With reference to uses of forest, answer the following questions:
(a) How they prevent soil erosion ?
(b) How they check the spread of deserts ?
(c) How they increase soil fertility ?
Answers
Answer:
a) Use diversion (cut-off) drains to prevent runoff from upslope paddocks, roads and tracks coming onto cultivated ground. Sow grass to protect and stabilise natural drainage lines. Establish grassed buffer strips between cropped areas and waterways or dams.
b) Farmers can stop deserts from spreading by carefully managing their land. If you have hilly land, you should be ploughing the land along the curves of the land, and around the hills, instead of straight up and down. Leave strips of grass between the cultivated rows.
c) Soil fertility can be further improved by incorporating cover crops that add organic matter to the soil, which leads to improved soil structure and promotes a healthy, fertile soil; by using green manure or growing legumes to fix nitrogen from the air through the process of biological nitrogen fixation; by micro-dose