Assessment of soil erosion and loss in soil productivity in Mbinga district: a case study of Mahenge village

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dc.contributor.authorHaule, Cosmas Benedict Mabalika
dc.date.accessioned2026-03-05T12:19:44Z
dc.date.available2026-03-05T12:19:44Z
dc.date.issued2000
dc.descriptionDissertation
dc.description.abstractThe study was conducted at Mahenge village, Mbinga District, Tanzania. The objective of this study was to investigate the magnitude of soil erosion and its impact on soil productivity. Data on soil loss, evaporation, pan coefficient (kpan), rainfall, soil physical and chemical properties, crop growth and yield, crop coefficient (kc) soil and topographical maps from field investigation and various documents were collected. Erosion hazard assessment was done using the USLE and mapped by ARC INFO and ARC VIEW GIS packages, whilst the "erosion induced loss in soil productivity was evaluated using SEPIM. Soil loss for different periods of crop growth showed significant difference between bare plots and ngolo plots. The same relation was shown between bare plots and bench terraces. ANOVA for crop development showed statistical difference between ngolo and bench terrace, with DMRT indicating ngolo to be superior in performance compared to the later. In addition ngolo had lower reduction in yield with cumulative soil loss than bench terraces. The results from the soil erosion hazard mapping indicated that accelerated soil erosion by water was a serious problem in agricultural land in Mahenge village. In the absence of support practice Dystric Cambisols had higher erosion rates (258.69 t/ha/year) while Ferrallic Cambisols had lowest average erosion rates (63.28 t/ha/year) in the village. However, in general soil loss tended to vary with varying soil credibility, support practice, crop cover and topographic factors. Evaluation of PI and SEPIM models at the experimental site showed that SEPIM had more explanation power than PI although the explanation was highly variable. Analysis of available data using the SEPIM indicated that Haplic Phaeoezem soils had higher production potential (0.80) than other soils. In contrast Haplic Acrisols had the lowest production potential (0.44) mainly due to low soil pH. The simulation results showed that Haplic Phaeozem could lose 24 percent of its production potential after 25 years of continued erosion. On the other hand, Haplic Acrisols improved its production potential by more than 100 percent after 25 years of soil loss. The results showed that reduction in soil productivity due to erosion depended on the properties of the exposed subsoil.
dc.description.sponsorshipGTZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/20.500.14820/7366
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSokoine University of Agriculture
dc.subjectSoil erosion
dc.subjectSoil loss
dc.subjectSoil
dc.subjectMbinga district
dc.subjectMahenge village
dc.titleAssessment of soil erosion and loss in soil productivity in Mbinga district: a case study of Mahenge village
dc.typeThesis

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