Terrace (earthworks)

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For other uses, see Terrace (disambiguation).

Rice terraces in Bedugul, Bali, Indonesia.

Rice terrace in Indonesia

Rice terraces in Vietnam, nearby Khau Phạ Pass, Mù Cang Chải District

Diagram showing Inca terrace engineering for agriculture.

In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a
series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps,
for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore
called terracing. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or
mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease both erosion and surface runoff, and
may be used to support growing crops that require irrigation, such as rice. The
Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras have been designated as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site because of the significance of this technique.[1]

Uses
Terraced paddy fields are used widely in rice, wheat and barley farming in east,
south and southeast Asia, as well as the Mediterranean Basin, Africa, and South
America. Drier-climate terrace farming is common throughout the Mediterranean
Basin, where they are used for vineyards, olive trees, cork oak, and other crops.
[citation needed]

Ancient history
Terracing is also used for sloping terrain; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may have
been built on an artificial mountain with stepped terraces, such as those on a
ziggurat.[citation needed] At the seaside Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, the
villa gardens of Julius Caesar's father-in-law were designed in terraces to give
pleasant and varied views of the Bay of Naples.[citation needed]

Intensive terrace farming is believed to have been practiced before the early 15th
century AD in West Africa.[2][3] Terraces were used by many groups, notably the
Mafa,[4] Ngas, Gwoza,[5] and the Dogon.[6]

Recent history
It was long held that steep mountain landscapes are not conducive to, or do not
even permit, agricultural mechanization. In the 1970s in the European Alps, pasture
farms began mechanizing the management of alpine pastures and harvesting of forage
grasses through use of single axle two-wheel tractors (2WTs) and very low center of
gravity articulated steering 4-wheel tractors. Their designs by various European
manufacturers were initially quite simple but effective, allowing them to cross
slopes approaching 20%. In the 2000s new designs of wheels and tires, tracks, etc,
and incorporation of electronics for better and safer control, allowed these
machines to operate on slopes greater than 20% with various implements such as
reaper-harvesters, rakes, balers, and transport trailers.[citation needed]

In Asian sub-tropical countries, a similar process has begun with the introduction
of smaller, lower-tech and much lower-priced 2WTs in the 4-9 horsepower range that
can be safely operated in the small, narrow terraces, and are light enough to be
lifted and lowered from one terrace to the next. What is different from the Alpine
use is that these 2WTs are being used for tillage and crop establishment of maize,
wheat, and potato crops, and with their small 60-70cm-wide rotovators and special
cage wheels are puddling the terraces for transplanted and broadcast rice. Farmers
are also using the engines as stationary power sources for powering water pumps and
threshers. Even more recently farmers are experimenting with use of small reaper-
harvester attachments. In Nepal, the low costs of these mostly Chinese-made
machines and the increased productivity they produce[7] have meant that this scale-
appropriate machinery is spreading across Nepal's Himalaya Mountains and likely
into the other countries of the Himalaya and Hindu Kush.[citation needed]

South America
In the South American Andes, farmers have used terraces, known as andenes, for over
a thousand years to farm potatoes, maize, and other native crops. Terraced farming
was developed by the Wari culture and other peoples of the south-central Andes
before 1000 AD, centuries before they were used by the Inka, who adopted them. The
terraces were built to make the most efficient use of shallow soil and to enable
irrigation of crops by allowing runoff to occur through the outlet.[8]

The Inka people built on these, developing a system of canals, aqueducts, and
puquios to direct water through dry land and increase fertility levels and growth.
[9] These terraced farms are found wherever mountain villages have existed in the
Andes. They provided the food necessary to support the populations of great Inca
cities and religious centres such as Machu Picchu.[citation needed]

Canary Islands
Terraced fields are common in islands with steep slopes. The Canary Islands present
a complex system of terraces covering the landscape from the coastal irrigated
plantations to the dry fields in the highlands. These terraces, which are named
cadenas (chains), are built with stone walls of skillful design, which include
attached stairs and channels.[10]

England
In Old English, a terrace was also called a "lynch" (lynchet). An example of an
ancient Lynch Mill is in Lyme Regis. The water is directed from a river by a duct
along a terrace. This set-up was used in steep hilly areas in the UK.[11]

Japan
In Japan, some of the 100 Selected Terraced Rice Fields (in Japanese: 日本の棚田百選
一覧), from Iwate in the north to Kagoshima in the south, are slowly disappearing,
but volunteers are helping the farmers both to maintain their traditional methods
and for sightseeing purposes.[12]

Gallery
Cultivation terraces, Walkerburn
Cultivation terraces, Walkerburn

Terraced fields in Sa Pa, Vietnam.

