Which practice involves growing crops in narrow bands across a field to reduce wind and water erosion?

Which practice involves growing crops in narrow bands across a field to reduce wind and water erosion?

• A. Strip-Cultivation and Intercropping
• B. Cover Cropping
• C. Terracing
• D. Contour Ploughing

Answer: (A)

Using strips of crops laid out across a field to break up wind and water flow is strip cropping, paired with intercropping when different crops are grown in adjacent strips. The narrow bands act like small barriers: they slow down wind, reduce the speed of surface runoff, and trap soil that would otherwise be carried away. The varied canopies and deep root systems of different crops help bind the soil and improve infiltration, so erosion is much less likely on sloping ground and during heavy rain. This approach is especially effective on slopes because the alternating strips interrupt the path of soil movement and protect exposed soil between the bands. Other practices protect soil in different ways. Terracing creates level steps to stop slope steepness from driving runoff. Contour ploughing follows the natural contours to slow water flow, and cover cropping keeps soil protected when fields would otherwise be bare. But the description of growing crops in narrow bands across the field to cut both wind and water erosion points most clearly to strip-cultivation and intercropping.

Using strips of crops laid out across a field to break up wind and water flow is strip cropping, paired with intercropping when different crops are grown in adjacent strips. The narrow bands act like small barriers: they slow down wind, reduce the speed of surface runoff, and trap soil that would otherwise be carried away. The varied canopies and deep root systems of different crops help bind the soil and improve infiltration, so erosion is much less likely on sloping ground and during heavy rain. This approach is especially effective on slopes because the alternating strips interrupt the path of soil movement and protect exposed soil between the bands.

Other practices protect soil in different ways. Terracing creates level steps to stop slope steepness from driving runoff. Contour ploughing follows the natural contours to slow water flow, and cover cropping keeps soil protected when fields would otherwise be bare. But the description of growing crops in narrow bands across the field to cut both wind and water erosion points most clearly to strip-cultivation and intercropping.