Question

What is soil conservation? Suggest some measures to conserve soil.

Answer 1

Soil conservation is a methodology to maintain soil fertility, prevent soil erosion and exhaustion, and improve the degraded condition of the soil.
We can use the following measures to conserve soil:

• Check open cultivable lands on slopes from farming.
• Lands with a slope gradient of 15 - 25 percent should not be used.
• If at all the land is to be used for agriculture, terraces should carefully be made.
• Contour bunding, Contour terracing, regulated forestry, controlled grazing, cover cropping, mixed farming, and crop rotation to conserve soil.
• Integrated land-use planning, therefore, seems to be the best technique for proper soil conservation.
• Lands should be classified according to their capability; land use maps should be prepared and lands should be put to the right uses.