Land Use Definition

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3.0: BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE FRAMEWORK As the basis for the subsequent discussion there is a need of certain concepts and definition. These concepts and / or definitions concern the land itself, land use kinds, land qualities and characteristics and land improvements. However, in this text, certain definitions are given in a simplified form so as to make clear. 3.1.0: Land Land can normally be defined as the physical entity in terms of its topography and spatial nature. Land is an area of the earth’s terrestrial surface, the characteristics of which embrace all reasonably stable, or predictably cyclic, attributes of the biosphere vertically above and below this area including those of the atmosphere, the soil and the underlying geology, the…show more content…
It has also been defined as the total activities, arrangements, and inputs that undertaken by the people in a certain land cover type. Land use practices vary considerably across the world. "Land use concerns the products and/or benefits acquired from the use of the land as well as the actions or activities of land management that are carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits”. (Explanation from the United Nations’ FAO water division). As of the early 1990s, about 13% of the Earth was considered arable land, 32% forests and woodland, 26% in pasture, and 1.5% urban areas. Furthermore, land suitability evaluation involves relating land mapping units to specified types of land use. The types of use considered are limited to those which has appeared to be relevant under general physical, economic and social conditions prevailing in an area. These kinds of land use serve as the subject of land evaluation. They may consist of major kinds of land use or land utilization types. 3.2.1: Major Kinds of Land…show more content…
crops, livestock, timber), services (e.g. recreational facilities) or other benefits (e.g. conservation of wildlife) - Market orientation, including whether towards subsistence or commercial production - Capital intensity - Labour intensity - Power sources (e.g. human labour, draught animals, machinery using fuels) - Technical knowledge and attitudes of land users - Technology employed (e.g. implements and machinery, fertilizers, livestock breeds, farm transport, methods of timber felling) - Infrastructure requirements (e.g. sawmills, factories, agricultural advisory services) - Size and configuration of land holdings, including whether consolidated or fragmented - Land tenure, the manner whether legal or customary in which rights to land are held by individuals or groups - Levels of Income, expressed per capita, per unit of production (e.g. farm) or per unit area. Some examples of land utilization types are: i. Rainfed annual cropping based on groundnuts with subsistence maize, by smallholders with low capital resources, using cattle drawn farm implements, with high labour intensity, on freehold farms of 5-10

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