ABSTRACT

To start thinking about the erosion problem, it's essential to distinguish between the problem in the United States and the problems in developing countries. As far as the United States is concerned, the long-term effects of soil erosion on the capacity to produce agricultural output are trivial at present rates. A significant erosion-related problem is the off-site or off-farm damages. These include the effects on water quality, particularly of sediment after it leaves farmers' fields. These turn out to be on an order of magnitude greater than the economic costs of lost productivity. There are areas in the Himalayas, in the mountainous parts of Latin America, and in East Africa where a lot of anecdotal information suggests that not only is erosion high but it also may be having long-term consequences for productivity. Erosion is much more severe in the semi-arid regions where the land is bare during the dry season and gets torrential rains during the rainy season.