Overlook of the comprehensive control of a small watershed in Zhenghe county. (YANG Xuezheng (Fuzhou China))

Comprehensive Development & Management of a Small Watershed (China)

Intergraded development of a small watershed

Description

The comprehensive measures including interplanting & intercropping are applied in the small watershed to control soil and water loss and improve integrated production.

Based on the national conditions and soil and water loss in the area, the corresponding SWC measures were adopted to pursue the targets including: 1. Closing the hilly and mountain area of 224ha for the timber forest and grass growing as well as preventing soil and water loss; 2. Adjusting the land use structure so as to strengthen the comprehensive development of the hilly land as well as crop land irrigation; 3. Changing the area of W & S loss to economic vegetation land; 4. Constructing reservoirs and roads.

Location

Location: Fujian Province, China

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 119.307, 26.43

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (5.93 km²)

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Comprehensive development & management of Xinxili small watershed (HUANG Xinquan (Fuzhou, China))

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use
Land use mixed within the same land unit: Ja - Agro-silvopastoralism

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping
    • Tree and shrub cropping: grapes, tea
    Number of growing seasons per year: 1
    Is intercropping practiced? Ja
  • Grazing land
      Animal type: poultry
    • Forest/ woodlandsTree types: Abies species (fir), Bamboo bamboo, Pinus species
      Products and services: Timber, Grazing/ browsing, Nature conservation/ protection
    Water supply
    • rainfed
    • mixed rainfed-irrigated
    • full irrigation
    Purpose related to land degradation
    • prevent land degradation
    • reduce land degradation
    • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
    • adapt to land degradation
    • not applicable
    Degradation addressed
    • soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion, Wg: gully erosion/ gullying
    • soil erosion by wind - Et: loss of topsoil
    • chemical soil deterioration - Cn: fertility decline and reduced organic matter content (not caused by erosion)
    • water degradation - Ha: aridification
    SLM group
    • surface water management (spring, river, lakes, sea)
    SLM measures
    • agronomic measures - A1: Vegetation/ soil cover
    • structural measures - S7: Water harvesting/ supply/ irrigation equipment
    • management measures - M1: Change of land use type

    Technical drawing

    Technical specifications

    Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

    Calculation of inputs and costs
    • Costs are calculated:
    • Currency used for cost calculation: USD
    • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = n.a
    • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: 1.44
    Most important factors affecting the costs
    Because mechanic machines are not available, more labor forces are needed costing much. In addition, the expense for seeding, fertilizer, flagstone used in building dams take most of the total fees.
    Establishment activities
    1. closing mountain to afforest (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    2. planting bamboo (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    3. bamboo forest cultivated (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    4. changing farmland to forest (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    5. planting fruit trees (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    6. Building sluice dams (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    7. road constructing (Timing/ frequency: 1990)
    Maintenance activities
    1. fertilizing (Timing/ frequency: 1990-1999 /3)
    2. cleaning out ruderal (Timing/ frequency: 1990-1999 /2)
    3. Preventing and curing illness and insect pests (Timing/ frequency: 1990-1999 /3)
    4. Broadening road (Timing/ frequency: 1995/timely)
    5. highway maintenance (Timing/ frequency: 1995/timely)

