Report on

Observations in Field Trip to Soil Conservation and Watershed

Management Centre in Bandarban
Course no: soil-412

Submitted to
Dr. SABRINA SHARMEEN ALAM
Assistant Professor
Department of Soil Science
University of Chittagong.

Submitted by
JULIET KEYA MONDAL
ID: 15606074
Session: 2014-2015
4th year B.Sc Hon`s
Department of Soil Science
University of Chittagong

Date of Submission: 2 November, 2018

LOCATION:
Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Centre (SCWMC), SRDI, Bandarban.

INTRODUCTION:
We started our journey from Chittagong University campus to Soil Conservation and
Watershed Management Centre on 25 November, 2018 at 6:30am and reached to our
destination at about 10:00am. The purpose of our tour is to practically justify the soil
conservation methods and other systems of watershed management in hilly area under the
supervision of our honourable teacher Dr. SABRINA SHARMEEN ALAM .
After reaching there the In-charge of the Soil conservation and Watershed management
centre, Md.Mahbubul Islam, welcomed us. He gave us a short description about the workings
of the centre and their developed technologies on soil conservation and watershed
management. Then he presented us a presentation on the culture of the local people and other
SRDI projects.
After that we visited some lands that fall under the project area of Soil Conservation and
Watershed Management Centre. Mr.Jalal, who has been working for Soil Conservation and
Watershed Management Centre since many years, guided us.
About 90% of the total area of the district is hilly where jhum (Shifting) cultivation is
prevailed almost everywhere causing greater soil loss. Therefore, soil conservation and
watershed management are very important in Bandarban.

OBJECTIVES OF OUR TOUR:

● To observe different soil conservation management system
● To gain practical knowledge on slope land conservation
● To observe annual soil loss by erosion from sloppy land and how it can be protected.
● To gather practical knowledge about SALT technology
● To know the projects of SRDI for local land slide and erosion protection
● To know different types of techniques and technologies using for soil conservation
and water shed management.

OBSERVATION:
1. Mechanical and Bio-mechanical conservation of soil
2. Modern cultivation practises and its effect
3. Slope gradient effect on soil erosion
4. Gully erosion protection process by Gabian and Brush-wood check dam
5. Effect of Bench terrace.
6. Effect of different soil hedges

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LOCATION AND AREA OF BANDARBAN:
Topographically Bandarban hilly district is a continuation of the Himalayan Tract lies
between 21o11’ and 22o22’ north latitudes and between 92o11’ and 92o41’ east longitudes. The
total area of Bandarban is 4,479 sq. km (1,729 sq. miles).

CHARACTERISTICS OF BANDARBAN HILLY AREAS:

Bandarban is mainly hilly area. Here the cultivation system, where jhum cultivation is
prevailed, is different from the systems practiced in plain land. Soil loss is greater here due to
jhum cultivation practice.

The characteristics of soil:.

• Topsoil layer is very thin with less clay content.
• Highly acidic soil.
• pH of top soil ranges from 5.5 to 6.5.
• Soil aggregation is very weak.
• Soil texture is Sandy loam to Silty loam.

Types of slope: Slope refers to the gradient of landscape with reference to a baseline and
affects the amount and quality of sediments and the type and velocity of water flow. Slopes
model we observed at the centre are given below:
a. Gentle slope: 8%
b. Moderate slope: 20%
c. Steep slope: 35%

SOME CAUSES OF SOIL DEGRADATION IN HILL SOIL:

 Soil erosion
 Shifting cultivation
 Land-Man ratio decreased
 Deforestation

SOIL CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES EXPERIMENTED BY SCWMC:

Hedge Row: Effect of different hedge species on soil erosion and crop yield at different hill
slopes of Bandarban hill tract are experimented by scientific officers. The hedges work as
barriers that increase the deposition of soil particles on the slope decreasing the soil loss by
runoff. They adopted following treatments for crop cultivation by using pineapple hedge
(figure 1), bogamedula hedge (figure 2), napier hedge (figure 3), and indigofera hedge.

