Long-term monitoring of soil erosion and soil and water conservation in Afdeyu, Eritrea (1984-1998): Soil erosion and soil and water conservation database
Afdeyu is an Eritrean village located about 30 km north of the country’s capital, Asmara, in the highlands of Eritrea. In 1984, CDE established a research station in Afdeyu to study the effects of different traditional and introduced soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies on soil erosion. The initial approach focused on the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Later on it was adapted according to the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). For over 20 years, CDE has been running the Afdeyu research station together with the Ministry of Agriculture. Collaboration continued with the Eritrean Ministry of Agriculture after the country became independent in 1991. At present, CDE is still supporting the research unit based on a comprehensive backstopping mandate. Several parameters, mainly biophysical, have been measured continuously ever since the research station came into operation. Part I of this report presents an overview of the research approach and methodology used, and describes how experiments were implemented. In addition, it traces programme adjustments through time and gives a problem-oriented critical review of the general social, political and economic conditions. Part II lists the collected data, indicating their availability status and problems encountered during collection and encoding. Information is structured in the following chapters: Soils; Climate; Land use and crop production; Soil erosion and water conservation on different plot levels; Social and economic data. Each chapter offers general analyses and results (mainly based on annual and monthly means) for all recorded parameters
