Soil conservation is important to preserve and improve quality of soil. You must be wondering why suddenly I am publishing this article on method of soil conservation? Actually, this is an important topic. With the change in our lifestyles and people getting more inclined towards home-farming, organic-farming and terrace-plotting, it has become very important to us to understand this as well. Because, never know what we might be doing to the planet while doing farming and gardening at our homes as most of us seek knowledge from youtube or websites which might not direct us in the right way.
Here are some of the soil conservation methods that can help us to attain a sustainable environment.
5 Methods of Soil Conservation:
Afforestation
The best way to conserve soil is to plant more trees, bushes in several rows to reduce the power of wind, water and its disruptive effect on soil. Cutting of trees and falling of trees should be prevented by taking various measures. Creating awareness among people about the negative effects of cutting trees and support people in using substitutes instead of wood as fuel. Overgrazing of animals should be controlled; animals freely move about in the fields for grazing and spoil the soil by their hoofs which leads to soil erosion. This should be avoided.
Crop rotation
Planting one and same crop on same land for many seasons can result in making the land infertile and reduce nitrogen which prevents crops from degrading. Farmers who use this soil conservation method reap many benefits. Crop rotation helps to improve the soil structure, alleviates pest growth and adds nitrogen to the land with nitrogen fixing plants.
Buffer strips
Plant trees and bushes on the banks of water bodies to prevent sediment, water wash offs. Trees should be planted on the banks of rivers, canals, roads, bordering areas of desert and in ravine, wastelands. The roots of such trees and bushes fix the soil to avoid sagging which leads to erosion, trees help in blocking excessive sunlight to water inhabitants and falling leaves are food for some aquatic animals.
Organic farming
Avoid using chemical fertilizers, pesticides that degrades the quality of soil after excessive usage from a long period of time. Using organic and natural fertilizers helps in improving the quality of soil and also benefits the farmer with good yields. The cost of organic fertilizer is cheap compared to chemical.
Control of floods
Water logging and other problems related to flood result in soil erosion. Seasonal and heavy rainfall can be managed if measures are taken to store water effectively. This will conserve soil and also help in conserving rain water.
Also read:
Earth Day 2022: What is Soil Conservation? Why is it Important?
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