Agroecological aspect of olive cultivation

Olive cultivation is very common in the Aegean region of Turkey and the sloping lands of this region face with severe erosion due to intensive cultivation practices. Erosion rapidly leads to infertile lands owing to detritions of the most productive top layer of soil and removal of soil to low lands on the slope. The level of erosion in olive-plantation zones has reached to a level that threatens even the agriculture of this crop. In this study, soil loss which results from conversion of natural vegetation such as maquis and forests into olive plantation was determined by using remote sensing technique and GIS. Results of the study showed that lands which were converted into olive plantations have a soil lose of 12.159 t ha-1 annually. If natural vegetation of the lands was protected, only 3.965 t ha-1 year soil would be lost. This result states that every year 8.194 t ha-1 of soil are lost because of land use changes into olive cultivation on sloppy lands. It is known that similar agricultural land use plans have been supported by government in the Aegean region, which results to huge amounts of soil loss. Also, this result shows ecological damage of soil practices causing accelerated erosion and olive cultivation without precautions against erosion