IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i10p7778-d1142874.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of Spatial-Temporal Variation of Soil Loss and Best Conservation Measures in an East Africa Catchment

Author

Listed:
  • Melese Baye Hailu

    (Water Resource Development and Management, IITR, Roorkee 247667, India)

  • Surendra Kumar Mishra

    (Water Resource Development and Management, IITR, Roorkee 247667, India)

  • Sanjay K. Jain

    (Water Resource, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation, NIH, Roorkee 247667, India)

Abstract

Soil conservation (SC) is essential to maintain the reservoir service life and increase the yield since soil erosion is a major global concern that adversely affects not only the storage capacity but also the land fertility. This study evaluates the spatio-temporal variation of soil erosion using the popular SWAT model and identifies the best SC practice for Tekeze watershed located in the Northern part of Ethiopia. To accomplish this, four soil conservation management scenarios involving baseline, terracing, contouring, and grassed waterway scenarios are selected for soil loss evaluation. The SWAT model was calibrated and validated with R 2 values of 0.7 and 0.9 and NSE values of 0.8 and 0.7, respectively, indicating satisfactory model performance. Five sub-basins of the catchment were found to be more susceptible to erosion with an average annual soil loss of 25.15 tons/ha/yr. Employment of the proposed SC measures in the sub-watershed erosion was reduced by 35.18%, 27.11%, and 18.76%, respectively, which is significant when compared with the baseline scenario. Since the investment cost of execution of an SC measure in a large watershed is very high, priority areas are also identified for cost savings as well as improved work efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Melese Baye Hailu & Surendra Kumar Mishra & Sanjay K. Jain, 2023. "Evaluation of Spatial-Temporal Variation of Soil Loss and Best Conservation Measures in an East Africa Catchment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:7778-:d:1142874
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/10/7778/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/10/7778/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Singh, A. & Imtiyaz, M. & Isaac, R.K. & Denis, D.M., 2012. "Comparison of soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network for predicting sediment yield in the Nagwa agricultural watershed in Jharkhand, India," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 113-120.
    2. David Pimentel & Michael Burgess, 2013. "Soil Erosion Threatens Food Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Erik Lichtenberg & James Shortle & James Wilen & David Zilberman, 2010. "Natural Resource Economics and Conservation: Contributions of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Economists," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(2), pages 469-486.
    4. Nurnabi Meherul Alam & Chayna Jana & Debashis Mandal & Sunita Kumari Meena & Shashi Shekhar Shrimali & Uday Mandal & Sabyasachi Mitra & Gouranga Kar, 2022. "Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process for Identifying Best Management Practices in Erosion Risk Areas of Northwestern Himalayas," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Simeon Ehui & John Pender, 2005. "Resource degradation, low agricultural productivity, and poverty in sub‐Saharan Africa: pathways out of the spiral," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 32(s1), pages 225-242, January.
    6. Urgessa Kenea & Dereje Adeba & Motuma Shiferaw Regasa & Michael Nones, 2021. "Hydrological Responses to Land Use Land Cover Changes in the Fincha’a Watershed, Ethiopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, August.
    7. Rattan Lal, 2015. "Restoring Soil Quality to Mitigate Soil Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-21, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tiziano Gomiero, 2016. "Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-41, March.
