This project proposes to study the practice of applying large quantities of sediment from dry river dams (or “tanks”) to agricultural fields, over the Berambadi catchment in South India, by exploring several complementary questions:
- What is the understanding of this practice from farmers?
- Can we quantify the spatial and temporal occurrence of this practice using multi-temporal satellite images over several years?
- What is the impact of sediment application on soil functions (fertilizer, amendment, bio-activator)?
- What is the range of variation of the physico-chemical composition of the tank sediments (within a tank, between tanks)? How does this variability affect the impact of sediment application on different soil types?
- What are the benefits and risks of this practice for soil in the short term? In the long term?
A deeper understanding of this practice will provide guidelines to farmers, and so will support this practice in useful and sustainable ways. And finally, it will allow us to study if sediment application over cultivated fields can be one of the potential sustainable solutions for soil security.