Sustainable Terraces: Farming And Soil Erosion

Name Instructor Course Date Sustainable Terraces Introduction The ideal farmland is flat, with good soils and water, and terracing farming is a practice of utilizing farmland areas on the hilly or mountainous regions making it easier to grow crops. Creating terraces is one of farmers’ main responses to problems of hillside cultivation and erosion, while decrease in soil fertility and landslides are other problems likely to arise when there is neglect of sustainable terracing. At the same time, sustainable farming practices that target retaining and improving the importance of trees in water retention, are more likely to support reforestation and understand the impact of deforestation on water scarcity. Some trees require more water, but they may preserve less humidity. Knowledge on how landscapes the choice of farming methods, challenges to the farming approach, and crop productive systems affect sustainable terracing influence farming practices to reduce soil erosion, soil degradation and improve crop productivity. Terraces and farming Different types of terraces have been used to support the watershed management for solid and water conservation on hilly and slopes. Bench terraces, one of the oldest types of terraces is common in areas where there is limited supply of agricultural land and there is high population pressure (Farooq and Siddique 63). The bench terraces are built to improve level retaining walls and the hillsides then have a stepped look and are normally near the valley floors (Pйrez Rodrнguez 20). Regardless of the type of terraces created, terracing allows more intensive cropping since there is reduced runoff, and maintaining water infiltration into the soil and bulk density, which would otherwise be less likely to occur without these terraces (Farooq and Siddique 63). The technology used in terrace farming is closely intertwined with the cultural ecology in places like Asia and South America, and knowledge on traditional terracing can provide insights on how to integrate the farming practice in modern farming. Valuable information has been accumulated over time related to the different types of terraces and their application to ecological existing conditions (Powell 5). Since one of the main aims of terraces is soil conservation, the terraces are used for different crops where some unmodified slopes are suitable for cultivation and there are opportunities to improve the farming landscape. Sustainable terraces can improve the crop yields and productivity, but even the local farming communities ought to be involved in sustainable practices to support resource management. Knowledge generated by practicing sustainable farming contributes towards farming managements aimed at agricultural sustainability. Additionally, the local topography and soil types should be taken into consideration when implementing the sustainable terrace farming practice. For instance, when there are moderate and steep slopes the individual terraces are different, clay soils do not absorb water easily, barriers ought to be close to each other. On the other hand, if the soil is sandy or has a lot of organic matter, it will absorb watereasily and there are is greater distance of the barriers. In areas where there is knowledge about rainfed terraces, the production systems have evolved the people understand the importance of such terraces in farming. However, there are differences in the way people carry out farming activities and even have diverse strategies to support terrace maintenance. Information by scientists and the scientific community on terraces and modern farming have received more attention in academia and even the media. However, even local communities from non western countries have knowledge of the environment, which is not necessarily inconsistent with scientific knowledge (Duprez 84). Hence, sharing knowledge of sustainable farming practices helps to bring scientific innovation to farming communities. When there is support for sustainable terraces, soil conservation technologies are more likely to be utilized, while production and conservation go hand in hand. Soil erosion One of the challenges in controlling soil erosion is choosing the most effective strategies for areas with slopes or hills In order to control the degradation of the soils, terraces are some of the most effective elements that also help to enhance agricultural sustainability. Water erosion affects production as it associated with soil degradation, which reduces crop yields. Raising awareness about the importance of dealing with water erosion would help support soil conservation efforts and reduces the risk of land productivity declining. Without soils there are few agricultural activities, and this affects food production. Erosion control techniques, watershed management and terraces should be prioritized to reduce the risk of erosion and support sustainable farming practices. On hillsides, erosion and soil runoff are persistent problems in areas where there are no adequate soil conservation efforts. Terraced steps are one option to continue farming on hillsides and this is especially when there is proper soil conservation. even for terraces that have been present before modernity like in the Mediterranean Basin, failure to maintain the terraces has made it difficult to practice crop husbandry in such places where farming started more than two millennium ago (Duprez 83). Similarly, failure to tackle erosion affects how people carry out farming on hillsides and mountainous areas. Different communities in Africa, Asia and South America utilized terracing and such communities solved the environmental problems associated with erosion and this helped slow down land degradation (Duprez 83). Terraces and sustainability Managing agricultural resources in hill farming requires focus on conservation efforts to improve productivity while supporting sustainability. As populations increase and there is higher demand for food, better conservation strategies will be required and this includes those engaging in hill farming (Shivakoti, Ghale, & Upreti 386). There is a risk that there will be overexploitation of natural resources even as there is increased food demand while sustainable hill farming improves the efficient use of resources. Traditional farming approaches are at times effective like the maximum utilization of human, natural and social resources that are locally available and reducing dependence on external inputs improve (Shivakoti, Ghale, & Upreti 386). Similarly, ecological sound management practices are designed to enhance sustainability since there is emphasis on regeneration and optimum utilization of local resources complemented by the external inputs (Shivakoti, Ghale, & Upreti 386). Combining terracing with modern farming techniques has the potential to improve farming productivity in sloppy and hilly regions. However, the destruction of terraces has devastating consequences of landscape sustainability compared to failure to build terraces (Duprez, 83). Terraces are particularly useful in the high declivity areas, where they not only provide soil and water retention benefits, but they are also important for soil depth as they provide additional moisture to crops and this is adequate for crop farming (Duprez 83). In the case there is a need for crop rotation, the water retention abilities are altered when using terraces to meet the crop water requirements, air drainage, sunlight exposure and declivity of the slope (Duprez 85). When terracing is combined with modern tools, it could provide farmers in different parts of the globe with techniques for improving modern farming practices. Terraces provide a great solution for farming high declivity terrain areas. Sustainable terracing has the potential to improve farming productivity than ever before, as it helps to manage the flow of water, while slowing down runoff even as excess moisture is drained. . The controlled height in terracing allows greater soil depth than is actually possible with the natural environment, which provides more wetness to the plants and possibly allows various assortments of crops which could not do well on shallow soil layers (Wilko 85). This is advantageous in crop farming since the crops are more likely to be well watered. Furthermore, in desert environments, decreasing runoffs combined with better soil moisture retention provides better conditions for vegetation (Pйrez Rodrнguez 20). If there is a need to redirect water, sustainable terracing can help achieve this as this the case of rice paddies that require more water compared to other crop growing area (Pйrez Rodrнguez 20). The benefits of terracing extend beyond...