11mental considerat i ons . A farme r uneo fe rt ilizer to the extent that biB knot-:ledge and j udgment sueges t t hat i t i s pr ofitabl e for him to do so . He does not consid e r t he en vironmental pro bl ems t hat f e rtil izer u.se might create, for example , eutrophication of lakes a::. a. resul t of r u:nof'f. He applies chemicals to control inneots, pest s , and diseases t o the extent t hat he t hin k" i t will be profitable fo r him t o d o 30, Ni thout conoidering t he possi ble adver:-;e eff ectn of thone c hemicals on wil d l i f e or on humans el se1rhere, He builds f eedlots of s i zes e-'l<l l ayouts that he t hinks will be most profitable, l-sith l i t t le i f any considerat i on for manure disposal. And so i t goes. Farmer s respond to neH teclmologies and to prioes. of inputs with little or no cons i derat i on f o r t he environmental impacta of t he i r actions . Accordingly, pres s ures upon agricultural resources are i ncreasing. Alt hough over oenturiee subsistence farmer s have acquired an intimate kno , ledge of l ocal c limate , soils , water, plants, and anirnal a and of t he ma intenance of their productive o apac ities, t he introduction of new agri cultural t ec~~ology and l and use sy stems tends to make some of t his knowledge and experi ence obsolete . It i s becoming increas i ngly difficult f'o:r extension and othet" adviso:ry se:rvices to educate farmers in appropriate a.gricul tural practices and in t he safe use of new technologies . Thi ~ ia due to t he large number of people and production units involved and tho increasing rate at which changes are int r oduced into agriculture .
~ here
1'he problem is part i cularly aoute where nelf lands are brought Wlder cultivat ion: new crops, varieties or breeds of animals arc i ntroduced, or where irrigation
io used. Depend ence on market condi tions and , i n some countri es , obsolete land tenure systems put additiono.l constraints on t he farmer and further l imit hi s' ability to manage economioal l y his farm and at t ho same time- ma intain the product i ve capacity of its resotLrees and t he prot ect ion of the environment. Under t hese condit ione, many farmers, part i oularl y in developing cotmtrien, cannot- aff'ord to m.._'\ke basic land i rnprovemont s, and apply so i l and wnter cons ervat i on pra.ct i ces . Acceler ated degradat i on and depletion of bani c agricultural r esources are recul t ing from t he pNSt:3u reu to which reference was made. Although some f orms of' natlU'al resources degradat ion liave alwa,ys e xisted and c M be f o und at all levels of agricultural practicen, increasing problems are f ound throughout tlie w orld whi c h subst ant i ally impair agricultural productivity and development. These include :
1. 4 0el erated s oil (!roaion by Hind and l4ater, loss of soil fertility, through l eaching or depletion o f nut~ients ~d decrease in humuc content, degradation of eoi l struoture, increased ao il salinity, alkalinity and ~<aterl ogging unde r il"ri gation)
- 1<19 -
2.
3.
losa of uneful genetic resources;

conversion i n to poor croplands or
dep l e~ i on
of aome graaslande by ovsrgrazin8J
4.
local or regi onal modification s of climate through removal of forests and
tree hedges, cauningt i nt e r
!!!!
d~sert ification
in sub-arid areas;
5
6.
enc roachment from urban and industrial areas and transport i"acilitieo on good
agricultural landst
discharge of harmful waatea from u rban areac. and industri es on -to rural areas.
Intensive agricultural practicca can place a heavy burden upon the environment. Many agricultural systems, associ ating either intensive monocul tur e or animal husbandry t.tith agro-indullt ries, do no t provide for the economi cal u se of by-products and tend to accumul a t e wastes, the d i aposal of whioh becomes the source of m~jor concern. Under developing count ry conditions t hese degradation condit ions can be expected to arise in the foxeseeable future.
4. NA'IURE AND GOALS OF LAND USE POLICY
From t h is preamble i t is necessary to i d en tify the nature and goal s of l and uce pol icies and in this respect they are r egarded aG major lines oi public act ion designed to i mprove the u ae. o f l and res ources ;m d the condit i vna o f j)!'operty richtD und e r uhich people ,:o tk and l i ve on t he l and. The g oals of a lan d use policy a re gov erned by what p eopla deo:ire and \:hat t he i'unct i on n of government are conceived t o be in bringir1g: about bet ter l.l.n d use, conaia-tent \<l' ith t he prin c i ples o f s oil and Hater conservation, and l alid ~enure - t he h:in a.!lp<tc::t s o f land uve pol i cies. ith Implici t in My pol icy are goals tO\;arO Hhich that policy i s shaped and w >~hioh policy r esult s (or e.xpec'ted results) can be appraised .
Since land r es ource use and environ mental ctu a.lity have b ecome major national concerns i n t.he maj o rity o f dc velop i ne countries and pur suit o f t hese object i ves invol veu considera~ ion of other national concerns, improvement s in l&~d resource use and environmental quality must necessarily be approached i n conjunct ion h'ith other nat ional goals . Natural tesou.rce and env i ronment al i mprovemen ts thus join and p e rhap!i compe te Fi t h economic gro~t h and f ull employment as maj or nat ional goals. Convernely, dcter i o.rat i on of natural resou rces and environment join d e pression a.<tJd unemployment as major domeat i c i l ls to be avoided or remedied. Economic g:ro1: th is d e f i ned and measured in t erms' of a.") annual percentage increase in t he gross nat i on al product. FUll employmen t is defined and measured in terms of the proport ion of t he labour f orce employed <1t a partic ular time. But no ~~ell - d e fined and agreed-upon st ando.rd( s} of l3lld 1esource use and envi ronment al f!Uali t y ex.i at. Neither are t here instrumen t s fo r meanuri ng and achieving nat u ral resource use and envi ronmental quali t y compar ahle ~ o t he measur es for economic g rowth ar.d full employment. Hithout d efinition and means of measu rement, n atural resource use and environmental quali t y, A~l pol icy goal s . r emain o bacure and subjective . Also, i t ie di ffic ul t to vi sualize in.her-ont and stratecic interrel<1tionships between n atural resource u1::1e and environment al quality and other major pol icy goal s , including sal~ ctio~ of the goals. The means f o r pursu i t1g pa.H. i cul ar- uses of natural r eaource s and environmental rlual i tios a:e q ui t e di f f e rent in t e ma o f motivat ion and cons equences for peopl e i n d iffe-r ent cituatiorts .. A monopolist can shift added polluCion contro l and r esource uae r eeul a.t ion cost s of h i s prod-uc t t o consum-ers . But an individual operating in the competitive busin es ::: o r taming must bea r polht ~ ion con trol and nat ur-al re3ou:rc ~ costa himsel f", at l east i n i t ially.
- ?.00 -
ROLE OF LAliD USE POLICY

