Land Use in Advancing Agriculture

404 Pages·1975·14.8 MB·English

by  Dr. A. P. A. Vink (auth.)

Advanced Series in Agricultural Sciences 1
Co-ordinating Editor: B. Varon, Bet-Dagan
Editors: G. W. Thomas, Lexington B.R. Sabey, Fort Collins
Y. Vaadia, Bet-Dagan L. D. Van Vleck, Ithaca
A.PA.Vink
Land Use
in Advancing Agriculture
With 94 Figures and 115 Tables
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York 1975
Dr. A. P. A. VINK, Professor of Physical Geography and Soil Science,
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-66051-1 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-66049-8
001: 10.1007/978-3-642-66049-8
This work is subject to copyright. AIl rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned,
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Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is payable to
the publisher, the amount of the fee to be determined by agreement with the publisher.
© by Springer-Verlag, Berlin· Heidelberg 1975.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1975
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Vink, A. P. A. Land use in advancing agriculture. (Advanced
series in agricultural sciences; v. 1). Bibliography: p. . Includes index. I. Land. 2. Agriculture-Economic aspects.
I. Title. II. Series. HDlll.V56 333.7'6 74-31006.
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statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free
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Typesetting, Printing and Binding: Brlihlsche Universitiitsdruckerei GieBen.
Foreword
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The Editors
Preface
The Netherlands school of soil scientists has always had particular interest in the
relationship between land use and land resources. Nearly thirty years ago the
late Professor C. H. EDELMAN wrote a book in Dutch on Socio-Economic Soil
Science. In 1963 the present author published Aspects de Pedologie Appliquee
(A la Baconniere, Neuchatel, Switzerland). Our knowledge of the resources aspects
of land use has since then grown continuously, thanks in particular to the
work ofthe Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ofthe United Nations in
Rome. This knowledge crystallized in the FA 0 Expert Consultation on Land
Evaluation, held at Wageningen in 1972.
Latterly, the ecological aspects of land use and land resources have received
increasing attention. This interest was much stimulated by the activities of the
Division for Natural Resources Research of UNESCO, Paris, who sponsored the
International Symposium on Integrated Surveys and Environmental Management in
Developing Countries, held at the lTC/UNESCO Centre, Enschede, in 1972.
The request to the author to write the present book, made by Dr. BRUNO
YA RON on behalf of editors and publishers, therefore came at a propitious
moment. There are still many problems to be solved in the relationship between
land use and land resources, but at least we have reached a stage at which a
coherent text can be written. I am very grateful for this opportunity, which
has enabled me to make use of nearly thirty years' experience in this field of
study, experience obtained in various parts of the world.
Agriculture is continuously advancing toward economic and social goals in
accordance with the demands of human society. To this end, old and new
technologies are being applied to the various kinds of land resources. A careful
study of the kinds of land use and of the various resources involves a variety of
methods of research and evaluation. Land management provides the means for
maintaining a sound ecological balance together with optimal fulfillment of
human demands. For a successful outcome, land use and land management have
to be well adapted to the land resources and to the ecological conditions. Land
improvement provides a further means of adapting land resources to human
demand.
It is impossible to acknowledge in a personal manner the contributions made
to this work by the many people with whom I had contact during this period.
In a general manner I thank here most sincerely the farmers of the Netherlands,
Indonesia, Luxembourg, Cameroun, Ruanda, Tunisia, Iraq, Switzerland and Italy,
from whom I probably learned more than from anybody else. I also thank my
colleagues from these countries as well as from F AO and UNESCO and from
Belgium, Iran, Egypt, Portugal, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, the German
VIII Preface
Democratic Republic, the German Federal Republic, Israel, and the United
States.
A special word of thanks goes to my former colleagues at the Netherlands
Soil Survey Institute and at the Agricultural University, Wageningen, as well as
at the International Institute for Aerial Survey and Earth Sciences (lTC),
Enschede. My present cooperation with staff and students of the Laboratory for
Physical Geography and Soil Science of the University of Amsterdam, has
considerably increased my insight into the subject and was therefore indispensable
for the writing of this book.
