Natural vegetative strips in degraded calcareous soil environment: successful stabilization of steep slopes in Leyte

Abstract

While a good understanding exists of the effects of low-cost natural vegetative contoyr strips (NVS) and their contribution to enhanced land productivity in deep acidic soil environments, little is known about the benefits and constraints of this soil conservation technology under severely degraded calcareous soil conditions. Calcareous soils cover about 20% of the total land area of the Philippines, and are also widespread in other parts of South East Asia. They, thus, characterize an important environment that millions of upland farmers depend upon for a living in Southeast Asia. Shallow calcareous soils are particularly common in the Central Philippines covering more than half of the total land area of the Visayas islands