Question

Orchard benched terraces has a width of about

• A. 2m
• B. 3m
• C. 0.5m
• D. 1m

Hint:

Orchard terraces only need to carry one row of trees, so think about what strip width is enough for that, without copying the wider field-crop terrace dimensions.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Bench terraces are grouped by the top width left for farming on each level strip. A level or table top bench terrace, meant for irrigated field crops, is built wide, generally in the range of 3 to 6 metres, since it has to carry rows of crops and allow machinery to work. A broad based terrace is also built wide for the same reason.

Step 2: An orchard terrace, by contrast, only has to carry a single row of fruit trees planted along its length. Fruit trees do not need a wide continuous strip the way row crops do, so the bench can be built much narrower than a crop terrace.

Step 3: For deep soils, the recommended top width for an orchard bench terrace works out to about 2 metres, enough to hold the tree row safely with some working space on either side, without wasting land on an unnecessarily wide bench.

Step 4: A width of 3 metres is closer to what a field-crop or broad based terrace needs, not an orchard terrace, so option 2 is too wide. A width of 0.5 metre or 1 metre would be too narrow to safely hold a mature fruit tree's root zone and stem base with a stable bench, so options 3 and 4 are ruled out.

Step 5: The correct width is about 2 metres, option 1.