Agricultural land-use in eroding uplands: a case study in the Philippines
1995
Dondeyne, S. (Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium). Inst. for Land and Water Management) | Opoku-Ameyaw, K. | Puginier, O. | Sumande, C.
As part of a farming systems study, a survey of the agricultural land-use in Valderrama, a mountainous municipality of Antique province in the Philippines, was carried out. Farmers landform and soil classification proved to be a good key to understand the land-use in relation to the erosion and the colluviation or alluviation processes. Farmers pointed lack of financial support, soil erosion, poor road infrastructure, and high population density as major development problems. Sheet and rill erosion are prominent on sloping land and determine the field location, the type of conservation measure and the type of crops the farmer will opt for. River bank erosion is an important problem in the valley bottom, often destroying the best agricultural land. Farmers developed a method to reclaim part of these losses. As a consequence of population pressure and limited availability of suitable land, some farmers are obliged to rely on soils highly susceptible to erosion. Locally severe gully erosion was observed on abandoned terraced land. Farmers explained to have given up its maintenance, due to depleted fertility. The soil chemical analyses indicated low pH and very low phosphorus status in this area.
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