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SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF DEGRADED SOILS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF KARTLI REGION)

Ilia Kalandadze, A. Kikava, Besik Kalandadze, Z. Tchitanava, G. Dvalashvili

Abstract

Modern society receives 93% of food products owing to the fertile soils. Today, the areas of fertile soils decreases gradually, while the world population increases. Soil degradation is a global process, the problem, which worries all countries of the world more or less. Soil degradation in Georgia is the result of the climate-relief peculiarities, activity of geodynamic processes, uncontrolled forest felling and inappropriate agricultural practice (incorrect irrigation, melioration, excess use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers, practice of sowing mono-cultures, excess grazing, ploughing steeply inclined slopes, etc.) and most importantly, the processes of warming and climate aridization in Georgia, which coincided with the intensified soil degradation further contributing to the reduced productivity of agriculture. One of the signs of degradation is salt soils. The total area of salt soils and solonetz over the areas of Georgia, which have turned into semi-deserts, is more than 205 thousand hectares. 65% of the agricultural plots of the country are poor in nutritive elements. Particularly alarming is the severe deficit and negative balance of humus, the major indicator of the soil productivity, in all regions of the country. As a result of improper anthropogenic impact on soil, the soil structure is violated, the content of humus and nutritive elements decreased in the soil, a lower compacted layer of the arable zone was formed and the physical properties of soil, such as water permeability, moisture content, aeration, etc. deteriorated. It is established that the harvest on such degraded and tired soils is reduced by 55-65% on average. It should be noted that the absolute majority of the soils in the study region is arable. Most of them are cultivated for purposes other than intended, mostly as hey meadows or pastures. This contributes to the growing areas of virgin soils, soil subsidence, reduced soil porosity, etc. Besides, the said areas are often irrigated improperly leading to the secondary salination of soils.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2020/5.1/s20.097

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