    2. Xiukang Wang, 2022. "Managing Land Carrying Capacity: Key to Achieving Sustainable Production Systems for Food Security," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Ziauddin Safari & Sayed Tamim Rahimi & Kamal Ahmed & Ahmad Sharafati & Ghaith Falah Ziarh & Shamsuddin Shahid & Tarmizi Ismail & Nadhir Al-Ansari & Eun-Sung Chung & Xiaojun Wang, 2021. "Estimation of Spatial and Seasonal Variability of Soil Erosion in a Cold Arid River Basin in Hindu Kush Mountainous Region Using Remote Sensing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Ricci, G.F. & Jeong, J. & De Girolamo, A.M. & Gentile, F., 2020. "Effectiveness and feasibility of different management practices to reduce soil erosion in an agricultural watershed," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. D. Mandal & S. Patra & N. K. Sharma & N. M. Alam & C. Jana & R. Lal, 2023. "Impacts of Soil Erosion on Soil Quality and Agricultural Sustainability in the North-Western Himalayan Region of India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Ahmad A. Al-Ghamdi & Yilma Tadesse & Nuru Adgaba & Abdulaziz G. Alghamdi, 2021. "Soil Degradation and Restoration in Southwestern Saudi Arabia through Investigation of Soil Physiochemical Characteristics and Nutrient Status as Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Guy Nkamleu, 2004. "Productivity Growth, Technical Progress and Efficiency Change in African Agriculture," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 16(1), pages 203-222.
    8. Sriroop Chaudhuri & Mimi Roy & Louis M. McDonald & Yves Emendack, 2023. "Land Degradation–Desertification in Relation to Farming Practices in India: An Overview of Current Practices and Agro-Policy Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-27, April.
    9. Wade, Tara & Kurkalova, Lyubov & Secchi, Silvia, 2016. "Modeling Field-Level Conservation Tillage Adoption with Aggregate Choice Data," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(2), May.
    10. Folasade Mary OWOADE, 2021. "Effects of Land Use Types on Soil Productivity Parameters: A Case Study of Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone, Southern Guinea Savanna Ecology of Nigeria," Noble International Journal of Scientific Research, Noble Academic Publsiher, vol. 5(4), pages 29-40, December.
    11. Carina Mueller & Christopher West & Mairon G. Bastos Lima & Bob Doherty, 2023. "Demand-Side Actors in Agricultural Supply Chain Sustainability: An Assessment of Motivations for Action, Implementation Challenges, and Research Frontiers," World, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-20, September.
    12. Md. Yamin Kabir & Nasrin Sultana & Md. Abdul Mannan, 2022. "Evaluation Of Nutrient Content Of Composts Made From Water Hyacinth, Kitchen Waste And Manures," Journal of Wastes and Biomass Management (JWBM), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 4(2), pages 96-101, October.
    13. Alvyra Slepetiene & Mykola Kochiieru & Linas Jurgutis & Audrone Mankeviciene & Aida Skersiene & Olgirda Belova, 2022. "The Effect of Anaerobic Digestate on the Soil Organic Carbon and Humified Carbon Fractions in Different Land-Use Systems in Lithuania," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Waithaka, M.M. & Thornton, P.K. & Herrero, M. & Shepherd, K.D., 2006. "Bio-economic evaluation of farmers' perceptions of viable farms in western Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-3), pages 243-271, October.
    15. Ying-Tzy Jou & Elmi Junita Tarigan & Cahyo Prayogo & Chesly Kit Kobua & Yu-Ting Weng & Yu-Min Wang, 2022. "Effects of Sphingobium yanoikuyae SJTF8 on Rice ( Oryza sativa ) Seed Germination and Root Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, November.
    16. Deng, Juntao & Pan, Shijia & Zhou, Mingu & Gao, Wen & Yan, Yuncai & Niu, Zijie & Han, Wenting, 2023. "Optimum sampling window size and vegetation index selection for low-altitude multispectral estimation of root soil moisture content for Xuxiang Kiwifruit," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    17. Czekaj, Stefania & Czubak, Wawrzyniec & Guba, Waldemar & Kagan, Adam & Majewski, Edward & Poczta, Walenty & Sadowski, Arkadiusz & Wąs, Adam, 2012. "Impact of “Greening” of the Common Agricultural Policy on the Polish Farms," Multiannual Program Reports 164842, Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute (IAFE-NRI).
    18. Romero, Pascual & Navarro, Josefa María & Ordaz, Pablo Botía, 2022. "Towards a sustainable viticulture: The combination of deficit irrigation strategies and agroecological practices in Mediterranean vineyards. A review and update," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    19. Katrin Martens & Sebastian Rogga & Jana Zscheischler & Bernd Pölling & Andreas Obersteg & Annette Piorr, 2022. "Classifying New Hybrid Cooperation Models for Short Food-Supply Chains—Providing a Concept for Assessing Sustainability Transformation in the Urban-Rural Nexus," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Natanael Bolson & Tadeusz Patzek, 2022. "Evaluation of Rwanda’s Energy Resources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:7778-:d:1142874. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.