ABSTRACT
In the Black Volta River catchment of northeastern Ivory Coast people practice traditional ‘slash and burn’ subsistence agriculture. This activity has negative agronomic consequences mainly caused by highly erodible soils. It was assumed that dynamic landscape changes are mainly controlled by natural processes linked to topography (morpho-pedological factors) and to vegetation cover. Direct measurements of erosion processes from a network of experimental plots on the slopes of the region’s landscapes gave evidence that denudation by sheet erosion and gullying by torrents on steep slopes, poorly protected by vegetation, are mostly affected. Among recommended anti-erosion measures the ‘stop strip’ method seems to be the most appropriate for local farmers.