In idt:nt i fyh1g the role of pu b l ic l and uoe pol icy it has to be d~ scribed in t;errnn of three phased ba.ckgrotmd e l emen ts . Fi r st i s a statement o f needs for remedial action baced on recognized natur a l r esourc e and environment al probl ems. Second ia a. statement o f policy pur-poses that repr!:sent a consenauc iltnor.g citizens in terms of .,,hat the policy ic expected to perfonn . These purpo ses shou l d a ct the G()al s f or improvin~; natural resource usc and environment al q uality and ahould be- cons istent with the norma for delimiting th~ problems t hat c reate the need for ~ he pol icy. Third, t he polic y should establ i sh gen~ral guidcli ne!l ru1d d efinit ive directionn f or a chieving the goals. The guidd i nes should be nupport ed by a. rationale why the guidelin es are expected to move natural teaource uae an_ d en vi ronmenta.l q uali t y tow ard the pol i cy goals . 'rhu(l, policy i s r esarded as a con!>ensus of publ ic t>upport for t h e n eed for action, t he goal s o f the action , and the general d of'ini t i ve d i r ect ions the action ahould take in ios attempt. t o achiev~ he goals . Policy enacted at r1ation a1 and reg ional l e vel s shoul d Oe expected t o set i n mo t ion a continuing p rocesa of improvi n g natural r esource use and enviromilental qual i:oy in an -ocepta'ole and beneficial mann er on behalf of the c i< izenry.
Al though d evelopmC'."J1t and enac t ment o f la:~:d use pol i cy i s a first and e ssential step in proc eedine to.ard imp roved_ natural r esou rc use and envir onmontal o,ual ity , t ho policy r e-main s fUt i l e- U.'"l-less implemf:ntcd through ( 1) land u~~e and cn vironme:r.t a.l planning based on facts and <ll'lalys es, ( 2 ) proar ammes baaed on t his pl.:ull"dng, and (3) prograrn..'Tie per f o rmanc e consisten t ":ith pol icy goals . Thus, the policy should r~ eognize and prov i d e for pla,.:t1!'1 i n e , !"osrarnming, and p(:rfonn.n.n ce n.s eoo P..nt ial i mpl ementation measures.
6.
GU!DELUI'ES roR LAliD USE POLICY

Or.a of the crucial elemen-t s i n f ormulating land use policy i s the establiah.rnent of princip les to achieve policy goals . Befo r e outlining t he act ion foci of land uoe policy subject ar<Ja.s, suidelinea for d e v elopine l and use policien at the national and p rovincial lev els ha.ve to be d etennined for d elineat;ing a rational course of act ion on applying sound soil and Hator conservn.tion proera.mmoa . 'fhese guidel ines are rl O"t necessaril y prtJ aented in t he ot-d.e r o f ~heit" i mport a."''Ce. Moreover, they may be stat<~d in other ways through furthe r division or in combinat ion. Nevertheless, the 10 points are relt)var-.t to d eveloping la:;.d use policies consistent with the r.ature, rol e and goals of the land use pol icy which is to be adopted.
1.
Statinc
l a~d u~e
pol icy goal s
Land use policy should include a statement of g oals t hat meet s two condi tions: ( i ) l 'he goal A should provid" the ends aou~rht i n i mpl'Qvi Yig the use of natural tesou rces and en vi ron.'Dent al qu al i t.y . These . goa.ls should be consistent '.-:it h the norms used. in d elimitirl8 the problems ~;hich the policy is d e cigned t o ameliorate. {i i ) The goals s h ould be nnalysed i n terms of o t her national and stat e goals, ir~el udir.g grot:th , employment, and income distribution. Preferencen most l ikely ,.roul d evolve from t he process of reconciliation .
2.
Pr oviding f lexibilit i es
of variation a in resourc es and geocr aphy an 11 el l as cit izen preferences , l and u sc policy mu,;:t provi d~ fl axibili t iea ..;i t hout sacrificing achievetnCtlt of pol icy e;oalfj.
BecausE.~
3.
Enc ouraging experimentation and. innovat ion Special appl ica tion of the flexibility guideline Hould not onl.y penni t but encourage experiment at ion .:md innovation by provinci al ar1 d local government a ir: f ormulat i ng nc approachea to i rnprvved land resourc~~ uue and environmental
qun.licy.
- 201 -
4.
Pl"'vi d i ne: for plr .nH'iH{u_ !"tC: :!a ":"Ch 1 and cva.luat ion
Imp I$ :rat i v o in d e tcrminh -:6 l ar1d u a e polic y .i a nound p l-ann ing fou.nd od on :'\Ct s Md analy3 i r; provided by appl i ed r es earch. Al~o , cvaluat ion of on-g oint; p rocr ammen is x e({ui l'ed to make. in-proc ~ t> S adju:.lt 1 ncn t s in p rograrr.men and t o t rrou;fe r proz r ar.'lmes t o o i her al"eas . Thi~;: i s es poc ially t. ltH~ ;,ith expe rim<mt al at1d i nno vat ive types of activities .
Ho ,.,cvert t h e r e a r e r eal dtmgers t hat pl a."ln i ngt res~arch and evalu a t ion llill be YH~gl cc t c<i, e i t her becaus e o f pressu ;es to get a Pl"'&ra.mme started or mor e l ik ely because provi ncial and local gove:r'tt:'l'lent$ , a l ready ovel'burdv.ned financ i all y, will not ha v e the necessarJ funds .
5 HideapMa.d c i t i zen part icipation

