Land Capability Evaluation for the Effective Agricultural Land Use and Rate of the Compensatory Payments for Their Erosion Control in the Upper Iskar River Catchment
Diyana Nekova, Vihra Stoinova
Abstract: The survey covers arable land considering the landuse – field crops, perennials (orchards) and pastures.
Maps of the catchment were developed with the actual risk of sheet water erosion and the land capability for efficient economic and erosion control use. The integration of this information with GIS allowed for identification of the most appropriate cropping sites and the need for application of erosion prevention measures.
A complex of different erosion prevention measures practices is recommended, with cost assessed according to the current European programs. The percentage contribution of each soil protection measure is determined by the specific terrain and climatic characteristics of the studied area, determining the class of land, but above all by the degree of erosion risk and the way of land use.
The results show that 12 384 659.5 € / year are necessary to ensure optimum protection of arable land with field crops (125.5 € / ha per year). For erosion protection of orchards the value is 6,248.9 € / year, or 53 € / ha per year. The funds needed for the erosion protection of pastures are estimated at 491 602,3 € / year, or 139,4 € / ha per year.
The cost of an overall erosion protection of the arable land in the Goren Iskar River catchment is 12 882 510.8 € / year, or 125.9 € / ha / yr.
Maps of the catchment were developed with the actual risk of sheet water erosion and the land capability for efficient economic and erosion control use. The integration of this information with GIS allowed for identification of the most appropriate cropping sites and the need for application of erosion prevention measures.
A complex of different erosion prevention measures practices is recommended, with cost assessed according to the current European programs. The percentage contribution of each soil protection measure is determined by the specific terrain and climatic characteristics of the studied area, determining the class of land, but above all by the degree of erosion risk and the way of land use.
The results show that 12 384 659.5 € / year are necessary to ensure optimum protection of arable land with field crops (125.5 € / ha per year). For erosion protection of orchards the value is 6,248.9 € / year, or 53 € / ha per year. The funds needed for the erosion protection of pastures are estimated at 491 602,3 € / year, or 139,4 € / ha per year.
The cost of an overall erosion protection of the arable land in the Goren Iskar River catchment is 12 882 510.8 € / year, or 125.9 € / ha / yr.
Keywords: compensatory payments; land capability evaluation; soil erosion
Date published: 2017-07-25
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