Agricultural Land Use BT - The Soils of Ecuador

Abstract

Population growth, land pressure, and the demand for food and exportable products are factors that promoted the expansion of the country agricultural frontierAgricultural frontier. The area under cultivation changed from 1´766,000 ha in 1954 to 2´470,000 ha in 2013. In the same period of time, the area devoted to natural and cultivated pastures that changed from 1´570,000 to 4´486,000 ha. This clear expansion trend significantly reduced the availability of good new land and has opened the way to use páramos and marginal lands for agricultural purposes with the consequent environmental impact. The existence of altitudinal climatic zones and the heterogeneity of soils have developed a complex assembly of different situations that varies from areas that can be used intensively to areas that are not suitable for agricultural production. Crops like rice, a staple food for the Ecuadorian population, and corn for animal nutrition, are mail crops cultivated in the low southern coast plane, while the traditional perennial plantation crops like bananaBananaand oil palm are mainly cultivated on the central and northern coast plane; however, the area under cocoa cultivation has increased steadily all over the coast plane. Crop production in the Highlands is dominated by potato, open pollinated corn used mainly for human consumption, and horticultural crops along with extensive areas utilized for pastures for milking cows. Extensive areas of soils on the AmazoniaAmazoniahave been incorporated to pasture to maintain cattle production, and more recently to corn, cocoa, and coffeeCoffeeproduction.