Soil Conservation Through Bench Terrace Technology in Highly Degradable Hilly Slopy Areas of Bangladesh
Type: Technologies
Creation: 2018-12-21 19:14 Updated: 2019-12-16 11:16
Compilers: Md Babul Hossain
Reviewers: Udo Höggel
Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment
- Country: Bangladesh
- Region/ State/ Province: Bandarban
- Further specification of location (e.g. municipality, town, etc.), if relevant: Its a region
- Map: View Map
Description of the SLM Technology
Short description of the Technology
Bench terraces are a soil and water conservation measure used on sloping land with relatively deep soils to retain water and control erosion. They are normally constructed by cutting and filling to produce a series of level steps or benches. This allows water to infiltrate slowly into the soil. Bench terraces are reinforced by banks of soil or stone that block waterflow above the forward edges. This practice is typical for rice-based cropping systems.It is also helpful to increase the beauty of the land along with increasing the soil stability on these lands.
Detailed description of the Technology
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are undergoing deforestation and land degradation arising from environmentally unsuitable activities such as tobacco cultivation in sloping land, shifting cultivation and logging. Shifting cultivation, also known as slash-and-burn agriculture. The present shifting cultivation system with short fallow in the Chittagong Hill Tracts has accelerated erosion, land degradation, deforestation, and impoverishment of tribal people in CHT. If the present state of degradation continues, most of the areas under shifting cultivation will be severely degraded and future generations will face more difficulties to eke out their livelihoods on further degraded land. That land shows massive erosion impact as influenced by shifting cultivation (Jhum) at steep and continuously sloping lands.
To address the aforesaid constraints in hilly areas of CHT, the Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Centre (SCWMC) of the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) has developed the "Bench Terrace" technology. In this technology, some bench like terraces are made on the slopy land of hills where the slope angle is more than 30 degree. The width of the terraces ranges from 2.5 to 3.0 metre. The height of the terraces is 0.6 metre to 1 metre. An embankment constructed at the outer rim of the terraces prevents run off and soil loss over the outer edge of the terrace during heavy rain in the monsoon. The length of such terraces depends on the topographical contexts within which the terraces are constructed. The technology has various benefits:
- To reduce the quantum of overland flow/sheet flow or runoff, and their velocity.
- To minimize the soil erosion.
- To conserve soil moisture.
- To conserve soil fertility and to facilitate farming operations such as ploughing, irrigation etc. on sloping land.
- To promote intensive land use, permanent agriculture and checking shifting cultivation on steep lands.
- Bench terraces support proper water management and fertilizers/manure application. They will also help in increasing cropping intensity within a stable farming system.
The hill dwellers, who are the owners of the land, are practicing the technology because it has established a permanent solution for crop production instead shifting cultivation. The technology contributes to a reduction in land slides, soil erosion and to increased farm income. Bench Terraces are widely being used in the hilly areas of India, Nepal, Srilanka, Tamilnadu etc.
.
Photos of the Technology
- 📍 Bandarban, Bangladesh
- 🗓 2017-10-12
- 📷 Md Mahabubul Islam
- 📍 Bandarban,Bangladesh
- 🗓 2017-05-05
- 📷 Md Mahabubul islam