The land is overgrown with plants more fertile than bare ground or no plants because it contains a layer of flower soil that is not exposed to erosion. However, if forests are logged indefinitely, especially in sloping areas, water and wind erosion can easily occur. For the need for erosion protection, you can see it in https://www.maccaferri.com/us/solutions/slope-protection/.
The characteristics of fertile soil are good texture and soil structure, ie the grain of the soil is not too big and not too small; Lots of salt that is useful for plant foods; And plenty of water to dissolve the salts.
Soil texture shows the relative proportions of the largest particle size can be found in clay clusters whose diameter of particles has a size of 0.0002 mm to almost as large as molecules. Soil structure is the arrangement of grains of a soil.
In general, the composition of the soil consists of 90% of mineral materials, 1-5% of organic matter, 0.9% air, and water. The factors that influence the texture of the soil include mineral and rock composition / parent material, the nature, and the rapid process of local soil formation, and the relative age of the soil.
To prevent erosion, efforts are made in the following ways.
- Conducting reforestation by replanting deforested areas.
- Prohibit the reconstruction of forests that are carried out in a haphazard manner.
- Strip cropping, meaning planting mountain slopes with alternating plants.
- Terraces, it means making terraced terraces on sloping farmland.
- Counting plowing, meaning plowing by contour line, this hijacked plain can hold water.
- Crop rotation, which is the replacement of plant species so that the soil does not run out of one of the nutrients due to be sucked by one type of plant.
The level of erosion of a land will greatly affect the fertility of the soil for agriculture. The higher and higher surface soil erosion levels mean less fertile and unsuitable for food crops. Arrangement of water (drainage) a land also affect the condition of soil fertility. If the water setting is bad then the ground will be flooded its surface.
Not all land on the surface of the earth can be utilized directly by humans because there are certain constraints, such as the presence of thick ice-covered land, ie, land at the poles and in high mountains, arid soils with too high temperatures such as lands In the desert, the infertile lands, and the land of rocks, all of which are very difficult to cultivate. Only certain land that can be utilized.
The qualitative lands that are most likely to be utilized in the fulfillment of human needs are called potential land. Potential land can be utilized by humans for non-farming, among others, in the form of:
- utilization for industrial sites,
- utilization for trading locations,
- utilization for residential areas, and
• utilization for social facilities such as entertainment, infrastructure, transportation, and other social facilities.