Development o f land uce po l i cy must nec esaalily invol ve c i t i zen paJt ici pation on a Nid:.: ac al ~ artd at all l<w elo o 'f aut ho r i t y.
6.
Pr eve:nt i ng frap -.ment a:t ion , duplication , and conf'l ict ;:; Hit h the curren t mood fo:- a ct i on on 1and us e po l i~y. pr ovincial and national goverrtment s may bE:! presaed in t o f raenu:x1 tat ion , dupl ication , and. confl i ctn o f planning and progra.~runincr eov e!nrn.ent g r oupi ngs or agenci es that could obot ruct progr esn toward achieving l and us e and ~n vi ronmental impr ovement s . I n t he int er ect of effective l a.1 1d use pol icy , planning , progranuning , a..n d perfor~anco , t he need ia to a llocat e r c aponsibili t i ea t o fewer but mo r e e f'fectivo gove r nment g roupin&G or aeenc i es . For exampl e , i n the rural areas the e stablishment o f con so l ida:~ ed and muH ifunct iona.l agricul t ura.l co oper ative !> Ocieties and l and rer.:ource and ~nvi tonment al i mprovem11-n t district a Ghould r oplac o mor:o- ot bii'unct i.onal agri cultural cooper at ive societi es and soil and i-Jat er co!":s erva.t i on distri ct s.
7.
Providing f or cornplemen t arl r o l es by gov e;nmen t s One of t.he more tmpo'rt a.nc guidcli..n e:; in d evelop i ng allocat i on o.r f unc l. i o ns ar.d respona ibil itioo amone national eovernmer.ts. Complementary functiom.; and be d ..;veloped and accep t ed by the var i ous l evel G of
Ni t h the n a't urc and occurrencc o f
prohl ~1n:J
l a.nd u s c pol icy is t he l ocal , provincial and r c:;pons i bili t i es must g overnment commen nur a te
:~ illinw. ei3 P.l
and t h e ubi li t y and
of the c i t i zenc to pe rform.
8.
Insti tut.ional i zine s oil and H ater conser va t i on and i ncen tives
~nvitorunental
protect ion
Since d evelopmen ; act i vi ties r el at ed t o soil and wat er conoe r va tion ar1d ~nvi.ronment al. prot ection will avcruc diroct 'o(mefit s to t he rural com:nunity an a ~hol e, it i s the duty o f eovernment s t o allocat e t\tnds to the rural distri c~ level where ~he coat s o f these developmen t act ivit i es are t o be upent . Accordingly, governments chould institut ionalize inc entives to s erv ice the funding ~o l o cal and prov i ncial f armers and cie izens groupa for public l and use d evel o pment ~ct ivi t ies pu rposes .
9. Cons i d ering
l i mi tn . all
all usett and all nat ural r esources
Si nce p roduc t s a"''d $ ervice$ de rived from nat u ral r eaources are subat i ~utable 1-1 i t hi n l i m it ~; and, l ikt:Hise , natu'!"al !"eaou r c ea a r e: subst i t u t a bl e 11i t. hin
( ) \.t :Y"t"(:nt
ru1d pot cnt
i~l \.HJ <O ~J
of rutluro l
~ o n ourc a l)
and their ('ln-
vironmen tal e ff ec ts shoul d come unde r the pu r vi c;.; o f land use po l icy. The time for single-r esource: conCe rn in nearir1 g an end. Technological d evel opment a allo.,.J t he uae of al t en1at ivo resources an su bst it-utes fo't' each oG her , 't-i t h di ffer en~ i al effec tc on t he resource s and on t he cnvi ronmetlt .
- 202-
For example t t he l and .and Natcr r esources are substitutabl e "'ith respect t o a,ericul tura l product i on ; l and can be used f or cr op and animal produ<:t. ion Jhil o t;at ::r can be used fo r fis h cult ure and production - t hu6, the p roduc t s o f bo t h resourc0:s ar c substi t u t able.
10. !tlodi fy i nG prope rty and r eaponni bilit y concep t s
Tr adi tional r i ght s i n land ,:::val ved b ) a laissez faire rna.nr:or du r ing t he earl y peri-:>ds o f na t u ral resource exploit at ion. Now these rights must be modifi ed and qual i Cied 'to em pha s ize. ma"'l 1 s r eaponsibili t ies in t he use o f these r esou r ces . I n o t her words, p :roptnty rights can and mu:lt be restructur ed to help el i minate unrestrained cxploit at .ion of r1 atural teaour ces and d~ erad.at ion o.f.' ~ he natural envi ronmen t .
7. ACTION FOCI OF LA!ID USE FOLI CY SUliJEC'I' AREAS \IH h ohe gui d el ines on land use policy d <>lineation a.s a background, the act i on f o c i o f land use policy aubj ecc a r 0aa ma.y be iden t i ficd from the follo.:ing propoaed coursea o f act i on: 1. To d ovel oe, !.Pricul tu1al pl ans and polici es to t".J'Ia.bl e farme r-s a."'ld agroi ndustrins to fu l f i ll t heir r a sponnibil i t i e s in ma in t ainin g tho qual i!;y o f 'the human environmerlt 1. 10 A,grim.ltu re will need t o be incr eas i ngl y recogn ized aa an act i vi ty o f general public in t or ~ct: 1.1 1 for w.;,pplying f ood and other essential product n in sufficient 'luantity and of satisfactory <ruality
1.1 2
1. 13
1
for ensuring t he conse rvation of a l arge part of t he natural resource s and o f t h e cnv iroruneYlt
for employtnent oppo:clm i t. icu in orde r t o avoid ex ce ssive u rban conccn Lrations for mninoaining and enhancing the qual H y and a tt r aco iveness of rural arcaa f o r N CJeation and as buffer zones bet een u rban areas for recycling v a.st on emana t i ng f t-om $Ourc oa s uch as muni cipa l setmge ..
. 14
1.1 )
1. 20
A:t t he pl anning sta&e 1 t he a dverse environmental impac t o of d evel oprncr1 t pl ans on agricul ture , M d conver sely t he harmful environmental e f:fec~s o f agricultural d~v e l opment, shoul d be prevent ed.
,. . ,30
Th o l ocal cnvirornnen t Hl.l l have to be r~gar-Ued as a fUno tioning eccr syst em it hin ~~hich agricul t ural d evelopment t ake$ place and 'to wh i ch it a.dapts r and not the r everse as t radi t ionall y maint ained, i . e. t he ~ accomoli enc~oac}un ent o f a.gt'icul'tural development upon the prevailing ecosystem. '!'hUG 1 1. 31 the convent i on nl prC!o ccupat i on 'rli&h agri cul tural out put s must be balanc(.:d by a con sidv r at i on of irtput a at1d t J\e ir t.tnviro.nme-ntal hazard implicat i ons .
1. 40
The app rec ia~ion o f the int r in s ic qualit i es and ne~da or the prevai li ng ecosyst em explains the need f or various input s beyond the capa bili t ies o f the indivi dual f armer but r equire$ to maint ain nu coessfUlly at! a rtificial e<;u il i bri wn ~shich has to con fom with the conservation !leedn o f a su st a ined <Jcosyst <;. 'l'l. These incl ude t he a.pplicat iOJ1 of:
- 203-
1.4 1
Ltl2
pl an t breed i ng programmes and t he s alvagi ng o f threatened genet i c

