TIME TABLE           Thursday                11 am – 12 noon
                                 Friday                    12 - 1 pm
                                 Friday                      2 - 5 pm practicals

 1. LECTURES

There will be two, one hour lectures per week.  Studeots will  be given handouts wherever possible but they are required to take notes during lectures.  A reading list of  books available in the departmental resource room is provided. Some of the books are available in the main library.

 2. PRACTICALS

Practicals are given once every two weeks and are compulsory.  Practicals will consist of either exercises, visits or field-trips.  For each practical exercise a written report will have to be submitted after one week. The program of the practicals ruay change depending on the  arrangemeuts node for the field-trips and the visits to institutions.

 3. COURSE OBJECTIVES

The objective of this course is to give students an understanding of natural resources, that is, water, soils, climate, and vegetation with particular reference to Zimbabwe.  The course emphasizes natural
resources as part of a whole, i.e. an ecosystem, and therefore as being intimately linked. Major environmental issues are highlighted and possible solutions discussed.

Students are expected to grasp the principles of land evaluation and land use planning and how these can be applied in order to achieve sustainable agriculture. They also lave to be familiar with the  principles and applications of remote sensing and the use of maps.

 4. COURSE ASSESSMENT

The course assessmeot will be done through:

The final written examination accounts for 67%
Continous assessment accounts for 33%

Continous assessment is regarded as very important and includes

End of term tests
Reports on  the practicals
Reports on the field-trips
Assignments

 COURSE OUTLINE
 1.  Introduction to course

• World Natural Resource problems and possible solutions.
• Changing patterns and problems in land use
• a global perspective
• a Zirnbabwean perspective - briefly look at Land Tenure in Zimbabwe and its problems.

 2.  Principles of Ecology

• agriculture as an ecological process

 3.  Agro-climatology

• climate of Zimbabwe

 4.  Water resources

• Introduction to hydrology
• Water quality

 5.  Soil profile morphology

 6.  Soil forming processes

 7.  Soils and environment - geology, landforms, vegetation- soil- vegetation relationships.

 8.  Soil classification

• the Zimbabwean Soil Classifiction
• An introduction to the FAO legend and USDA system.

• Saline aud Sodic soils
• Vertisols
• Sandy soils
• Ultra-niafic rock derived soils

 11.  Remote sensing

 12.  Land evaluation and land use planning

• Approaches to resource survey and mapping.
• Evaluatiou of land for irrigation
• Land capability classification
• FAO framework  for evaluatiou
• Land use planning - procedures

 14.  Geographical and Land Information Systems (GIS & LIS)

 15.  Land Policy in Zimbabwe

 PRACTICALS AND FIELD TRIPS

 Practicals will be carried out once per 2 week.

 Aerial photography will be covered during these practicals.

 Case studies will be emphasized so as to highlight evaluation methodologies.

 Field trips will be an important component of the course.