ON SITE EFFECTS OF SOIL EROSION IN TEA LANDS IN KANDY DISTRICT . AN ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT·

Abstract

Soil erosion is a serious problem in many parts of Sri Lanka. It has numerous impacts oncrop productivity. economic growth, income distribution. food production etc. Tea lands inKandy district are highly susceptible to soil erosion due to several factors such as sloppynature. unstable soils. high rainfall and improper land uses. This study focused 011 aneconomic assessment of on site effects of soil erosion in tea lands in Kandy district andbased on secondary data on soil erosion. On site damage due to soil erosion was assessedusing Replacement Cost Approach.

This study considered three categories of vegetatively propagated lea (VPTI, VPT2. VPT3).and another three categories of seedling tea (ST I. ST2. ST3) to assess on site damage dueto tea cultivation. According to the assessment on site damage due to lea cultivation inKandy district is Rs. 156X.1million (1.56X I Rs. Billion). Per hectare replacement costs forVPTI. VPT2. VPT3 are Rs. 1010.21016.45654 while for STI. ST2. ST3 are 7030.14322. 12X747 respectively.

Net Present Value (NPV) criterion 'was used to examine the economic feasibility of soilconservation measures viz : stone walls. contour and leader drains. and biologicalconservation (SALT) by considering 10 percent discount rate and 5 years planning period.This study reveals that intcrnalisation or on site cost of soil erosion is acceptable if propersoil conservation methods were used under private accounting of conservationprogrammes.