Assessment of cost of soil erosion and energy saving value of soil conservation measures in India

Abstract

As far as adaptation of soil conservation measures is concerned, recent experiences have shown that the traditional or sheer technical ways to express the consequences of erosion are not so convincing to policy planners and decision makers. One possible way of attracting attention of land managers is to express the damage of soil erosion and benefits of soil conservation practices by expressing them in monetary and energetic terms for better understanding of the potential users. In the present study, economic cost of erosion in India was calculated based on the cost of replacing the lost nutrients employing replacement cost principles and in turn the cost of producing fertilizers was estimated in terms of energy spent for replacing the lost nutrients. It is estimated that to compensate for the nutrient losses inflicted by 1 mm loss of soil due to water erosion from one hectare land area, an additional 1642 MJ of energy is expended, which is equivalent to about 91 kg of petrol. Considering 140 million ha (Mha) of net sown area in India, an additional energy requirement worked out to be about 14 million tonnes (Mt) of petrol per year. Based on an average loss of grains or seeds of 8.9 Mt of cereals, 2.8 Mt of oilseeds and 1.7 Mt of pulses, respectively, the calculated amount of energy in the aboveground biomass of these crops is estimated as 557070 tera joules (TJ) of energy, which is equivalent to 29.32 Mt of fuel wood or 12110 mega l of Kerosene. The study further revealed that any soil conservation measure or a combination there of in conjunction with appropriate management practices which can reduce soil erosion by 1 ton has the potential to save 655500 k joules (KJ) of energy, equivalent to 15 kg fuel oil.