J. EscobedoFood and Agriculture Organization/United Nations Development Programme Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Despite the location of Vertisols and soils with vertic properties in Ethiopia on gently sloping to almost flat terrain, serious water erosion problems are encountered.
Since 1981, the Community Forestry and Soil Conservation Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture has been working on soil conservation. Some of the activities are undertaken on Vertisols.
Much attention has been given to physical conservation measures, but the results are not very significant and these measures require a lot of manpower. Emphasis in conservation of Vertisols will have to be given to soil- and agronomic-management practices, such as increasing the organic matter content in order to improve the structure and to stabilise the soil aggregates (ploughed-in straw, application of compost and green manure) and improving the land-use systems (intercropping, alley cropping, grass strips, etc).
