Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
terraces in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Taiwan, Java, Colombia, and Jamaica. Personal obser-
vation of tea plantations in Taiwan, the People's Republic of China, and other regions
of the planet by the principal author of this chapter provides further evidence of the
success of bench terraces for controlling erosion. Examples of the use of rock walls
in South and Central America by Anthony et al. (1998) show how physical barri-
ers can be effectively employed to control runoff and to capture eroded soil from
upslope. They note that permanent set-aside programs in lesser-scale societies have
been implemented in some countries such as Costa Rica, where several national
parks have been created to protect forests and wildlife. Such parks not only protect
soil, water, forest, and wildlife from destruction associated with subsistence farming,
but they also serve as potential sources of income in the form of ecotourism.
Vegetative approaches include planting various types of vegetation between rows
of crops to retard water runoff. Small bushes and trees planted along hillslope con-
tours can slow runoff and result in the development of small flat areas for planting
crops. These efforts become even more effective when they are combined with the
development of terraces. The principal author of this chapter has observed many
examples of successful vegetative soil conservation techniques used in several
countries in Africa and Asia. Integrated watershed management consists of holis-
tic planning that incorporates multiple conservation approaches at the watershed
level. Integrated approaches require massive quantities of human and economic
resources to be effective. The only successful examples the principal author of this
chapter has observed are in Taiwan where watershed-level conservation programs
have been implemented using government resources to finance large-scale projects.
While this type of conservation effort is highly desirable, it is extremely expensive to
accomplish. Such approaches also require extensive human resources to effectively
implement.
Anthony et al. (1998) discuss many conservation options that presently exist for
consideration by potential adopters. They observe that land managers must become
familiar with a multitude of relevant conservation production systems and choose
the option that is most relevant to their specific farming operation. Unfortunately,
information about many adoption options is not readily available owing to lack of
institutional delivery systems.
15.2.1 F
facilitators
and
B
arriers
to
a
doption
During the past two decades, extensive research has been conducted in many soci-
eties to identify factors that influence the adoption of soil and water conservation
production systems at the farm level. Considerable attention has been focused on
adoption of conservation farming technologies and techniques among subsistence
farmers in lesser-scale societies because soil and water degradation is most severe
on land operated by these types of farmers. Many socioeconomic factors have been
shown to influence adoption of soil and water conservation production systems in
lesser-scale societies. These factors have been classified into two broad categories
for discussion purposes, and are referred to as facilitators of adoption and barriers to
adoption. The facilitator category is composed of factors that increase the probabil-
ity of adoption, while the barriers category consists of factors that impede adoption.
