FUTURE LAND UTILIZATION AND MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE CROP PRODUCTION

Soil cultivation caused a great change in the ecological state, from a situation with the soil surface protected by vegetation to a sitation with bare soil exposed to climatic forces during part of the year. An nual crops require annual soil cultivation, and the increased minerali zation of organic matter and the loss of soil productivity by erosion, leaching and other degradation processes remain a problem for sustain able food production. The challenge for the future is to manage the ag ricultural landscape in units which are catchments. These units would contain intensively drained and cultivated areas, permanent vegetation zones, as well as natural and constructed wetlands working as condens ors and self-purifying units. The management would be differentiated a ccording to a land suitability approach with intensity of use based on productivity and requirements for maintenance of environmental qualit y.