Woven Wood Fences
Type: Technologies
Creation: 2012-02-26 15:01 Updated: 2019-08-07 13:22
Compilers: Faruk Ocakoglu
Reviewers: Deborah Niggli, Alexandra Gavilano
Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment
- Country: Türkiye
- Region/ State/ Province: Central Anatolia
- Further specification of location (e.g. municipality, town, etc.), if relevant: Eğriöz village, Eskişehir
Description of the SLM Technology
Short description of the Technology
Wooden fences are an effective and relatively cheap way of conserving soil from water erosion by decreasing overland flow. They also increase crop yield by encouraging better infiltration.
Detailed description of the Technology
Dry croplands in semi-arid regions are generally subjected to intense soil erosion in hillslopes due to sudden heavy rainfalls. In these areas, conserving soil and water by cheap technologies that could be installed by the farmers with available resources and knowledge becomes important.
Purpose of the Technology: Woven wood fences represent a technology applied and demonstrated successful in semi-arid mountainous dry croplands in Eskişehir, central Anatolia. They consist of wooden posts 150 cm height inserted into the ground and branches woven between these posts. Eroded soil from upslope becomes trapped on the upslope side of the fence and overland flow is decreased. The distance between the fences is determined with respect to soil texture and field gradient. It is 30 m in hillslopes of 10% gradient covered by sandy loams in the Eskişehir region.
Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: The basic costs are for the materials, its transportation and the labour involved in installation. The posts and branches are derived either from trees on the farmers’ fields or from nearby state-owned forests. For 2009, the cost of installation was about 1350 US$/ha. The maintenance costs of this medium-term (20 years) technology are only the labour needed to repair the damaged fences/terraces after extreme rainfalls. Technological change includes contour (rather than downslope) tillage between the fences, which causes a minor increase (10%) in the expenses of tillage operations.
Natural / human environment: The technology can be applied both by small- and large-scale farmers in quite different soil and slope gradient conditions. Results indicate that crop yield doubles (1300 kg/ha of barley) and soil loss apparently diminishes using this technology.
Photos of the Technology
- 🗓 2011-01-10
- 📷 Dr. Faruk Ocakoğlu
- 🗓 2011-01-10
- 📷 Dr. Faruk Ocakoğlu