Integrated Soil and Water Management at Farm Level in Honam Sub-Catchment(Part I: Determination of Homogeneous Soil and Water Management Units)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Soil fertility and plant nutrition Dep,

2 Researcher, Soil and Water Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

3 Departemenrt of Soil Classification and Land Evaluation

4 Departement of Land Reclamation

5 Departement of Labratories

6 International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas Jordan

7 Soil Chemistry, Fertility and Plant Nutrition

8 Soil Physics and Irrigation Departement

9 Departement of Soil Classification and Land Evaluation

10 PhD Graduate, Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch , Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

11 Soil Classification and Land Evaluation

12 Soil and Water Research Institute

13 Soil Physics and Irrigation

14 Assistant Professor, Soil and Water Research Institute, agricultural research, education and extension organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

15 scientific staff

16 Soil

17 Departement of Soil Biology

18 Soil Classification and Land Evaluation Departement

19 head of lorestan agricultural research center

20 , Soil and Water Research Department, Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Khorramabad, Iran

21 Assistant professor of soil and water research department, Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Training Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Khoramabad, Iran

22 Extention of Aliabad Agricultural Jahad Center, Alashtar, Lorestan, Iran

23 Local facilitator

Abstract

This study expresses the steps of achievement to the indigenous-executive framework of integrated soil and water management at farm level through a mega project with 19 sub-projects. The projects were carried out during 2013-2020 with active participation of international, national and regional experts as well as local farmers in Honam Sub-basin, Lorestan Province, Iran. To understand the soil and water management problems for agriculture in the same homogeneous units (HSWMUs), farmlands were classified regarding physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil, making it possible to convert soil maps into thematic maps. In this research, the fertility capability classification (FCC) method that integrates surface and sub-surface soil textures with modifieres was used. In addition, several modifieres were revised for soils of semi-arid regions and new modifieres were introduced for Irrigation Capability Classification (ICC). The required information was collected from 119 soil profiles and 101 surface soil samples in detailed scale of 1:25000 and the corresponding measurements were made. Accordingly, different data layers including detailed soil map were produced via geopedological method icluding land limitation, land suitability, and land production potential (LPP) of major crops, land degradation, location of water withdrawal, land use and agricultural cadastre of 2395 farms were prepared. To evaluate the current soil and water behavior of farmers within HSWMUs, the multidisciplinary team recorded the issues through field visits and open semi-structured questionnaire of 84 selected farmers in 24 villages who were interviewed during 2018-2019. The results showed that 23 and 30 HSWMUs that covered, respectively, 93% and 90% of the irrigated and rainfed areas were delineated on the map. Investigations showed that the sub-basin suffers from problems such as plow pan, phosphorus and zinc deficiencies, poor irrigation scheduling, and three types of farmers. Finally, recommended packages were prepared and validated for each HSWMU, which will be discussed in the part 2.

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Main Subjects


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