An economic analysis of land degradation and soil ecosystem services in kerala

Abstract

newline Land degradation is the reduction in productive capacity and quality of land. Soil newlinedegradation is one of the types of land degradation which reduces the productive capacity of soil newlineecosystem services and functions. The major soil degradation issues identified in Kerala are soil newlineacidity, soil erosion, salinity, micro-nutrient deficiencies, especially magnesium and boron, newlinealuminium toxicity etc. In addition to inherent soil properties in various types of soil across the newlinestate, poor soil management, overuse of inorganic fertilisers, inefficient soil and land management newlinepractices, and other anthropogenic activities like deforestation, urbanisation etc have added to the newlinerate of soil degradation. Any investment decision primarily depends on the benefits/returns newlineobtained from it, so is the soil conservation investment by the farmers. Thus, the analysis of soil newlinedegradation, soil conservation by the individual farmers, its impact on the yield /net returns which newlineaffect the adoption decision when conveyed in monetary terms provide more meaningful inference. newlineIn this background, the present study was conducted with the objectives (i) to document newlinevarious forms of land degradation and the factors contributing to land degradation in Kerala state newline(ii) to estimate the economic costs of various forms of land degradation in Kerala State (iii) to newlinedevelop and apply suitable analytical framework to estimate the economic value of soil ecosystem newlineservices across land use categories (iv) to study the public and private investments in soil newlineconservation and their impacts (v) to derive policy implications for sustainable management of newlinesoil ecosystems. newlineDistricts of Alappuzha which includes the (Kuttanad wet land) and Idukki were newlinepurposively selected for the study in order to have maximum variability in terms of agro-ecological newlineand socio-economic characteristics. A total of 360 farmers, 180 each from Kuttanad and Idukki newlinewere selected for the study; data collected through pretested personal interview schedule a