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Figure: Pineapple (Ananas comosus) hedge

Figure: Bogamedula (Tephorisia candida) hedge

Figure: Napier (Pennisetum purpureum) hedge

Jute-Geo Textile: In the case of Bandarban soil the main problem is surface soil erosion.
During rainfall top soil are washed away and it fills up the water body. In sloppy area canals
situated at the lower portion are filled up by sedimentation from runoff water. For the
restoration of the soils of degraded sloping land jute-geo textile are used.

Bench Terrace:The bench terrace is built by placing a wall of earth or stone along the
contour and either filling in the space above this wall or allowing it to be filled by erosion.

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The result is a series of steps on the hillside, that are considerably less steep than the natural
slope but allow runoff water to flow over the terrace wall and, consequently, down over the
entire slope. Maximum crops experiments are done by following bench terrace method in
Bandarban hill tract. It is one kind of method to check soil erosion and to minimize soil loss
by rainfall. It is proved that soil loss is minimized by adapting bench terrace method in
Bandarban hilly region. In bench terrace method if the irrigation is applied, crop can be
cultivated whole year.

Figure: Bench terrace

Gabian Check Dam: It is mainly used to control gully erosion. Gully erosion is the
removal of soil by running water, with the formation of channels that cannot be smoothed out
completely by normal agricultural operation or cultivation. It occurs when the runoff of water
is in high velocity from a slope. Gullies tend to deepen and widen with every heavy rainfall,
cutting up larger fields into smaller fragments and in course of time making them unfit for
cultivation.

Figure: GABIAN check dam

Contouring: It is also a soil loss minimizing method followed on hilly region to get
maximum yield. A frame is a simple device for laying out contour lines across the slope. It is
made of 3 wooden/bamboo poles tied together in the shape of capital A, where two poles are
cut 2 m and the other one used as the cross bar is 1m long. It uses a string and a rock as
plumb bob. One leg of the A frame is planted on the ground and then the other leg is placed
at such a distance that it touches the ground on the same level line the first one does. The spot
is marked with a stick where the rear leg stands. The A-frame is moved forward by placing
the rear leg on the spot where the front leg stood before. The front leg is adjusted until it

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levels with the rear leg. This procedure is followed until one can reach the entire length of the
contour line. The contour lines should he spaced 4-5 m apart.

Brushwood Check Dam: One of the experiments, being conducted by SCWMC is the
study of brushwood check dam for minimizing erosion hazard and reclamation of gullied
land. Brushwood acts as natural barrier to soil loss.
MULTI SLOT DEVISER:
Runoff is routed from the collector through conveyance channel to a sludge tank where the
heavier sediment particles are deposited. Overflow from the sludge tank is then routed
through the Multi Slot Devisor where a sample is obtained from a single slot and routed to a
sample storage tank. A second or third sample storage tank may be connected to the first, if
additional sample storage is needed. By Multi Slot Deviser we can calculate how much soil
loss is occurred a day by rainfall. In this way we also can measure how much soil is lost
per hectare in every year.

Figure: Multi Slot Deviser

WEATHER FORECASTING CENTRE:
In SRDI (Bandarban) there is also a weather forecasting centre which is used to measure
wind direction, temperature, and rainfall intensity and so on. Some devices are mentioned
below:
➢ Stevenson’s screen
➢ Soil thermometer
➢ Sunshine recorder
➢ Rain gauge
➢ Evaporation Pan
➢ Wind vane

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Figure: Stevenson screen Figure: Wind vane

Figure: Soil thermometer

Figure: Sunshine recorder

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RESULT & DISCUSSION:
Generally, in Bandarban soil loss was nearly 70 to 80%, but, recently the number reduced to
almost 20%. A-frame is efficient in food crop production and reduces soil erosion at a great
extent. Use of different hedges has created positive at the yield of Bandarban. Among
different hedge species pineapple hedge reduces soil loss comparatively higher because it
can bind soil around their root areas. Bench terrace permits much more intensive land use, it
reduces the amount and velocity of runoff, and conserves both soil and water. It is observed
that gully erosion can be controlled by Gabian check dam.
From above discussion we can enunciate that, in a hilly area soil loss can be minimized
obviously at a large extent by following various modern agricultural techniques.

THE END

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