Agriculture terraces

Rice terraces:
In agriculture, a terrace is a leveled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed as a method of soil conservation to slow or prevent the rapid surface runoff of irrigation water. Often such land is formed into multiple terraces, giving a stepped appearance. The most common crop on these terraces is rice. Nowhere in the world such spectacular agriculture terraces (rice terrases in this case) are found as in the Philippine Cordilleras. The philipinne Cordilleras is a mountain range in northern Philipinne. The most spectacular and most famous rice terraces here are the ones around the village of Banaue. The Rice Terraces here are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". This is no surprise if you see the pictures below:






There are many other rice terraces in the Philipinne Cordilleras. Like here near Batad:


Agriculture terraces are common in whole South-East Asia and especially in southern China. The rice terraces built by the Hani nationality in Yuanyang County in China are a little known scenic wonder in South-West China's Yunnan province. Dropping from near the summits of the 2500 metre Ailao Mountain Range to the deep cleft of the Red River, they are among the world's most spectacular and extensive terraces:




Here near the town of Longshen in the Guanxi province in China another large area of rice terraces is situated:






In Vietnam there are also many big rice terrace projects. Here near Sa Pa in Vietnam for example:


In Peru, the Inca made use of otherwise unusable slopes by drystone walling to create terraces. The most famous they made are at the site of Inca town of Machu Picchu. These are really steep terraces: