Stop Soil Erosion with Living Plant Barriers

Backgrounder

Today we have an interesting idea about preventing soil erosion from fellow farmer Harvey Harman. Harvey lived in South Africa for many years where he worked on an agricultural development project.

In many parts of the world, soil erosion is a problem. Often the soil washes down slopes. This causes gullies to form. Gullies are ditches or trenches worn into the earth by running water after the rain. In some places farmers build rock walls across these gullies. In areas where there are lots of rocks this method can work well, but it is a lot of work.

For many years Harvey watched his South African neighbours experiment with ways to reduce soil erosion and stop gullies from forming. Some of their ideas work well. There is one method that is especially effective and easy to do. This is how it works.

Instead of building rock barricades, people transplant small aloe plants (Aloe ferox and Agave americana) to form a line across the gullies. The leaves of aloe plants are fleshy blades or spikes that rise together from the base of the plant. They are filled with a bitter juice that is sometimes used as a vegetable or medicine. As these aloe plants grow, their big leaves cross over one another to form a natural barricade. Sometimes people also put brush down beside the row of aloes to make the barricade wider. This barricade stops water and soil from moving very quickly down the slope. Soil piles up beside the barricade. As the aloes grow, more and more soil builds up beside them. Slowly the gully fills with soil again.

Small Aloe ferox plants can be found in many places. They can be dug up and transplanted in the gullies. Some kinds of aloe sprout smaller plants that grow all around the base of a large plant. These small plants can easily be dug up and transplanted in the gullies.

Goats and grazing animals don’t disturb these plants. And because they form a tight barrier and are easy to find and transplant, these plants are useful in the fight to stop gullies from forming.

If you don’t have aloe plants nearby, you can try this same method using vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) or other grasses or plants that you know provide good erosion control.