Abstract

The inercasingly devastating effects of uninterrupted soil erosion is perhaps nowhere more patent in this country than in the rolling topography of the South-West Coast of India exposed to an annual rainfall ranging from 100 to 200 inches. While expensive measures of soil conservation like contour bunding, bench terracing etc. are being formulated and carried out under National Plans as well as under the auspices of State Governments separately at very considerable cost, it may sound as fantastic to claim that soil erosion on the slopes of Western Ghats even with over 160 inches of rainfall need cause no concern and involve no expenditure exceeding Rs. 5/- per acre. That the above is neither a miracle nor an exageration would be clear from the following account.

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