Conservation farming on steep lands - USAid

CONSERVING SOIL BY STEALTH 15
on cl- immediately below controlled-gradient conservation banks were
satisfactorily drained and remained passable at any time. Many managers
who implemented the layouts said that while the costs of putting the layout
on the ground were somewhat higher than those of the conventional system
annual maintenance costs were very much reduced. This was because of
the reduction in runoff, which had damaged roads, and of erosion, which
carried off soil and fertilizers and choked the channels of the coriservation
banks. The bttraction was the reduced cost of production; a 5;ealthy result
was the reduction of land degradation.
At Indore, in central India, a village development project was originally
designed with strong emphasis on the installation of a conventional system
of soil and water conservation. Because insensitive government action in
previous attempts to control erosion had severely antagonized the villagers,
it was quickly seen as inappropriate to insist that, true to textbook recommendations,
conservation activities should begin at the top of the catchment
and work progressively downslope. In fact, it was initially inappropriate
to suggest soil conservation measures per se. The strategy adopted was to
first investigate the factors that farmers !:It were limiting their efforts to
achieve a better life and gain farmers' con.l,!;dence with various agreeable
improvements. These included the ilitroduction of better varieties of sorghum
and encouraging the use of fertilizers, promoting the use of irrigated Berseem
clover, demonstrating that maize could be grown with fertilizers on parts
of the virlage land never before used for the purpose, helping to sort out
problems of electricity supply to village irrigation pumps, and helping to
alleviate other common problems. Farmers' confidence both in themselves
and in their extension advisers greatly incre.ased. Improved productivity
provided more surplus crops for sale; protective storm drains rcduced temporary
waterlogging and loss of seeds and fertilizers; soil damage by highenergy
rainfall declined as a result of better crop cover; extra cash income
enabled farmers to haul themselves out of debt to the :ocal moneylenders;
and a generally cooperative spirit developed between villagers and their
advisers. After three years, the villagers decided to restrict the previously
uncontrolled communal grazing on a poorly grassed hill to allow the planting
of trees for use as firewood and timber. The grass growing between
the saplings had opportunity to seed, and the density of herbage increased
quickly on what had been a severely overgrazed area. Soon there was a
good bulk of fodder for cutting and carrying. A noticeable result was a
reduction in runoff affecting the pasture and cultivated lands at the foot
of the hill. In the end, farmers said that they were now ready to do whatever
might be necessary to tackle the problem of gully erosion, which, after
the removal of more pressing problems, was the next difficulty to be Fdced.