ON AGRICULTURAL PROJECTRS SOIL EROSION

T.Post (mailto:T.Post@UEA.AC.UK)
Thu, 5 Jun 1997 01:41:02 PDT 

Message-ID:  <ECS9706050102A@imap.uea.ac.uk>
Date:         Thu, 5 Jun 1997 01:41:02 PDT
From: "T.Post" <mailto:T.Post@UEA.AC.UK>
Subject:      ON AGRICULTURAL PROJECTRS SOIL EROSION
To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU


JUNE 5


I appreciated R. Stubina's case study on the soil erosion and wells work he did with
CARC in Africa.   His write up highlights again for me the complexity of agricultural
developement work.   So much depends on the ecological and cultural context.


What I have failed to clarify is that I have seen the labor intensive contour ditches
and grass barriers find enthusiastic acceptance with farmers----in the middle altitude
regions of Guatemala and Honduras, where rain fall is pretty abundant and soils are
moderately good.   Where it has not worked out well is in the more arid type region,
like the Mixteca of Oaxaca.  For places like that I was wondering whether anyone else
had tried working with grass strips, or even just undisturbed strips of native grasses
and other vegetation. ?


yours,


Tom Post