Mapping of soil erosion using remotely sensed data in Zombodze South, Swaziland

Zombodze South is situated in the southern part of Swaziland. It has visible signs of soil erosion. However like many parts of the country, soil erosion has not been mapped. The area lacks soil conservation measures. The objective of the study was to map the spatial distribution of soil erosion, and to determine the perception of community members on soil erosion problems. IDRISI for Windows was used to produce 20 clusters from Landsat ETM data for January 1999. The clusters were allocated to five land cover classes based on a combination of use of “scatterplots” and NDVI values. Gullies were identified on digital aerial photos of the area, and digitized. Other land features such as settlements, roads and rivers were also digitized. A structured questionnaire was administered to 40 homesteads that were randomly selected from the 234 homesteads in the community to collect information on perception of communities on soil erosion, as well as their involvement in controlling soil erosion. About 4% of the area was eroded, with another 38% having very sparse vegetation cover. Gully erosion was prevalent in the southern part of the area. The limited soil erosion conservation measures in the area were undertaken by local school children as part of their school projects. The control measures suggested by members of the community included planting trees and grasses along the gullies, fencing of gullies and construction of check dams.