Mechanical soil conservation strategies to reduce soil erosion
Due to its location and geology, Dominica is highly vulnerable to many hazards, such as hurricanes, storms, heavy rainfalls, and landslides. These hazards directly affect agricultural productivity and production and increase the potential for soil erosion, which leads to a loss of productive topsoils. Therefore, careful soil management practices in crop production are required in order to strengthen farms’ resilience to disasters. Mechanical soil conservation strategies help to protect the soil from the impacts of heavy rain and wind, prevent soil erosion, and conserve soil moisture. They comprise different structures, such as bunds, terraces, or vegetative barriers, which can be made of plants, or rocks. In Dominica, natural disasters, such as storms and heavy rainfalls, regularly occur and have a direct impact on its agricultural sector. Therefore, mechanical soil conservation strategies are important management practices for crop production. The objective of mechanical soil conservation strategies is to protect the soil from the impacts of heavy rain and wind and prevent soil erosion. This measure will help to increase the resilience of the livelihoods of the farmers present in this agro-system. Soil conservation will help to maintain nutrients and structure, which will contribute to maintaining the crop yield under stable conditions.