Estimation of soil loss rate using the USLE model for Agewmariayam Watershed, northern Ethiopia
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Agriculture & Food Security Open Access
RESEARCH
Estimation of soil loss rate using the USLE model for Agewmariayam Watershed, northern Ethiopia Gebrehana Girmay1*, Awdenegest Moges2 and Alemayehu Muluneh2
Abstract Background: Soil erosion and nutrient depletion threaten food security and the sustainability of agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa. Estimating soil loss and identifying hotspot areas support combating soil degradation. The aim of this paper is to estimate the soil loss rate and identify hotspot areas using USLE model in the Agewmariam watershed, northern Ethiopia. Methods: Rainfall erosivity factor was determined from annual rainfall, soil erodibility factor from soil data, slope length and gradient factor were generated from DEM, cover factor and conservation practice factor obtained from land use cover map. Finally, the parameters were integrated with ArcGIS tools to estimate soil loss rates of the study watershed. Results: Mean annual soil loss rates were estimated to be between 0 and 897 t h a−1 year−1 on flatter and steeper slopes, respectively. The total annual soil loss was 51,403.13 tons from the watershed and the annual soil loss rate of the study area was 25 t ha−1 year−1. More than 33% of the study areas were above tolerable soil loss rate (11 t h a−1 −1 −1 −1 −1 year ). The spatial risk categorization rate was 67.2% severe (> 51 t ha year ), 5.4% very high (31–50 t h a year−1), −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 5.8% high (19–30 t h a year ), 3.2% moderate (12–18 t ha year ) and 18.3% slight (0–11 t h a year ). Conclusion: The results showed that the severity of erosion occurred on the steep slope cultivation, absence of conservation measures, and sparse nature of the vegetation cover. This area required immediate action of soil and water conservation which accounts for about 33.5% of the total watershed. Keywords: Ethiopia, Soil loss, Soil loss tolerance, USLE Background Soil erosion is an extensive land degradation problem in many parts of the world. The loss of soil from the land surface by erosion is widespread globally and adversely affected by the productivity of all-natural ecosystems as well as agricultural, rangeland, and forest ecosystems [45]. The worldwide annual rate of soil erosion from agricultural land ranges from 22 to 100 t ha−1 and declines in *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Soil and Water Management, Sekota Dryland Agricultural Research Center, Sekota, Ethiopia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
productivity as much as 15–30% annually [40]. According to Morgan [40], soil erosion costs the US economy between US$30 billion and US$44 billion annually related to on-site (cost of production and production loss) and off-site (pollution and sedimentation of downstream water resources) effects of soil erosion. Land degradation, in the form of soil erosion and nutrient depletion, threatens food security and the sustainability of agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa [34]. Soil erosion is a common phen
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