3.1 Potential soil losses by water erosion in Brazilian territory
Considering the land use and cover in Brazil“s territory on 2017 (Table 1), it was estimated that, without the adoption of any of the agricultural and conservation practices, the annual potential soil loss is of about 3.0 billion tons, from this total value 29.5% originate in the croplands and 61.4% in pasturelands (Table 2). The estimation of the economic impact of the soil loss, based on the costs of nutrient replenishment with fertilizers (organic and mineral) and liming is evaluated as 15.7 billion US dollars per year for croplands and pasturelands (Table 2). The cost due to soil degradation in US, where soil erosion plays a major role, was estimated as of 44 billion US dollars per year for a total area of crop and pasture of 178 million ha (Eswaran et al., 2001).