    Natural environment

    Average annual rainfall
    • < 250 mm
    • 251-500 mm
    • 501-750 mm
    • 751-1,000 mm
    • 1,001-1,500 mm
    • 1,501-2,000 mm
    • 2,001-3,000 mm
    • 3,001-4,000 mm
    • > 4,000 mm
    Agro-climatic zone
    • humid
    • sub-humid
    • semi-arid
    • arid
    Specifications on climate
    Average annual rainfall in mm: 1609.0
    Slope
    • flat (0-2%)
    • gentle (3-5%)
    • moderate (6-10%)
    • rolling (11-15%)
    • hilly (16-30%)
    • steep (31-60%)
    • very steep (>60%)
    Landforms
    • plateau/plains
    • ridges
    • mountain slopes
    • hill slopes
    • footslopes
    • valley floors
    Altitude
    • 0-100 m a.s.l.
    • 101-500 m a.s.l.
    • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
    • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
    • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
    • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
    • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
    • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
    • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
    Technology is applied in
    • convex situations
    • concave situations
    • not relevant
    Soil depth
    • very shallow (0-20 cm)
    • shallow (21-50 cm)
    • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
    • deep (81-120 cm)
    • very deep (> 120 cm)
    Soil texture (topsoil)
    • coarse/ light (sandy)
    • medium (loamy, silty)
    • fine/ heavy (clay)
    Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
    • coarse/ light (sandy)
    • medium (loamy, silty)
    • fine/ heavy (clay)
    Topsoil organic matter content
    • high (>3%)
    • medium (1-3%)
    • low (<1%)
    Groundwater table
    • on surface
    • < 5 m
    • 5-50 m
    • > 50 m
    Availability of surface water
    • excess
    • good
    • medium
    • poor/ none
    Water quality (untreated)
    • good drinking water
    • poor drinking water (treatment required)
    • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
    • unusable
    Is salinity a problem?
    • Ja
    • Nee

    Occurrence of flooding
    • Ja
    • Nee
    Species diversity
    • high
    • medium
    • low
    Habitat diversity
    • high
    • medium
    • low

    Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

    Market orientation
    • subsistence (self-supply)
    • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
    • commercial/ market
    Off-farm income
    • less than 10% of all income
    • 10-50% of all income
    • > 50% of all income
    Relative level of wealth
    • very poor
    • poor
    • average
    • rich
    • very rich
    Level of mechanization
    • manual work
    • animal traction
    • mechanized/ motorized
    Sedentary or nomadic
    • Sedentary
    • Semi-nomadic
    • Nomadic
    Individuals or groups
    • individual/ household
    • groups/ community
    • cooperative
    • employee (company, government)
    Gender
    • women
    • men
    Age
    • children
    • youth
    • middle-aged
    • elderly
    Area used per household
    • < 0.5 ha
    • 0.5-1 ha
    • 1-2 ha
    • 2-5 ha
    • 5-15 ha
    • 15-50 ha
    • 50-100 ha
    • 100-500 ha
    • 500-1,000 ha
    • 1,000-10,000 ha
    • > 10,000 ha
    Scale
    • small-scale
    • medium-scale
    • large-scale
    Land ownership
    • state
    • company
    • communal/ village
    • group
    • individual, not titled
    • individual, titled
    Land use rights
    • open access (unorganized)
    • communal (organized)
    • leased
    • individual
    Water use rights
    • open access (unorganized)
    • communal (organized)
    • leased
    • individual
    Access to services and infrastructure

    Impacts

    Socio-economic impacts
    Socio-cultural impacts
    Ecological impacts
    surface runoff
    increased
    x
    decreased

    Quantity before SLM: 40
    Quantity after SLM: 30

    soil loss
    increased
    x
    decreased

    Quantity before SLM: 25
    Quantity after SLM: 5

    Off-site impacts

    Cost-benefit analysis

    Benefits compared with establishment costs
    Short-term returns
    very negative
    x
    very positive

    Long-term returns
    very negative
    x
    very positive

    Benefits compared with maintenance costs
    Short-term returns
    very negative
    x
    very positive

    Long-term returns
    very negative
    x
    very positive

    Climate change

    -

    Adoption and adaptation

    Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
    • single cases/ experimental
    • 1-10%
    • 11-50%
    • > 50%
    Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
    • 0-10%
    • 11-50%
    • 51-90%
    • 91-100%
    Number of households and/ or area covered
    510 households
    Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
    • Ja
    • Nee
    To which changing conditions?
    • climatic change/ extremes
    • changing markets
    • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

    Conclusions and lessons learnt

    Strengths: land user's view
    Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
    Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
    Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome

    References

    Compiler
    • Unknown User
    Editors
    Reviewer
    • David Streiff
    • Alexandra Gavilano
    Date of documentation: Nov. 29, 2010
    Last update: Maart 14, 2019
    Resource persons
    Full description in the WOCAT database
    Linked SLM data
    Documentation was faciliated by
    Institution Project
    This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International