Overview of constructed terraces in the watershed, Saighan district, Bamyan (Shabir Shahem (HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, Afghanistan))

Terracing in Watershed (Afghanistan)

Kordak dar Abriza

Description

Reshaping unproductive land into a series of levelled, gently-sloping platforms creates conditions suitable for cultivation and prevents accelerated erosion.

The terracing in watershed fact-sheet is documented by Sustainable Land Management Project/HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation which is funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Due to the enduring conflict and to the breakdown of common-pool resources management in upper catchments areas over the past decades, most pastures in Afghanistan are degraded.
Uncontrolled grazing of animals tilling grazing land to grow cereal crops are the main contributors to the loss of vegetation coverage in the upper catchments. One of the negative consequences is repeated flash floods each year causing loss and damage of agriculture lands, gardens, road, canal, infrastructure, houses and even lives. To decrease the severity of flash floods and extend vegetation in upper catchment areas, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation in Saighan district has established watershed activities.

Purpose of the Technology: Terrace construction was identified as an effective measure in degraded watershed areas to:
•control runoff and decrease flash flood;
•increase water infiltration;
•create the opportunity for income from cultivation of valuable crops in the terraces.

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: Having selected the watersheds and established watershed committees, watershed master plans were prepared and various structural and agronomical measures identified and estimated for each unit of land. Community laborers, trained by HELVETAS technical staff, constructed the terraces under supervision of watershed committee members. 600 terraces, each measuring 10 m x 3.6 m were constructed on seven hectares of land. To ensure maintenance, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation facilitated the creation of community saving systems and invested 10% of the project budget for maintenance of each watershed. It improved the capacity of watershed members, so after ending project support the community watershed committee would be able to manage maintenance of watershed measures.


Natural / human environment: Bamyan province is a remote province of Afghanistan with a high poverty rate. It has a semi-arid climate with cold winters and hot and dry summers. During winter, temperatures can drop below -22 degrees. Summer temperatures can reach 34 degrees in the month of July. The average annual rainfall in the area is about 230mm and some years can be very dry. 90% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods and off-farm activities are marginal. The soil texture is clay, sandy loam and clay loam with moderate type of soil fertility, naked area of upper catchments causes that most of Saighan villages face to water scarcity during May to September and can’t grow valuable crops.The growing season in Saighan district is relatively short from April to October and farmers can produce only one crop per year. Farmers with access to irrigation water cultivate cash crops, for example potato and vegetables, in addition to staple crops (wheat) and fodder crops.Those without access to irrigation water cultivate wheat and fodder crops only. Water scarcity during May to September may result in a lack of high value crops.
The average annual income from one hectare in the area of having enough irrigation water is 250000 AFN (3676 USD) and in the area which has no enough irrigation water is 67500 AFN (992 USD).

Location

Location: Saighan, Bamyan, Afghanistan

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • n.a.

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (approx. 1-10 km2)

In a permanently protected area?:

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

Type of introduction
Close view of constructed terraces in the watershed (Shabir Shahem (HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, Afghanistan))

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

  • Cropland
    • Perennial (non-woody) cropping
    Number of growing seasons per year: 1
  • Grazing land
    • Nomadism

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
SLM group
  • cross-slope measure
SLM measures
  • structural measures - S1: Terraces

Technical drawing

Technical specifications
Technical drawing of a terrace built in the watershed for the mean of vegetation.
Almost all the terraces constructed on the hill sides has 10 m length, 3.5 m width and 1.5 m depth.

Location: Saighan. Bamyan

Date: 19/04/2016

Technical knowledge required for field staff / advisors: high (In order to design well)

Technical knowledge required for land users: low

Main technical functions: control of dispersed runoff: impede / retard, reduction of slope angle, reduction of slope length, improvement of topsoil structure (compaction), increase of infiltration, increase / maintain water stored in soil, promotion of vegetation species and varieties (quality, eg palatable fodder)

Terrace: forward sloping
Vertical interval between structures (m): 1.8
Spacing between structures (m): 0.5
Depth of ditches/pits/dams (m): 0.3
Width of ditches/pits/dams (m): 3.6
Length of ditches/pits/dams (m): 10

Construction material (earth): Excuvation of soil and leveling

Slope (which determines the spacing indicated above): 15-30%

If the original slope has changed as a result of the Technology, the slope today is: 0%

