Conservation farming on steep lands - USAid

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN ,IAVA'S UPLANDS 257
Table 3. Effects of soil and water conservation techniques and cropping patterns
on soil erosion and runoff in Oxisols, Citanduy watershed, West Java
(1984-1986).
Soil and Water Erosion Runoff
- <strong>Conservation</strong> Techniques Cropping Patterns ;Uha/yr) (m3/ha/Lr)
.-
Bench terrace
Cultivated areas
Upland rice + cowpea + corn -
cowpea + soybean - peanut +
1.5 21,646
corn
Risers
Brachiaria grass
Ridge terrace Cowpoa + corn Brachiaria - 5.7 49,635
Cultivated areas cowpea + corn + Leucena
Ridges
Brachiaria grass
individual terrace Centrocema + corn - cowpea 9.6 48,732
with Gliricidea strip corn + Brachiaria grass
Farmer's technique Upland rice + corn + cassava 12.6 42,634
Cultivated areas
1
by the Ministry of Forestry and administered by provincial and district
governments. It originally focused on disseminating fuelwood and other
tree crops for farmers to plant in their upland fields. The response was
disappointing; farmers frequently cut trees when they began to interfere
with food crops or planted the trees in their home gardens. Marketing prospects
also proved uncertain, particularly because many of the tree species
produced low-value products.
The regreening program was more recently revised to focus on bench
terracing on the more gentle slopes (less than 5G percent) and accomparying
food-crop-based cropping systems. Several foreign assistance projects
were initiated to help develop a technological package for upland areas and
to promote more integrated watershed management planning. This was
demonstrated in the Bengawan Solo River Basin in Central .lava, supported
by the Food and Agriculture Organization (3). Subsidized denlonstration
farms, thc dissemination of seedlings and other inputs for expansion areas,
and on-farm research were undertaken.
Present approacit Cpost 1980). That early effort has led to development
of a model farm system in the Citanduy Project funded by USAID. The
system is based on an intercropping of cassava with corn, upland rice, and
peanuts, using improved varieties, and on the feeding of Brachiaria and
Setaria grass to goats and sheep. Grasscs are planted on terraces (risers) (I).
In the case of Citanduy, the dryland terrace system has spread throughout
the basin and measurably red[:, thc rate of surface soil erosion (Table