Determination of Cover and Land Management Factors for Soil Loss Prediction in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Abstract

Many new agricultural activities resulted in severe soil erosion across the Cameron Highlands’ land surface. Therefore, this study determines the cover (C) and land management (P) factors of the USLE for predicting soil loss risk in Cameron Highlands using a Geographic Information System (GIS). For this study, data from the Department of Agriculture Malaysia (DOAM) and the Department of Town and Country Planning Malaysia (PLANMalaysia) were used to generate several C&P factors in the Cameron Highlands. Data from both agencies have resulted in C factors with 0.01 to 1.00 and P factors with 0.30 to 0.49. Due to the cover and land management factor varies depending on the data collected by the various agencies, this study used the two data sets to come up with a C&P factor that accurately reflected both agricultural and urban growth effects. RKLS factors of USLE were obtained from the DOAM with values R (2375–2875), K (0.005), LS (2.5–25), respectively. The Cameron Highlands’ soil loss risk with these new C&P values resulted in a soil loss of 6.72 per cent (4547.22 hectares) from high to critical, with a percentage difference range of −0.77 to +3.37 under both agencies, respectively.

Keywords

• cover management factor
• land management factor
• soil erosion
• soil loss
• soil risk
• USLE