Annual soil loss assessment of smallholder rubber growing lands in the Kalutara District, Sri Lanka using the RUSLE model in GIS

Soil loss resulting from various land management practices in traditional rubber-growing areas of Sri Lanka has been a major issue concern and one the factors responsible for declining rubber productivity. There is no or limited information on spatial variability soil lands Lanka's growing areas. This constraint had significant impact effective conservation lands. study focuses assessing smallholder Kalutara District using remotely sensed satellite image-based Digital Elevation Model (DEM), rainfall grid data, prepared maps with ground-level surveys by Natural Resource Management Centre (NRMC) Lanka. The including rainfall, topography, area crop-specific coefficient were analyzed Revised Universal Loss Equation (RUSLE) Geographic Information System (GIS). revealed that about 30% fall under risk to severe categories while 60% are low-risk category. About 8,500 ha can be categorized as whilst 15,000 category loss. findings this useful implementation an plan potential applying methodological approach other crops.