ABSTRACT
Soil is an important natural resource which supports vegetation. Soil erosion is a natural process, but tends to be increased through human activities, particularly agriculture and deforestation, which remove the protective vegetation and reduce the stability of the soil. The term soil erosion implies the physical removal and deposition to some other place of topsoil by various agents including rain, water flowing over and through soil profiles, wind, ice, or gravitational pull. For instance, soil erosion is the greatest threat to the India's soil productivity and the largest source of pollutants to its waterways. Problems of erosion are many and include the loss of topsoil, loss of agricultural production, loss of nutrients, land degradation, cost to remove sedimentation, desertification, and so on. Excessive erosion by wind and water reduces soil productivity and contaminates air and water. Erosion increases the cost of farming, contributing to lower profits for farmers and higher food prices for consumers. The major control measures include increase of vegetation, mulch farming, conservation tillage, strip cropping, contour farming, build terraces, cover crops, crop rotation, wind breakers, riparian zones, dam building, reforestation, promotion of soil organism, and good farming practices (GAPs).
