SOIL EROSION

Erosion is the movement of soil by water, wind or gravity. This is natural process but today industrial farming practices have increased the erosion. It reduces the water-holding capacity of a given soil and strips away nutrients and organic matter. The rate of erosion is highest when soil is not covered by a protective layer of plants or decaying organic matter.  Soil removed by erosion contains about 3 times more nutrients and 1.5 to 5 times more organic matter than the soil that remains behind. It is the greatest threat to soil productivity and health. Protecting the soil from erosion is the first step toward a sustainable agriculture.

Reason for erosion

Intensive farming eliminates protective ground cover from the soil surface and destroys root systems that help hold soil together. Long use and over usage of synthetic fertilizers are also responsible for the soil erosion. Soil formation is an extraordinarily slow process, erosion is a quick process and poses a serious problem and cause fertile farmland to become unsuitable for agriculture. In extreme cases, erosion can lead to desertification, a process which causes arid soil to become barren and incapable of sustaining plant growth for many years. In fact, over the past 40 years, 30 percent of the world?s arable land has become unproductive as a result of erosion.

Effects of erosion

Erosion also pollutes waterways with sediment. It degrades aquatic ecosystems by reducing stream depth and increasing turbidity, making water cloudier and affects the population of fish and other aquatic organisms.

Eroded sediment also affects humans by disrupting drainage systems, increasing the cost of water treatment, filling up reservoirs and obstructing waterways. Furthermore, wind erosion damages buildings and covers roads, railways, and other structures with soil.