Lateral gradient along the structure: 0%

Specification of dams/ pans/ ponds: Capacity 36m3

Catchment area: 36m2
Author: Shabir Shahem, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, Afghanistan

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: 5.88
Most important factors affecting the costs
Labor cost is the determinate factors which was affecting the costs.
Establishment activities
  1. Labor cost for the construction of the terraces (Timing/ frequency: 1 month)
Establishment inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (USD) Total costs per input (USD) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Labor cost for the construction of the terraces persons/day 1200.0 5.88 7056.0 10.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology 7'056.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD 7'056.0
Maintenance activities
  1. Repairing of few terraces after heavy rain falls (Timing/ frequency: 3 times a year)
Maintenance inputs and costs
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (USD) Total costs per input (USD) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Repairing of few terraces persons/day 6.0 5.833333 35.0 100.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology 35.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology in USD 35.0

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
Thermal climate class: temperate
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
Water quality refers to:
Is salinity a problem?
  • Yes
  • No

Occurrence of flooding
  • Yes
  • No
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
health

poor
good
education

poor
good
technical assistance

poor
good
employment (e.g. off-farm)

poor
good
markets

poor
good
energy

poor
good
roads and transport

poor
good
drinking water and sanitation

poor
good
financial services

poor
good

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
Crop production
decreased
increased

Quantity before SLM: 60
Quantity after SLM: 80
Technology reduce flood and lower lands doesnt effect by floods

irrigation water availability
decreased
increased

Quantity before SLM: 20
Quantity after SLM: 25
Increasing under ground water by applying technology

farm income
decreased
increased

Quantity before SLM: 0
Quantity after SLM: 50
Cultivation of cash crop in the terraces (farm income from uplands)

Socio-cultural impacts
food security/ self-sufficiency
reduced
improved

SLM/ land degradation knowledge
reduced
improved

conflict mitigation
worsened
improved

situation of socially and economically disadvantaged groups (gender, age, status, ehtnicity etc.)
worsened
improved

livelihood and human well-being
reduced
improved


The technology has effective role on reducing flash flood and as well through cultivation of valuable crops the community get more income from watershed area

Ecological impacts
harvesting/ collection of water (runoff, dew, snow, etc)
reduced
improved

surface runoff
increased
decreased

Quantity before SLM: 0
Quantity after SLM: 100
Leveled terraces infilter the water

groundwater table/ aquifer
lowered
recharge

soil moisture
decreased
increased

Quantity before SLM: 0
Quantity after SLM: 50
Technology let the water infilteration more

soil cover
reduced
improved

soil loss
increased
decreased

Off-site impacts
water availability (groundwater, springs)
decreased
increased

downstream flooding (undesired)
increased
reduced

Quantity before SLM: 0
Quantity after SLM: 50
Control runoff

Cost-benefit analysis

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

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

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

Long-term returns
very negative
very positive

The establishment cost of this technology seems to be high but once they are built they need very less maintenance cost with lots of benefits in the other hand.

Climate change

Gradual climate change
annual temperature increase

not well at all
very well
Climate-related extremes (disasters)
local rainstorm

not well at all
very well
drought

not well at all
very well
general (river) flood

not well at all
very well

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
444 households covering 100 percent of the stated area
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Yes
  • No
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
  • Good measure that is easy to be applied by the people.

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Conducting training and workshops for capacity building of the community members.
  • The application of this technology results to the control of runoff and reduction of the flash flood.

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? More vegetative measures should be considered.
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
  • A good technology for the better control of runoff and keeping the moisture.

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Cultivation and sustainable maintenance of the plants in the terraces.
  • Preparing and providing a good and proper place for cultivation and plantation.

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Plantation of the local plants which has more resistance and are adaptable to the natural environment of Saighan district.
  • Getting more income through cultivation of valuable crops.

    How can they be sustained / enhanced? Protection of cultivated seed from grazing animals
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome
  • Requires high investment and financial cost. People should as well have contribution in the cost by providing the labor work.
  • In case the technical measures are not considered and applied properly it may increase infiltration and subsequently increases the soil moisture which may trigger landslide on slopes during rainfalls High level of the technical staff and knowledge to be considered and as well the area should be studied and observed deeply.

References

Compiler
  • Aqila Haidery
Editors
Reviewer
  • David Streiff
  • Alexandra Gavilano
Date of documentation: April 19, 2016
Last update: March 11, 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