Beschreibung
As in other Himalayan regions, soil degradation is a serious threat to agricultural sustainability in Nepal. Increased anthropogenic activities in an inherently fragile ecosystem with unstable geology, steep slopes and intense monsoon rains have accelerated various processes of soil degradation and caused loss of soil and its fertility. This book comprehensively analyses the soil degradation issues in mid hill region of Nepal and assess strategic management options from biophysical as well as socio-economic perspectives. It coherently integrates biophysical process model, Soil Change under Agro Forestry (SCUAF) and economic analysis under the framework of bio-economic modelling. The core of the analysis is assessment of the status quo of soil resource use by examining soil nutrient balances as an indicator of sustainability and evaluating long term performance of various soil conservation and fertility management technologies to achieve sustainable agriculture production. The results reveal that there is imbalance in soil nutrients status of farms whereby it shows surplus of nitrogen and deficit of phosphorus and potassium implying unsustainable pattern of production. It further suggests that such negative trend can be ameliorated by various soil conservation and fertility management technologies such as minimum tillage, hedgerow technology, legume integration and improved nutrient management techniques. More specifically, these technologies are found efficient in reducing soil erosion, maintaining soil fertility and thus sustaining crop yield with their varying impact over time. However, there is trade-off between short term and long term economic returns of these technologies, which demands for external intervention to support farmers in minimizing such tradeoffs and achieve the goal of sustainable food production in the region.
