Terracing land

Description

Terracing land involves reshaping sloped terrain into a series of level steps to reduce soil erosion, retain water, and improve arable land for agriculture. This strategy stabilizes hillsides, prevents runoff, and enhances soil fertility, making cultivation possible in otherwise challenging environments. By controlling water flow and minimizing land degradation, terracing directly addresses issues of soil loss, food insecurity, and unsustainable farming on steep landscapes, thereby supporting long-term agricultural productivity and environmental resilience.

Implementation

In Leyte province of upland Philippines, a considerable number of farmers use an indigenous soil conservation practice locally termed as 'cemento-cemento' or 'kahun-kahun'. This simple technique applied in areas with slopes ranging mostly from 10 to 40 percent. When a land parcel is fallowed for several years, the dominant vegetation is either common low-growing grasses or cogon Imperata. To re-open it for cropping, the farmer ploughes a strip ranging from 4-10m wide leaving a strip of about 0.5-1 m wide unploughed. The ploughed strips serve as soil traps. As time goes by, terrace formation takes place.