Scarred land: over a century of heavy farming has cut water erosion dongas into this treasured renosterveld hillside near Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape. Photo: Noel Oettle©
Catching the fall: a ‘check dam’ helps slow and spread the water which would otherwise cut this gully deeper, allowing soil to settle, seeds to germinate and plants to take root. Photo: Noel Oettle©
NIEUWOUDTVILLE: The scars run chest-deep in the grainy tillite clay on the renosterveld slopes of the Bokkeveld plateau, outside Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape. Their walls are hard as cement, baked solid by the sun since their topsoil has long since been carved away through the scouring action of rain water.
Some of these fissures are over a century old, slashed into the hillside by water erosion following overgrazing, the plough shear and failed contour lines where previous generations of farmers tried to stop tilled soils from washing away.
But now, just three years after erosion control measures were started by the Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG) at a demonstration site on the farm Avontuur, and the land is showing signs of recovery.
Tiny shrubs, succulents and flowering plants have started to bristle out of the sediment that’s been trapped by small ‘check dams’ made of poles, rocks and geotextile, a biodegradable hessian-like fabric.
Links:
For more information on the Avontuur Sustainable Agriculture, visit http://avontuur.org.za or contact EMG at 027 218 1117.