Finally, I would like to mention by name a few persons who deserve my
special thanks: the late Professor C. H. EDELMAN (Wageningen Agricultural
University), Professor W. SCHERMERHORN (lTC), Dr. D. L. BRAMAO and Dr. R.
DUDAL (FAO), Professor V. KOVDA (Moscow University), and Monsieur M.
BATISSE (UNESCO).
Special thanks go also to all those who permitted me to use illustrative
material from their publications.
Without the help and encouragement I received from the publisher and
editors as well as from the administrative and secretarial staff of our laboratory,
the attempt to write this book would probably not have succeeded. Without
the work of our drawing office, the production of the figures would have
constituted a major problem. I thank them all most sincerely.
Amsterdam, January 1975 A. P. A. VINK
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1
1.2 Anthropological, Historical, and Institutional Aspects of Land Use 3
1.3 Resources-Aspects of Land Use 7
1.4 Present and Potential Land Use ............... 15
Chapter 2: Land Use Surveys
2.1 Principles of Land Use Surveys 17
2.2 Various Kinds of Land Use Surveys 18
2.3 Modern Survey Techniques 26
Chapter 3: Land Utilization Types
3.1 General ............. . 35
3.2 Agricultural Land Utilization Types 44
3.3 Typology of Agricultural Land Utilization 53
3.4 Non-Agricultural Land Utilization Types 58
Chapter 4: Land Resources
4.1 General Introduction 66
4.2 Climate, Geology, Relief 70
4.2.1 Climate ...... . 70
4.2.2 Geology and Relief 84
4.3 Soil and Water Resources 91
4.3.1 Soils . . . . . . . . 91
4.3.2 Water Conditions · 110
4.4 Other Land Resources 122
4.4.1 Artifactial Resources 122
4.4.2 Vegetation Resources 128
Chapter 5: Landscape Ecology and Land Conditions
5.1 General ...... . 131
5.2 Landscape Ecology 133
5.3 Land Resources Surveys 136
5.4 Land Use Requirements 145
5.4.1 Cultural Ecosystems as Dynamic Complexes · 145
5.4.2 Crop Requirements ......... . · 146
x Contents
5.4.3 Land Management Requirements ...... . · 152
5.4.4 Crop Responses to Management: Land Productivity · 155
5.4.5 Land Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · 168
5.4.6 Requirements of Non-Agricultural Land Utilization Types · 177
5.5 Land Conditions · 196
5.5.1 Land Qualities · 196
5.5.2 Land Limitations .209
5.5.3 Land Improvement .211
5.5.4 Irrigation . . . . .220
Chapter 6: Land Evaluation
6.1 General .............. . .234
6.2 Actual Land Suitability and Soil Suitability .238
6.3 Potential Land Suitability .254
6.4 Land Evaluation Classifications .280
6.5 Land Evaluation Procedures .295
6.5.1 General ........ . .295
6.5.2 Land Resources Interpretation .298
6.5.3 The Intersector Approach · 318
Chapter 7: Development of Land Use in Advancing Agriculture
7.1 General ................ . .327
7.2 Land Use Improvement and Land Improvement · 332
7.3 New Land Utilization Types ..... · 353
7.4 Economic and Ecological Considerations · 358
References . .370
Subject Index · 383
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Definitions
Land use is any kind of permanent or cyclic human intervention to satisfy human
needs, either material or spiritual or both, from the complex of natural and
artifactial resources which together are called "land". In this sense, true nomads
with no fixed habitat do not practice land use; they do not systematically apply
their energies to any specific tract of land, and they themselves are a natural part
of an ecosystem, as are other living organisms. Land carries ecosystems; land use
is the application of human controls, in a relatively systematic manner, to the key
elements within any ecosystem, in order to derive benefit from it. Man, although
an inherent part of the ecosystem in which he lives, places himself to some extent
outside the system and tries to manipulate it. He may do this in a very intensive
manner, as is seen in the paddy cultures of Asia or in the horticultural cultures of
Western Europe, or in a very extensive manner, e.g. the semi-nomadic peoples of
Mrica. Hunting which is practiced as systematic game-cropping on specific areas
of land falls into the category of land use. Although it is often the most extensive
(low input) form of land use, it fulfills the essential qualification that man system-
atically applies his technological know-how to derive the required benefits. The
same holds true for wildlife conservation, carried out systematically either for
purposes of recreation or because man perceives that he cannot exist without
obtaining a sufficiently steady state in his cultural ecosystems.
Land, being the carrier of those ecosystems which provide the most benefits to
mankind, is the over-all natural resource. A resource is there to be used, and use
takes place in specific areas and at specific localities. Although land may be
viewed from a broad, holistic concept in natural science, its use always involves
specific surface areas; land is therefore a truly geographical concept. The land as
we see it today is in many areas the result of a combination of both its natural
genesis and the human influences which have been brought to bear on it in the
past and of those which are still active in the present. The human influences may
be the result of positive human action, such as the construction of polders with
dikes and pumping stations; it may also be the result of human negligence or lack
of knowledge and foresight, as is seen in many severely eroded areas of the world
and in areas covered by human, mainly industrial, refuse.
Land is a dynamic concept; it carries ecosystems, but is itself also a part of
these ecosystems. One of its main components, the soil, is itself a complex ecosys-
tem containing animals and plants of different sizes and activities. Natural proc-
esses occurring in the land derive energy from the sun as well as from mineral and
biological sources. Relief, which is one source of energy, i.e., the energy provided
2 Chapter 1: Introduction
by differences in height, is a specific attribute of the land surface. Land, although
tending towards a steady state, is therefore never truly stable. The land, viewed as
landscape, as observed today by both visual and other methods of perception,
may achieve near stability from certain points of view, but this stability is the
result of complex interactions of a multitude of phenomena and processes. We try
to use this for our own ends and hope to induce those kinds of near-stability
which will benefit us most on a long-term basis (CHORLEY and KENNEDY, 1971).
The best definition of land therefore is one which involves the geographical
aspects of "a tract ofland" and reads: "A tract ofland is defined geographically as
a specific area of the earth's surface; its characteristics embrace all reasonably
stable, or predictably cyclic attributes of the biosphere vertically above and below
this area including those of the atmosphere, the soil and underlying rocks, the
topography, the water, the plant and animal populations and the results of past
and present human activity, to the extent that these attributes exert a significant
influence on present and future uses ofthe land by man." (Adapted from BRINK-
MAN and SMYTH, 1973, and CHRISTIAN and STEWART in REY et aI., 1968.)
This definition obviously includes all land resources, both natural and man-
made, of a clearly permanent or cyclic nature. Vegetation and animal popula-
tions, both natural and man-induced, are definitely included. Permanent artificial
structures such as dikes, canals, metalled roads or stable terraces are also consi-
dered a part of the land. Several institutional factors, however, are not included.
Thus, a distinction must here be made. The concept of land as a natural resource
does not include the institutional aspects; scientists adhering mainly to this con-
ceptual approach prefer to include institutional aspects with the land utilization
type. Land as a "tract", i.e. as a geographically defined specific area, does include
the permanent or cyclic institutional attributes. Thus, the general field pattern
and the system of ownership of a particular tract of land are attributes of the land
itself, because they are relatively permanent. Whether a particular individual is at
a certain moment the owner of a tract, which may be a subdivision of the above-
mentioned one, is not an attribute of the land, because in many social systems
ownership may be changed by a simple deed. National and administrative bound-
aries, also relatively permanent, are attributes of the land as well. In some cases
they may even have a marked influence on the resources of the land, as in water-
districts of the Netherlands, boundaries have determined throughout the centu-
ries all matters pertaining to drainage. In land development planning as well as in
environmental management, these attributes often are highly significant: they
offer both resources and limitations which may have to be adapted by rural
reconstruction, in order to use the land to its best advantage.
The concept of "land use" is often considered a relatively stable subject, re-
lated mainly to the use to which the land in a certain region at a certain time is
put. One might infer this, for example, from the World Land Use surveys made
under the aegis of the International Geographic Union and under the guidance of
the late Sir Dudley Stamp, although the latter certainly did not mean this to be
concluded from his work. Land use is the result of a continuous field of tension
created between available resources and human needs and acted upon by human
efforts. Some resources--climate and relief-are not readily responsive to human
intervention and therefore induce a tendency towards stability. Other resources