Terraced fields in Sa Pa, Vietnam.

Tetang Village terraced fields, Mustang District

Tetang Village terraced fields, Mustang District

Terraced fields in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal

Terraced fields in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal

Terraced field in Kabal Swat valley, Pakistan.

Terraced field in Kabal Swat valley, Pakistan.
Terraced farmland in Peru, adopted by the Inca.
Terraced farmland in Peru, adopted by the Inca.

Terraced hay fields in the Upper Mississippi River basin during the 1930s.
Terraced hay fields in the Upper Mississippi River basin during the 1930s.

Rice terrace in Bali

Rice terrace in Bali

Jatiluwih rice terrace in Bali, Indonesia.

Jatiluwih rice terrace in Bali, Indonesia.

The Batad Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Philippines.

The Batad Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Philippines.

The Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Philippines.

The Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Philippines.

Rice cultivation, Lower Himalayas, Nepal.

Rice cultivation, Lower Himalayas, Nepal.

Longsheng Rice Terrace in Longsheng county, Guangxi Province, southern China.

Longsheng Rice Terrace in Longsheng county, Guangxi Province, southern China.

Abstract pattern of terraced rice fields in Yuanyang County, Yunnan, China

Abstract pattern of terraced rice fields in Yuanyang County, Yunnan, China

Image from Yuanyang, showing the rice terrace walls after harvest, weed removal,
flooding and plowing.
Image from Yuanyang, showing the rice terrace walls after harvest, weed removal,
flooding and plowing.

Terrace fields in Northern Thailand at the end of the dry season

Terrace fields in Northern Thailand at the end of the dry season

Lynchet system near Bishopstone in Wiltshire

Lynchet system near Bishopstone in Wiltshire

Terrace vineyard in the coteaux du Layon on the commune of Faye-d’Anjou, Maine-et-

Loire, France
Terrace vineyard in the coteaux du Layon on the commune of Faye-d’Anjou, Maine-et-
Loire, France

Terraced fields in Gozo, Malta

Terraced fields in Gozo, Malta
Terraced mixed citrus and olive groves in the Lecrin Valley, Andalusia, Spain.
Terraced mixed citrus and olive groves in the Lecrin Valley, Andalusia, Spain.

rice cultivation in West Bengal, India.

rice cultivation in West Bengal, India.

Rice terrace in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

Rice terrace in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

See also
Anden
Honghe Hani Rice Terraces
Yuanyang County, Yunnan
Banaue Rice Terraces
Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
Satoyama
Terrace garden
Terraced wall
References
"World Heritage List". UNESCO. Retrieved 2012-09-22.they are Broad flat steps
Widgren, Mats (2009). "Mapping precolonial African agricultural systems". p. 5.
Genest, Serge; Muller-Kosack, Gerhard (2003). "The Way of the Beer: Ritual Re-
Enactment of History among the Mafa, Terrace Farmers of the Mandara Mountains
(North Cameroon)" (PDF). Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 73
(4): 642–643. doi:10.2307/3556793. ISSN 0001-9720. JSTOR 3556793.
Fred Zaal (1 April 2016). Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics: Explaining
the Miracle. Routledge. pp. 145–. ISBN 978-1-317-04776-6.
Gwimbe, Samuel Barde (2014). "Ancient Terraces on Highland Fringes South of the
Chad Basin". African Indigenous Knowledge and the Disciplines. Rotterdam:
SensePublishers. pp. 45–61. doi:10.1007/978-94-6209-770-4_6. ISBN 978-94-6209-770-
4.
Molefi Kete Asante; Ama Mazama (26 November 2008). Encyclopedia of African
Religion. SAGE Publications. p. 328. ISBN 978-1-5063-1786-1.
Paudel, G.P., A. McDonald, D.B. Rahut, D.B KC, and S. Justice 2019 Scale-
appropriate mechanization impacts on productivity among smallholders: Evidence from
rice systems in the mid-hills of Nepal. Land Use Policy 85(2019):104-113.
"Terrace cultivation | agriculture". Encyclopedia Britannica.
"Farming Like the Incas". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
Martín, Lidia & González Morales, A & Ojeda, Antonio A.. (2016). Towards a new
valuation of cultural terraced landscapes: The heritage of terraces in the Canary
Islands (Spain). 26. 499-512. 10.19233/ASHS.2016.31.
Whittington, G. (1967-01-01). "Towards a Terminology for Strip Lynchets". The
Agricultural History Review. 15 (2): 103–107. JSTOR 40273237.
An Agricultural Wonder: Japan’s Vanishing Terraced Rice Fields (Photos)
(Nippon.com)
External links

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