Improving soil quality and fighting erosion in the Andes. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R6621: Strategies for improved soil and water conservation practices in hillside production systems in the Andean valleys of Bolivia.
Work has been ongoing in the Andean valleys of Bolivia to find ways of combating soil erosion and falling soil fertility levels—problems which affect similar semi-arid areas throughout South America. These problems hit poor subsistence farmers particularly hard and are forcing people to migrate from the country into cities. One of the main reasons that soil fertility is degrading is the fact that fields are not being left to lie fallow for sufficiently long. Options identified to combat this include the use of grasses and leguminous cover crops like woolly pod vetch. These act as barriers, protecting bare uncropped land from erosion and also boost the fertility of the land they are grown on.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (15 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
LPP15, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 81.