re$ ourc e ~
s oil and t.;ate.r conse-rvation prac t icf'JrJ

moni Loring and control of uoi l ,
1
1. 43
!ater, and plane cont aminan ts
1. 44 1. 50
integrat ed co,trol ol' in s ects , weeds a..>'ld oc her pests .
Agricul tu r?.l and s oil i nst ieutions $houl d pl"'f an increa sing ro l o in tile ass~snment: ot' land evalua tion and i n advi s ing pl anne rs and de signer s
of' promising d .:vc lopme..n t p r o jec ts .
1.60
Agr i cul t ur-al d e ve lopment pl ans H.nd i n Vl1Stment p roc;raJI"'mos s houl<i m ake provis ion f or the early impl ement at ion of tho~;e bacic land i mprovement and ooil conservat i on :>rojc.c t s ~ -,..,d f acili t ies fo r waste d i sposal ..thich ir1di vidual f a nners and agro-i ndust ries cnnnot a f f ord to car ry out by
t hemoelves.
1 . 70
An. i mportant part o f the B(1'ricul t ural planning p roc.ass and other aspects o f .rural planning s hould 'oe carri ed out. at the local level so a.~ to involve the f ar ming communicy and enliat theil pa'.t~ticipation in i m p roving t he r:ual i t y o f rural l i fe .
2.
To conduct. ~Jel e ctivc ba.se line surve,ts of ry).ricul t uraJ. a.rea.a where bash: agricul tural rt~oourcos are knot.."!~ or ~u:;;pect ed t o be suff ering en vironmental
d~gradat
ion s
2 .10
Prio r to sel ectine p riori ty areas, coll ection ru1d l~.:~v ie .-; o f available ba sic l and and K at er r esour ce surveys , i nventorit:s and da.ta should be made in o rde r t o i d P.nt i f y specit' i c sources o f environmental degr adation;
2.11
subj ec t s f or study includo loss o f aoil produc t i vHy; loss of useful eenetic r esources; d~pl et ion o f trrazing l ands; r ocutrent d iiH;tructi on o f c!"'ops, l i vest ock and -.'ild her bi vore s by pest s, d i 3eascs , or pol lut ion; accumul a t ion o f ha1mful agricul t u ral wnnt cs j w1d i ndicat ions of climat i c changes.
1
2 . 20
J.fore c ompr ehens ive in t erpretat i ono ot ex i nt i ng do:t.r.L should then be u1ade t o i d.on t i fy sim ila::~ agl'icul t u :r-al ar .aa,s ;
2 .2 1
i nt rc:r-~~elat ior-u;hi ps among ecological c ondit i ons , types ..L..,d intc~s i t ies o f land U $ '(; and ma.nngement p-ract i c es , and probl ems o f en vi :ronment nl dogJada: i on should all be idont i f i e<l.
2 . 30
On t his basis , pri orif: i es fo r ur{~en't o.ctions of conservation ancl protect ion of a.gr-icu l:tural r-c s o u xc ~ ~ and f or achlit:ional survey ~:; ar.d r es earch should be e st a'ol is he(];
2.) 1 t h es (,k should cor.aid~r !:. h<'" a:r.~as uh e ro t he il!'Oduct ivo capacity
or f;h.e r~source s and t he a.g:ricul~ural produc t s a r e or t hr13a t erJed by environmental d egradations .

2 . 40
mo ~ -t
a f fected
Capabilit: i < Hl o f P-'tisting i n$ti t u t iono shoul d b e. $ tt~ngthen~d in t he! 1 i ght of the esaent ial findi ngs o f the se background ban i c tesou :-ce and i nterprt.at ivQ s ur-vey::: f o r t he purpo s"~ <:~ l' un do rt.aking the r or;uirod
a.cti.oh .
2. 50
Add i t ior:al i uve.n t o t"i e t:~ l.V1 d $Ut~v eys a houl.d then be continued by s ectors in !)rio r i i.y ar va o 'l'; her-c c r i t i cal cortd i t iotH> t o land ~>r'oduc t ivi ty have
bet.tn s pe ci f .i ~;;d ..
- 204 -
?. . 51
~e~e
shoul d be d t..Wel opcd by

:~houl d r:~ake
.:;.ucc~r;aive stage~
o f approxim a tion
a.u d
d;:~t;il i
p r -ovir:;ion f o r j)(:r~odic j oint compilai or; a.:nd i nt erprotat i on, i ncludine conr::id ~ eat iorJ of erwironmental ef.fec t a r.her
o.f
~1~icultu ::-~
or: other
resourc~c su~h
as air, wat er, aquatic
r r;f;ou rct.:s nnd ~;ildli f - t hua aiming at f ol l owing comprchenc i ve natu: :e al ~'~:nourc~ anse~.cm~r.t aY .d rna.'1t.:.ge.-nc-nt .
3.
I'o ~.i!--:..p :-.ystemo:tic r c co rdl'.~ o f cn~ilorcr., ~.::al problema ca.used by or affecting y;ricult\::.ro u.s i ns l: he above ba.se l i ne surveys ) . 10 The ' 'xiotinc <"16'r'icultt~r~l intrt i t u t-iono ( o. g . r esea r ch i nat i!:ut s r", field stat ion s at!d ot her ~ ~:rvicos ) nhould p r ovid e the ncCEGRtH"'~J netwo rJ: .ro:r t hc::.e moni t oritlt; act ivit ies. cmp!:asis should Oe pl ac..:d or. s ur-veillar'tc c or s o il d egra.d at ion and on ear ly ~ a:rTd ng systems f o r po.:;sts , di$0aa co and po l lut ant s affect ing cr ops, live stocl~ and the quali t:,~ o f acricultural products.
Sp( ~ ci nl
3.20
4.
To st l":nc;then basic agri cultural r e search to i m prove ecol ogi c al \Uld :.'! rstanding 4.10 Res earch should be 4. 11
und~rt aken
in
!J~~luct ed
acosyatcms and problem are as
on the general subj ects of :

t he l u.nct i oni ng and product i vi t y o f agricult u ral systems ;
d~.gradation
4. 'i 2 t h e procoJ:sacs of
o ' land rl3sources and c ont a:ninat ion
of agricul t ural productn;

4. i3 t he environmental eff ects of certain speci fi c agricultural p rachces and agricult ural L"lputs, part icularly agro-chemical s ; 4.1 4
the r l at ions hip of climate t o the above i tems.
4. 20
In addi t i on, a vari~y of ecologically-sound management opportunities meri t study:

4 . 21
4 .2~
the r-ueycl ine of rnurticipal
~ast e5,
incl uding their d o;3;t oxicat ior. ,
ont o agricultural lands ;

mult iple cropping ir: t he t r opl.co, i n c l uding cont;i de rati onc o f c rop combinations and se~ ~c~caa , cover crops, fe rtil ization and .-cud control;
4. 23
ayst <>m $ to ro-ut ili ze the 11ast es of agricult.ura l runoff ;

i n tegrated peat cont r oln, 7ncl uding combinat iono o f r egulated pe sticide usc, cultural contro l s, crop divBrc i fication.
fi ~ ld
4.24
5. To
dir~ c t
the agri cultural r ooca rch s ervice8 and
stations to
of
inve~ igation
incorporate environment al considerat ions into

and expurimentat ion
progr~~es
5 tO
The findinca of basi c ecol og ical rene-arch shoul d be appl i ed to t he Gtudy, d enign, and cxp~rimcntat ion of ~c :.logically stable r:yst ems o!"' lru1d uso an 4 n~r i md~:.u::al pz act ic o ~ , pat"ticularly in t!'opi c al and subt r opical areaa , Hher~by:
5.11
t he productive: capac ity o f land r cysour cB s can be maitlt ai ned on

a lone-t c rm basis ;
eM be di r,;p os~d of or r~cycl ~d in t. h (-~a rJ harmf ul ~ ffoct s on natural r~sourceo o r on the
" . waot es 5 <.,.
ey::;t ems Ni'~>hout ::mv i ronment
l'."r,erally .
- 205 -
5.20
In t e st ing variouG combinat1ons o f c r ops a. ' id/or l ivest ock , aglicult u ral inputs , (ll'ld mru1ag:ema-nt pract i c t: $ a."'ld in a.t te-.mpting to max i mi ze y i elds or economic r ~ t u t."'ns , experim ent s and pilot areas on priorit y cri t-ical a reaa ref1~rr~ to be fore s hould 1 >e design ed to assess:
5 . 21
possibl e e~vi ro n m ental t:>i d~- e ff ec1.s of l'"UJ"l- Of f , erosion , and other forma of soil deg radat i on and of the accumulation o f harmful r~siduea , ea pocial l y ~hon e f rom agro-chcmical sj
the t. echn ical abil i ty of local f a rmera to int roducc net l and une pract i cen to~ithout caus ing det erioration t o agri cultu ral
r e s ou r c ~s
5. 22
and t he
~nvironm ent;
5 . 23
t he economic rc:asi Oi l i ty of impl.;;m~nting Zl.gricultura.l. pra.ct icc :; Hhich can bett er pro ~ cct th e r <J s ourc e!> Md the environment \l ithout adding to farm mana8emant cost s . To t his end, r;pecial invest igation a should b e unde rt aken to evaluate the coste and long-term benefits of f'.nvironm~n-tal protect i on praet i c aa i n agricul t u re, i ncluding t he intangibl e s ocial benef'i t a that ma,y accrue from the s o il cons ervation d e velopment proce ss.
5 . 30
A,sricultural r e s earch inatitutions should, >~hercv er feasib l e, use radio-i s otope$ a nd rad iat ion t e:chr1ir':'u es to d e v t, lop new, eaf~r and mor e e f fi cient management pra ctice s; 5 . 31 thia appl i ea particularl y co the a p plicat ion of ferti lizers, p-est i cide s , and irrigat ion at e r and t o t h e biolog ical eon~rol of pests.
6.
To d e vel op 8J1d faci l i t at <J information exchange and t ran nf'e:c of exp~rience in agricul tu r e ithin a11 ecological fram~t<ork
6 .1 0
The transfer o f i nformation and experience i n agri c ult u r e should be based upon simila.r u cological cond i t ions, eapc ci ally on climate and s oil. '1Jithin thiG frame~.;ork , rel ~van t and $1$l r.:ct ed in f ormat i on s hould be made r eadily avail able to potential users {e. g. plromel'S, extens i on serv i ce s , famer s) in a forrn easily understandatl e and applicable, pn:
6.21
6 . 20
soi ls, t h eir characterist i cs t capabi li t ies, and l imitat ions f or different us e:s; gen rJt i c r esources, t heir ruquirem~nts, potf.mt i al r~sistance t o pe sts and oth er adve-l:'SO f ac-t ors; agricultural p r acti ces most suit a ble for boU. inc.reaaed product ion and mi nimum envi r onment al d amage , part icularl ,y soi l conaervat ion _ p ract i ces and i nt eg rat ed pest c ont rol techniques ; moat appropriate methods of agricultural Haste disposal and !' ~cycl ing under l ocal condit i on$.
prograrrrnes o f acri-
6.22 6 . 23
6.24
7. To in t r oduce envi::-onmental conside rations int o t h e

cult ural education and train ing 7 . 10
The focus on t he i mportance of t ho n eH dimension on environment al ass essment a ~d m anagement a i med at sustaining acceptable standards fo.r the quality of life uas prompted by the Stockholm tlorl d Conf.,lt:'c .mC<:! on tho Env ironment ( 1972 ). In thi s r eopect, more ~~mphasis . shoul d be placed on i;he c:aation of an W1de rsta.ndine o f : 7 . 11 t he v"i t al rol n of agricult ure: f o r ma.n'e t-tcl f are a.nd for the maint ~m ance of envi ronmcntal qua.l i ty;
7 . 1'2
tho enviro:nment al probl em$ related to speci f i c manageme.~o1t pra ctices , part i cularl y thos (,! r 0 lated to 3oil and ,.,at .., r cons ervat i on and p ~ st con t r o l ;
- 20c 7.i3 the l imi t A to t he carrying capacit i es o r natural

resource~
und & r particular famti ng o r grazi r.g condit i ons. I n t f:.iG rc ~ p o c t t he delineat ion of t he marginal proj ect ed d 0.fs rment coupl ed >~ ith a liAting of ~ he p racti c ~ s on l and management i s c rucial. 7. 20
8.
These con siderations s houl d be i n&roduced at al l levels of & raining and education.
To int roduce an institutiona l and ll..!eisla.tive f :ameHO rk l'lh ich accounts for t he envi ronmer;t al di men s ions of agricul t ura l d evelopmen t
8 .10
Soil and agricultural inst iOutions should be direct ed to consider 't he ecor;y zt em as an ope r a ti ve unit in t he management o t ai r , soil , pl ant , <ll'Jd Tc. at tW r (o!Js ourc cs; 8 . 11 l and s ettl ement, agr a rian reforms, and l and cons olidat ion should r ecogni ze local diversities o f soil and climat e ; 8 . 11. 1 the extension ~~d int ens ifioat ion o f agricult ure s hould be modi f i ed accor dingly.
8.20
Land evaluat ion should s erve as a basis f or l and zoning , l and u s e l egislat ion, licensing and r egul at ions; 8 . 2 .,
mea.sut'e should be d eaig:ned t o r~apond t o d~gradation reaul ting
from mi sus e o f cropl ands, miw s e of agricult ural inputs 1 a.r:d from t hf: ca r el e s s disposal o f agricult ura l Hast es.
9. To p r ovid e i ncen t ives and assi st ance to fatm(Jra and agro-indust r i es
9 . 10
Measures could include , d epending on a given COW1try'r. soc ial and econ omic system, c r edit , bet t e r market ing f acil ities, ta.x r educ tions
or exempt ions, and s ubsi dies in cash or kind.

9 . 20 Such measu r s s woul d indu oe or enable rec i pients to unu er t ake necessary act io ns to p r event o r ccr:rect enviro.n mental d cgradat i on o f gone'f'al publi c intere st caused qy thei r a ctivit ies.
>~OUld i nclud e s oil and <at er conservation , use o f more $ elective peatic i d e s , and ~e cyclin g o f w astes .
9. 30 Examples
10 .
To e st ablish or st x engt hen national prog r ammes o f cons ervation of coil
r esource s
10.10 According to local condi t i ons and requir~ments, thes e p rogrammes may place emphasir;: on one or morr:.: of t h e:- follo1ing a reas:
10 .11 rain f ed crop l ands, particula rly dry farmed a.reas; 10. 12 irri gated l ands >li t h salinization , a l kali . and t< aterlogging
hazards ;
"0.13 eros i on along rural r oadn: and high.,Jays; 10 .1 4 g r azir.g l ands, part i cularl y in a rid arean ;
10.1 5 wind ll r o s i on , stabil izati on of'
~ ar1 d
dunes ;
10 . 16 "'at e r ohed protection and a f fore st ation ; 10 .1 7 margi nal l ands , i . e . those areas f all ing bet <>~n lands >:her e i nt ensive agri cul tural px~ du ct ion i s feasi ble and those un f it for agricult u r e and r~~i.ring protec~ ion . 10 . 20 The progra;rme should be i nteg rat ed with the actions p ropo<1~d ear li er on bas e l ine surveys , r e1 Na rch , aS!}es sment of l and capabilities, a ssist anc e t o l and use planning authori t i es, development of ecol ogically ~ ~abl e ~ricul tural syat ema , soi l c ona ervation l egi slation, ext ension w ork and a.sni st. ::mcc t o fal"mCr'$ ;
- 207 10 . 2
~3
z..u (:h , it wi l l go ,.;ol l b: !ycnd t h e meru promot ion of soil

~l'o s ioro
co ra nO !~\ ation ,
oontrol prn.cticvG , .:-\.n d l and. i rr.provem ..m t rnight po:-.sibl .:.t

i>~"
'i) r ks .
10.. .)0 A
num::~:::-
o:
~)>t)Ci t'ic rnea su~~.s
-!7tploy ed :
10 . ~1
Q ::
mt cl.t hi:! c:')ntroll ~d t fltouch t h :; uc ,! o:" variot.:.s f orr11::: ;tn.tlch,;:s , primarilJ' i P t~10: t'ot'm o f c rop rvs idu ~ :;; j :mgi no;;.r i ng ru1d aeror;omic ;;~ch. '1i-:-l.l<:S t o stubilize the eoil and 1 --~ s s ~n t he oJrosi ve for"c ~ o f 1 : ind M d .-~at ~ !" i c.:m~ro l o;' fi r ~ s i O\.. :ngrazi ng, a..nti <.i.t:JfOl' ~stat i on ; ~.!SC)ding ; a.. '!1d t e rrac i ng;
plant ' =;
::ro~ior ~
~ 0 . J2
sal i ni ty and aH:al i:ni t y control mi@rt employ k.'1ot..;l e dae o f a ~a.l ~ tol ~;- ~~allC i;l , eh.; $-? ..linity o f f; hv t : at o r U:'i "d fo r irr.ieat iOt! 1 &>(\ t he: soil .;:ho.rac~~ crin t i cs fo'l~ P..d.'lquat ~ irri gation anci l ca.ct: i na;
10 . 33 t;h t l eachinB" a.J"Itl :hrpl ct ior. of l;Oi ln pa.~-t i<:ulu.r-ly in th~ t ropics mi!;ht b~ 1~1:-ctuc HJ l.htout;h. cor:tro llj rtc; t h.;. in~ ~m~li ty o f agriC\~lt ural u.O.: , '->.Y !)rovid i r.t: fai l 01: !)~riods , by int rodu.cir.g
hortieult ur-' o.r.'

~;he
pn.stm~ag~
i nst oa.d or sho:rt cycle crops , or by
uae of o:pp-rop:ri at.:'
f l' !''til i ~'. -7 :r>B 4
10 . 40 ?a.rl i culnr at'!. o.~t ion $ !\OHl fl ::,,_ e;i vo.:n it.t ~~l~O$ iOn cont 1'0l. JH'o nt.clJ':llnus to r ;cluci r1t s~cl.irclc.nt d .::l i very Co st t'eams , r~$.:> rvoirs , da-rns W:Hl oth<-r \Hlt ~r bod i :f:i in oro..: ~ t o co td:rol phys i c a l , chemica.]. and biological :: f' .f-.:ct ~ of tCH::.: s .~d.im :Jlt ;n on . t~t t..-,.. qual ity and ar:uatic .:... ooi..U."'G..~a .
10 . 50 A
~p,!cia1
i lt:rd f or th (
<,:r.>n:H~rvn!ion
of nat ional t::oil r
:~:;our{' .;n
may be
tH' . d ..:d t.o ptovid..,;, thn
nt-~ C ;) Cn :lry
i'ocns a n d mr::ru-1::: of act i on .
10 . 6G Tia t i ot!.al so il instit u tionG sho uld C.e str ::ttlt; -l,;h~ ~c1. by l':in :fo:t-c i nc the noi1 conc i.t'"vo.tion ~utvic~o o.\11d ~stabl i shi:ng, t!her!J n oe<kd, s pJ:cial uni t s i'o::- la ~d ~v3.luo:liion : hie }! ado pt t ho mult i dicciplina.ry phyrdcal r.;:!courc O:/soci~oconomic intcrrulat i onsh.ip approach, t he :trame,\ork of ~Jh i ch has b e-en d~v e l oped by FAO' s Land and \lat er Development Division .
11. To COI'lt.id :r th<t
PO!?!~il)~lit ies
o f i'';Gyclinr; .E:iF'icultura.l
\iMt ~s
ag:.~o- in,~utrt
11 10 1.'o ~ ~v.. ~!; c-:-~t ptact i cabl ~ and s af ow, <:.\.'"li rnal or or e;al'liC and ~~u.n i c ipal ~ as t r; c <:oul cl b 0 ns ;Q Blj : ... rtilihc ra .
ria.l
1 i. ~0
LU:~:::i r:
.:- . C:.l.'OJl
C:t"'. 1
t ' .:: ~i<l~,
..n ;oul d i.o,; u:: ~c:. !'ot compo:";tc

:=;it~\1.-~.: t. h~
.).l
:;l.S ~l t ir.tal
_. .~:--<i .
11 . )0 I n c i th.;;r
~ he
ti\~:.
..ttr.t r; ~ or'='
Gt r'\wtU!".'
Wld i'<,rt ilit ,:.r o i'
c:m l d coil ;
1),
cl.i ntribn; cd to improvt>
11 . 31 a tt m t i on f!:U$i; l> J'~&i l~ t ..:> ~\~uo..l a&ainst contami na f; ion o:.f t i l (; ooil re:.~ourc .: t..J'JJl th: ~pr::u.d o f irt f ~ctimu!. rih~ :as.:s.
~ 1 . 40 ~li'l.~ r:vcr
r.ot ?ca oibl e , tho.:s ~ ;1 aa-t es should be coll Act ad, t r-::.- at c:d an<l rli s pos Bd of u.'!d(!I controlli!d c ond i t ion~\ i ll ord ~~ ~ t o :
n . (1 mii1imize pollut ion , cont aminat i on, fire and ot h et" haza;l1s ;
a.tt.ra~ 1:iveness ru r~.l
11. 42 maintain t h e
a"ld s a.lulrr i t :r o f
l and s and
st
L"e \:\ntts .
12. To ir~r.~t itut ~ ox :roinf'<H<~ nat ional programmes t o :ragula:t e the u se of pentici d en and other bi ocide s and t o <lR v el.op iri't J1'{\'t ,)J. Pt.:l'St cont r o l
- 208 -
J.',\0.
A Frame11or k f or Land. Eva luation.
So il fulletin
32 ,
~'AO,
R ome , J , Soil and
197c
'l'immonc 1 J .F. Public land use policy :
Needs, object i ve s, and guidel ine s .
1972
Water Conservation 27( 5): 195-202.
Uni.ted lations J.>)lviromr.ental aspects of natural resources management . Report of the UN 1972 Conference on the Hwnan Environment , Stockholm, llll, New York,
Nat ions 1rtvi 't')nrnent Prog ramme. 1'hc ~>t ate o f t he Fnvironment 1910 . Cm)neil, Fo\lrth Sees i on l~BP Na irobi .
Govern i.ng
"
:]
APPWDIX I
llonda,y 22 !iovember 09.30
Opening of Consultation:
Dr. F , W, llauck, Offioer-in-Chargo, AGLS
CONSERVATI<ll PRACTICES IN .o.GRICULWRE Chairman: Dr. tl , Oil

10,10 - 10.45
Soil conservation practices and e.r o!;ion control in India - a case study Dr. D.C. Daa
11 , 15- 11.45
11.45 -12. 30 14.30- 15,15 15.20 - 16.00 16,00 - 17.15 Tuesdaz 23 1/ovember 09.15 - 10,00
Tradi t ional forma of land use in relation to aoil erosion Prof . A. Young
Di scussions
Land c l assif i cation
~ll'.
G.J.t. Higgi.nc
Soi l cons ervat i on as a prot ective measure against salinization Dr. F. Massoud
Diaeu s aions
C<liSERVATIQI PRACTICES IN .o.GRICULWRE

Chairman:
Prof. N. Hudson
rhe rol e of soil conoervat i on in watershed management on agricul tural l ands
Dr. K, Gi l
10.00 - 10.45
Role of cover orops i.rl soil and \~-a.ter eonservation Dr, B,D, Okigbo and R, Lal
12,00
Di&cuE&iona
Studying patterne of Goil
ero ~ ion
in Kenya
Dr . T. Dunne
15.15 - 16.00
Soil erosion and res ervo i r cedimentat i on - cane studies in Tanzania
Dr. A, R "PP
DiscussionD
- 210-
~tednesdav
24 Novem ber
J;'ORESTRY:
Chainr.an:
WATERSHED J.WlAGE.:MaiT MID SOIL CQlS.ERVATIQI

Prof, A, Young
09,15 - 10,00 10.00 - 10 . 45

11 15 - 12 .oo
. Upland conservation - an es sential part of agriculture downstream Dr, S, Kunkle

Examples of soil and vtator conservation !)ractices in North Aft-ican countries - Alger i :1, f\;lo roooo and Ttmisia l1r . B. Ben :'l:nl em
Discuss ion
GRASSWlND NAll AGh3>iaiT Chairrn<m: Prof._ A, Y OtUlg
Soil and \Tater o on& ervation as an aid to r ange management Dr. J, Na;ylor
15 . 00 - 15 .)0
15 .45 - 16. 10
Grassland management in relat i on to soil conservation and

erosion control i n developing oountriec Dr. T. Ionesco
Di scuss ion
Thurcd ay 25 l{ovember
RESEARCH, ORCP Jiill'.ATI()I, WUCATIO!J, EXTEliSictl AND Chairman: Dr. D.c . D..".ls
~IVIRCNME:IT
09.15 - 10, 00
Research needs for coil conservation in developing
countri es Prof. II , H udson

10 .oo
10 45
Development of soil and wat e r conse rvation service for devel o:ping countries s pecif'i c req u i rement s and possibilit ies
for assistance
Dr. N. Oil
1-1 15
12.1 5
1).00
Discus~ion
Training , extension and i mplemen tation o f s o il c onservat ion programmes in deve iocing countries
N r.
o. Jones
1 llvi ronmenta.l pers-pect ive s of l and usc policy in relat i on to a oil and tqat e r conr::ervat ion Dr. L, Kadry 16,00 16 . 30 Dis0\lssion
16. 30
F! i<!a,y 26 November
C~a1 mt:.r. : ;{(' ) ;.~Ort o f
!Jr . F . H. H .au.r::k
t }>~
\-:o rk:in ~
b)
'olO r~ing &r"Ott9 on O!'!r, ,.n i z a t ion, t r aining , extension

.:;.."1~ :t~~ea.:-ch .
t~Otk i n e ((t'OU!) !? et"Ol.!fl (In pra(:t i cal S!".:r,>ec tc
- 211 -
APPENDIX II
LIS? OF
PARTIC IP~ITS
!::I<PERT CONSULTATia-1 m SOIL CONSERVATI ON AND ~JANACEI!EIJT Dl DE:I/!:LCPINC COUNTRiES

Rome , 22-26 November 1976
ll%- ,
D,o,
Das
Deputy Commi ssioner Mini stry of Agri culture Kriahi Jlhavan, ll e>r Delhi India Depa rtment o f <'.eological Sc ience University o f Vlashino,-ton Seattle 98195
Dr, T.
Dunne
u.s.A.
Dr, N, Gil
23 !!aoran im St ree1 Kfar Slunari.a h,y Irnael National College of Agricultural
Prof. N,W, Hudson
Ehgi neering Silsoe , Bedford I.OC 45 4DT

U,K,
lo!r, O,F, J ones
u.s.A,
Dr, 8,!1, Oki gbo
!ITA
121 2 Fieldc:rest Norfol k , Nebraska 68701

1\ssist~.nt
Director
?, r.t, B I bat!an
Prof , A, Rapp
~ 3 20
Department of Physical Geography Stllvegat an 13 5-22362 Lund S\ieden
Prof. A, Young
School of Environment al Sc i encea

Univer sity of East Angl ia llorwich NR 4 7TJ
U,K,
- 212 -
I
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Dr. A . J.
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A G L FA O "
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ted
ater a
FAO SOILS BULLETINS
1.
Soils Of the arid ZOr!M Of Chile, 1985 (E")
Sur.ey of soil labo<atorles In 64 FAO member countries, 1985 (E") 3. Guida on general and specialized equipment for soil laboratories. 1966 (E'') 4. Guida to 60 aoll and water conservatiOn practices, 1966 (E") 5. Selection of aoll for cocoa, 1966 (C' E" F" S") 8. Aerial photo Interpretation In aoll survey, t967 (E' F' S'1 7 A practical manual of SOli mlcrobioklgy laboratory methods, 1967 (E") 8. Soil sur.ey InterpretatiOn and Its use, 1967 (E') 9. The preparation of aolf aur.ey reports, 1970 (E'" F" S'") 10. Physical and chemical methods of aoll and water analysis. 1970 (E" P S") 11 Soil lettlllty Investigations on lerme<s' fields, 1970 (E" P S') 12. A study on the response of wheat to fertilizers, 1971 (E ') 13. l.ancl degradation, 1971 (C' E ') 14. Improving aoll lartllity In Africa, 1971 (E" F') 15. Legislative principles of soil conservation, 1971 (E " J 16. Effects of lntenaive lertlllzer use on the human environment. 1972 (E'J 17. Trace elements In aolls and egricutture. 1972 (E' F' S') 18. Guida to the calibration of soil tests for fertilizer recommendations, 1913 (E" F " S') 19. Soli survey lntarpratatlon lor engineering .purposes, 1973 (E' F' S') 20. Fertirtzer legislation. 1973 (E" S') 21. Calcareous aolls. 1913 (E" F ') 22. Approechea lo land clalslfieation, 1974 (E") 23. Management properties of farral&ols, 1974 (E') 24. Shilling cultivatiOn and aoll conservation in AfriCa, 1974 (E' F' S') 25. Sandy lOlls, 1976 (E') 26. Planning and organization of fertilizer development In Africa, 1975 (E") 27 OrganiC materials aa lortln%era, 1975 (E' F" S') 28. S.l. units and nomenclature In soli science, 1975 (E') 29. Land evaluation In Europa, 1976 (E") 30. Soil conservation In developing countries, 1976 (E' F' S') 31. Prngnoals of salinity and alkalinity, 1978 (E'l 32. A framework lor lend evaluation, 1976 (C' E'' F' S') 33. Soil conservation and management In developing countries, 1977 (E' F"') 34. Assessing aoil degradation, 1977 (C' E') 35. Organic materials and soil productiv~y. 1978 (C' E') 36. Organic recycling In Asia, 1978 (C' E") 37. Improved use of plant nutrients. 1978 (C' E') 3611. Soil and plant testing and analysis. 1980 (E') 3812. SoU and plant testing as a basis of fertilizer recommendations. 1960 (E ' S') 39. Guidelines for prng1101ia and monitoring of salinity and sodic~y. 1978 (E'" F"' S"') 40. China: recycling of organic wastes on agriCulture, 1978 (E' F' S') 41 . China: azolla propagation and amallale biogas technology, 1979 (E' F " S') 42. Soil survey Investigations for lrrigabon, 1979 (C' E') -13. Organic recycling In Africa, 1960 (E' ) 44. Watershed development with special reference to ao~ and water conservation, 1979 (C' E" F" " S""') 45. Organic materials and 1011 productMty In the Near East. 1982 (E' ~Arabic summary) 46 Blue-green algae for rice production - a manual !Of its promotion, 1981 (E1 47. Le r6cyclage des r6sldus agrlcotes orgarnques en Afrique, 1982 (F') 48. Mic:ronutriems and the nutrient 81atus of soils: a global study. 1982 (E1 49. Application of nitrogen-fiXing systems in sool management, 1982 (E' F"' S '"1 50. Kaeplng the land alive: soil el08lon- Its causes and cures, 1983 (E' F' S') 51 El reciclaje de malarias org6nleu en Ia agricuttura de America Latina, 1963 (S') 52.. Guidelines lor land evaluation for rainfed agric<Jtture, 1963 (E' F"' S"1 53. Improved production systems as an alternative to shifting cultivation, 1964 (E' F"" S'"") 54. Tillage systems lor 1011 and waler CDnSefVBtlon, 1964 (E') 55. Guldalinea: land evaluation for Irrigated agricuhure, 1965 (E')
2.
Availability: November 1985 C- Chinese

E- English
F - French S- Spanish Available .. Out of print ... In preparation
The FAO Soils Bulltttlns can b6 purchuad loc81/y through FAO sales agents or dlractly from Dlstributloo and Saltltl SBCtloo, FAO, VIB delle Terme dl Csracalla, 00100 Roms, Italy.
M-53 ISBN 92-6-100430-7

FAOSoil Conservation and Management in Developing Countries

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FAOSoil Conservation and Management in Developing Countries

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Soil conservation and management in developing countries

Soil conservation and management in developing countries

FAO SOILS BULLETIN

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1985

Reprinted 1981 , 1985

M -53 ISBN 92-5-100430-7

ot otherwise, witho-ut the p rior

permiuion of the copytight owner. Applicat ions for such permission,

Sllil r.onaervC~.tion P!'act i c es anti ero~ ion cont rol i n Ind i a

Tr:"old. it ionaJ fo rrne o f 1 and.

e. r.>rot er.-t i vc. rnt'.a8u rc ::lf:a inm sa!. in izat i on

f(~(~ imf.>:r?'t:tt i ()G-

~.!il (: l a.n d.&

r-g ricu,l t u r-e

-mil an d ,..r:-;..t e r .J . kwlor

cont:;rj rv.at. ic~; a c al'::

c<.lf: fH~ rvo,'" ~ior:

f o r a sE; h ;t.;u;ce N. (til

EXPERT CONSULTATION ON SOIL COJISERVATION AliD MANAGmE!IT IN DEVEWPlll() COUN!IRIES

Soil conservation is not

liany countries t r ansfer without

set-up is often uncoordinated with the ;oeneral mac1unery

of soil conservation and man96ement in the

countries, bearing in mind

and that individual

and institutions should

concentrate on work related to their local or regional

Investigations of the effects of social and institutional factors in causing

The adaptation of teclll!iques of soil conservation to the physical 1 economio

developn>ent of sound soil conservation methods, are inoludedt

Under t his general head

viii . Investigation of ra.tee of erosion on gra.zing landa, and relationships with

plant and animal productivi t y.

An appreciation of aoil conservation should be introduced as an aspect of

students are m ade aware of t heir cultural herit age, t heir

The study of so i l conservation as a subject in its own right should be

topios should be introduced into other subjeots at primary level.

hi gher degrees in Soil Conservation.

reit erated, i.e. that it is essential to have a separate soil conservat i on

EXtension programmes accompany soil conservation programmes

The use of demonstration" will be

Some of these are:

lntroduct ion of conservation t op i cs into t he school curriculwu;

Young Fa:rmers, etc,

level ehould be established in developing countries,

In countries where no related organizations exist, a secretariat should

oeor-etnriat should be established for initiation and coordination o-f soil vL

Comprehennive watershed management

Agricul tural production econom i cs

coil and water conservation

must be clearly stated,

The need for remedial action based on

resources nod environmental probl ems .

FAO's role in establishing and developing in developing countries a. b, c. d.

multidisciplined soil conservation

General oroblem iden t ification: c":OUnt ry

Request for assistonoe made by a develop ing

Conservation Practices in Agrioulture

Miniatr,y of Agriculture and Irrigation New Delhi, India

has been more aoute

SOIL CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND EROSION CONTROL

grdrological Soil Group

DIS!'RIBU!'l<ll OP AREAS ONDER DIJlPERDIT LAND USES IN INDIA

Area in t housand heotareo Break-up Total