Soil Erosion In Kwaziu Essay

Soil Erosion in the KwaZulu Natal Region in South Africa

Soil erosion or Land degradation is naturally occurring process that affects all landforms. In agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing away of a field 's topsoil by the natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage. KwaZulu -Natal has the second biggest economy in South Africa, which is primarily from services from within the cities and towns; however it does have a large farming industry. KwaZulu-Natal has the largest amount of water in the province, compared to the other provinces of South Africa; therefore one will find higher concentrations of farming taking place in this region. The farms are largely negatively

Other alien plants such as, triffid weed (from North, Central and South America), lantana (from the tropical regions of South America and Central Africa) and bugweed (from South America) highly affect costal areas on KwaZulu-Natal, using about 17% of the annual run-off in KwaZulu-Natal, this will cause the indigenous plants to die out, because of the lack of water. This will soon cause less and less plants to grow and there will be no anchor for the soil and gradually over time the soil particles loosen up and the topsoil will run-off easily, ultimately resulting in soil

The upper reaches of the rivers are eroded away due to the trampling and grazing of cattle and waste from industrial areas.

Effects: Soil erosion causes problems such as desertification. The increasing demand in resources and food will increase the number of stock farms. More stock farms mean more cattle, sheep and game to graze. Farmers will get their animals to graze on any place where there is grass. Many farmers will take their stock to the edge of the desert. The stock will uproot the grass and it will be eroded away and create a larger desert. Desertification is dangerous because it is an irreversible process.

Soil erosion causes poverty. It will cause infertile soil which will make it very difficult for crops to grow. This will in turn cause decreased food supply. 31% of KwaZulu-Natal is already living in poverty. These people will be harshly affected by the decreased in food supply and the numbers will begin to increase as the soil erosion rates