|
THE EXPERT AND THE FARMER. Ir. Eelko Bergsma, Enschede, The Netherlands. The restricted possibilities of farmers to react to modernisation have been highlighted in many studies. In contrast, this brochure highlights two limitations to success of developoment projects, that the expert often causes himself, and what to do about it. CONTENTS Foreword – Can rural development cooperation become more successful? The bridge between land user and adviser A soil, a farmer and a wise man Land husbandry – can it be a partnership between farmers, land developers, and extension workers? Soils Incentives of land users in projects of soil and water conservation - the weight of intangibles A Tucumanian soil speaks Observations resulting from Ph.D. research Afterword – Agricultural development cooperation requires change from both advisers and farmers To read Click here |
|
Suitability for tropical crop cultivation in Hainan island, China by SOTAL methodology ZHANG Xue-lei*1, S. Mantel2, ZHANG Gan-lin1 , VWP.van Engelen2 (1. Institute of Soil Science, Academia Sinica, Nanjing, 210008, China; 2.International Soil Reference and Information Centre, AJ Wageningen, 353-6700, Netherlands) *Corresponding author XLZhang@ac.ntu.edu.tw or XLZhang@issas.ac.cn 1 Land Utilization Type definition Banana, Coffee and Rubber are the dominant tropical crops in Hainan island. The LUT¡¯s as broadly defined for this study were Banana/low input & low technology that includes a low application of organic fertilizer and simple implements for weeding and soil tillage,no terracing or artificial drainage is practiced; Banana/medium input & low technology which includes modest application of organic fertilizer with no use of mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage,no terracing or artificial drainage is practiced; Banana/medium input & medium technology that means modest application of organic fertilizer and mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage, artificial drainage is applied where required; Banana/high input/irrigated & technology which includes high application of organic fertilizer, mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage and also good irrigation. Coffee/ low input & low technology that includes modest application of lime and fertilizer and mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage, no terracing is practiced; Coffee/medium input & low technology which includes modest application of lime and fertilizer with only very simple mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage, no terracing or artificial drainage is practiced; Coffee/medium input & medium technology that means modest application of lime and fertilizer and mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage, no terracing is practiced, artificial drainage is applied where required. Rubber/medium input & low technology that includes modest inputs available such as occasional P fertilizer, covercrop, availbility of mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage,terracing is not practiced; Rubber/medium input & medium technology that means modest inputs available such as occasional P fertilizer, covercrop,availbility of mechanised tools for weeding and soil tillage,terracing is not practiced. artificial drainage is applied where required. 2 Data Land unit data were taken from the Hainan provincial 1:250 thousand scale Soils and Terrain (SOTER) database HaiSOTER. Natural resource surveys often do not put high priority on collection of hydraulic parameters and key soil fertility characteristics. Consequently, data gaps are reality for any database. These gaps were filled with ¡®pedo-transfer-functions¡¯ with which data can be estimated from correlated standard, measured soil survey data. such as soil texture . 3 Evaluation procedure A mixed qualitative/quantitative approach was followed, where a qualitative land evaluation is used to exclude the area not suitable for the projected use and to indicate the limitations for use within the suitable area. The quantified procedure is used to calculate the land use potential within the suitable units. First, the evaluation units should be defined by an overlay of Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZ) with the land unit map provided the basic evaluation units. These Agro-Ecological Units (AEU) formed the basis for further evaluation. Only the spatially dominant soil component within each AEU was analysed. Second, suitability assessment can be made as the potentially suitable AEU¡’s for the LUT¡¯s were identified using an expert model for physical land evaluation defined in the Automated Land Evaluation System,ALES. Example results, suitability assessment for Banana Tab.1 Extent(km2, numbers) of Agroecological Units grouped for Banana suitability class Number of AEU¡’s Extent AEU(km2) Suitability class A B C D A B C D Highly Suitable (class1,2) 238 - 119 82 6960 - 3103 2543 Moderately Suitable (class3) 365 57 450 426 7594 1186 10453 10533 Marginally Suitable (class4) 148 412 448 243 3338 10007 10745 4817 Not suitable (class5) 507 789 241 507 10502 17202 4094 10502 Urban area/ water/other 185 718 Total 1443 29113 A-high input,irrigated and mechanized B-low input & low technology C-medium input & low technology D- medium input & medium technology Results can be visualized through G1S-generated maps as products in response to the specific information and data needs of decision and policy makers. |