Pick and Write [Agricultural Word]👉#17
Soil Conservation
Soil conservation is the act of preserving and managing soil so as to avoid soil erosion, soil loss and soil degradation. Soil conservation is an integral part of agricultural practices as soil is the most important part to cultivate and nurture the crops as well as for various ecosystems and to obtain food security. In absence of soil conservation practices the land can be degraded very quickly resulting in lower harvest and different environmental issues.
Soil erosion is the major problem that damages the soil. It refers to loss of the topsoil due to the effects of the water and the wind which carries away the nutrient rich top layer of the soil that is required for plant growth. It leads to reduced fertility of the soil which makes it extremely difficult to farm and over-cultivation along with loss of vegetation cover and various farming methods such as extensive cattle grazing etc can speed up this process.
Several effective soil conservation practices can be implemented such as planting cover crops which help in preventing soil erosion, crop rotation that consists of growing various types of crops on the same field throughout the seasons which helps in keeping the soil nutrients and reduces risk to diseases and pests, terracing is done in sloped terrain, contour plowing in which the rows are made along the slope to reduce the run-off, adding organic matter like manure to increase fertility.
All these practices help in maintaining soil health and sustainability of land as well as preventing many soil erosion effects, in the form of the loss of plants as well as of the nutrient rich soil layer. Conservation of soil not only benefit the farmers but is also important for the environment for storing carbon, preventing flood risk and preventing desertification.
Hence, soil conservation is important to practice throughout the farming community as well as it benefits everyone and can help in building fertile lands and rich environments for years and generations to come.
Thanks for reading my post I'm inviting @josepha, @ninapenda and @chant to participate in this contest.