2014/10/28 by Djoukeng Henri Grisseur, Tankou Christopher Mubeteneh, Degré Aurore · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Agriculture and Rural Development Research #Siltation #Surface runoff #Erosion #Pollution #Environmental science #Hydrology (agriculture) #Water pollution #Water resource management #Agroforestry #Geology #Sediment #Ecology #Geomorphology #Geotechnical engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.13031/wtcw.2014-012
openalex publication_date 2014/10/28 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
<abstract> <bold>Abstract.</bold> Water is one of the most important natural resources in maintaining the balance of global ecosystems. Water is the engine of life but she can also devastate. Subject of controversy, lusts, strategic issues, water is currently raising awareness of the need to preserve this precious commodity which directly affects food security, socioeconomic development and health. Sustainable management and protection of water resources must then involve all social strata. In one community, water is the source of life, source of peace, source of development, but it can also be a main source of conflict and instability. The western highlands of Cameroon are an agro-ecological zone of high population density and rapid population growth. In this area where land tenure is quite complex, farmers cultivate steep slopes (> 25%) for the production of vegetable crops. In order to facilitate the turning of the land, these farmers prepare seedbeds flat or forming ridges along the steepest slope, two methods of land preparation that do not include any measure of water conservation. With these methods of land preparation favouring runoff, pesticides and fertilizers applied in cultivated plots are transported by runoff or transfer of sediments to rivers; this transfer negatively affects an agricultural function which is environmental protection therefore water. To establish liability of agricultural practices in pollution and siltation of rivers, we studied a section of the main river of Méloh watershed whose width varies between 2 and 3.5m on a twisty length of 300m. This study showed that tied ridging reduced siltation of rivers by 72%; so this is an effective technique to fight against water pollution in mountain agriculture.