Investigating Awareness regarding Impacts of Soil Erosion and Conservative Measures in Rural Areas of Golestan’ Chehel-Chay Watershed

Soil erosion can lead to deterioration of soil quality and hence reduces soil productivity. Adoption of soil conservation practices can play a critical role in reducing soil erosion and improving soil fertility. While adoption of soil conservation measures is highly depend on farmer’s awareness about soil erosion impacts and causes. Therefore, in a survey answered by 273 randomly-selected farmers which were selected by Cochran formula from 15 villages of Chehel-Chay Watershed and awareness and knowledge about soil erosion impacts and causes on usage of soil conservation measures were investigated. The majority of the farmers (85%) believe that erosion could be controlled, and they use numerous range of practices for erosion control and fertility improvement. These include contour plowing (32.2%), planting seeds by hand (24.4.0%), minimum tillage (23.8%), grass buffer strips (23.4%) and crop rotation (20.9%). Although these conservation measures were more used in the area, it appears that most farmers have perceived favorable effectiveness towards practices such no-tillage, sprinkler irrigation system, permanent surface cover crops, contour plowing and terracing. Results of one-sample t-test reveal that farmers are well aware of the adverse impacts and causes of soil erosion. The result of regression analysis showed that adoption and usage of conservation measures was influenced more by perceived effectiveness of conservation measures, knowledge on causes of soil erosion and awareness of soil erosion impacts and causes of soil erosion. The research concludes that despite favorable knowledge about impacts and causes of soil erosion, it appears that effectiveness of existing measures is not acceptable. Thus, under the current conditions, the awareness of the adverse impacts and causes of soil erosion is not fully reflected in usage of more effective conservation practices.