Farmer perception of runoff and erosion and extent of flooding in the silt-loam belt of the Belgian Walloon Region

Flooding, and in particular muddy floods resulting from erosion of agricultural land, is of growing concern to decision makers and the public in western Europe and is frequently blamed on agricultural land use. Two surveys were therefore under-taken in the Walloon Region of Belgium, one among all municipalities to assess the extent of flooding, and one among 1500 farmers in the silt-loam and sandy-loam agricultural regions to evaluate the extent of runoff and erosion problems on-farm and what, if any, control measures are currently implemented by farmers. Twenty-seven percent of the municipalities in Wallonia have been confronted with floods at least once every 2 years over the last decade. For the silt-loam and sandy-loam regions specifically, 68% of the municipalities have had to deal with at least one flooding event directly attributed to agricultural runoff during the last 10 years. Runoff or erosion was observed at least once every other year on average by 26% of the farmers during the last decade. The occurrence of erosion was positively correlated to the area of row crops and negatively correlated to winter cereals. On average, 74% of the fanners are taking active measures to control erosion but farmers with erosion problems are more likely to take measures. Farmers with a higher level of education are also more likely to implement erosion control measures (ECMs) than less educated farmers. It appears therefore that greater efforts need to be expended on awareness raising among less educated farmers and towards the development, testing and demonstration of additional ECMs if flooding problems are to be reduced in the future. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.