Land Capability Evaluation for the Effective Agricultural Land Use and Rate of the Compensatory Payments for Their Erosion Control in the Gaberska Nishava River Catchment

Vihra Stoinova, Diyana Nekova

Abstract: The study covers agricultural land used for field crop and pastures.
The maps of the Gabeska Nišava river basin have been developed for the actual risk of sheet water erosion and land capability classes for effective economic and erosion prevention use. Integration of this information with GIS allows for identification of the most suitable crops for cultivation and the need to apply erosion prevention measures.
A complex of different erosion prevention measures is suggested, which cost is assessed according to the current European programs. The percentage contribution of each soil protection measure is determined according to the specific terrain and climatic features of the studied area, the erosion risk and the land use.
The results of the assessments show that 1909342,26 € / year, or 125,25 € / ha / year are needed for optimum protection of the fields. The cost of erosion protection of the pastures is estimated at 1051127,68 € / year; 87,49 € / ha / year. Totally, 2960469,94 € / year 246,41 € / ha / year is needed for the implementation of a comprehensive protection of the agricultural land from erosion in the catchment area of the Gabrovska Nishava river

Keywords: compensatory payments; land capability evaluation; soil erosion

Date published: 2017-07-25