Management of Sloping Lands for Sustainable Agriculture in Sichuan
IPNI-1997-CHN-SC22
08 May 2002
2001 Annual Interpretive Summary
Management of sloping lands for sustainable agriculture in Sichuan province, 2001
This study is evaluating a new approach that combines balanced fertilization and biological barriers rather than construction of expensive mechanical terracing on sloping lands. For three years, the technique has had a significant effect on 1) reducing soil erosion, the cause of a major flooding in the Yangtze River, and 2) increasing farm income. This project is highly regarded by provincial and county governments and farmers. The study has been acknowledged as a national model by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In 2001, after three years of gradual establishment of hedge row crops, the advantages in combating soil erosion and improving farmer income are even more pronounced. Although the alley-cropping systems modestly reduced crop yield, they have increased cash crop production and, consequently, net income. An alley-cropped system with corn, daylily, and pears reduced corn yield by 450 kg/ha, (8 percent), but it also reduced soil loss from 42 t/ha down to 9 t/ha (78 percent) and increased net income from daylily and pears by US$953/ha. The integration of alley-cropping of pear trees and daylily and balanced fertilization (150-75-120 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha) with wheat/barley and peanut (0-100-80 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha) reduced crop yield by 350 kg/ha, (6 percent), but improved net income by US$1,240/ha and reduced soil loss by 80 percent.
The combined effects of biological cash crop barriers and balanced fertilization on soil erosion and income are becoming more significant with time. This technology can be applied on 240,000 hectares (ha) of sloping lands in Sichuan province and its neighbor Chongqing. This technique was extended to eight more counties in Sichuan and Chongqing. The experimental site at Jianyang received visitors from all of China, helping to spread the story of increased profits with balanced fertilization and soil conservation. SICHUAN-12A