Sloping agricultural land technology (SALT): a sustainable agroforestry scheme for the uplands

Soil erosion due to deforestation and heavy rains presents an extremely serious problem in many parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in the upland Philippines. The Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC), a non-government organization based in the southern part, has developed and spread an agroforestry scheme called Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) to help control soil erosion and increase crop yields. Basically, SALT utilizes nitrogen-fixing trees as soil binder, fertilizer generator, and livestock feed source. The system also includes annual and perennial diversified food crops grown in the spaces between the hedgerows. The SALT model has been tested both in demonstration plots and farmers' fields, and has proven to be appropriate for use by typical hilly-land farmers. The system can reduce soil erosion and restore moderately degraded hilly lands to a profitable farming system.