Construction of earthen bunds (in Southern Africa they are sometimes referred to as ‘ridges’) is along the contour by excavating a channel and creating a small ridge down slope. Occasionally, the earth used to build the bund is taken from both above and below the structure. They may be reinforced with vegetation or stone for stabilization. Bunds are gradually built up by annual maintenance and adding soil to the bund. The main benefit is that long slopes are broken down into smaller ‘compartments’ with less steep slopes. Erosion is reduced and runoff has more opportunity to infiltrate into the soil between the bunds. Before the bunds lead to the development of flat benches, they effectively form microcatchments with runoff concentrating upslope of the structures. To avoid lateral water flow and breaching of the bunds cross ties are constructed at regular intervals. Such bunding systems are used in areas of 300 – 600 mm annual rainfall on slopes of 1-25%. They can be applied on all types of relatively permeable soils (e.g. alluvial, red, laterite, brown and, shallow and medium black soils) but not on clays or vertisols. While this system is often used for the cultivation of annual crops such as maize (Zea mays), tef (Eragrostis tef) or beans (Vicia faba L), more water-demanding crops, such as bananas, fruits and vegetables may be planted where runoff concentrates – immediately above (and sometimes just below) the bund. Contour bunds may be used specifically as a water harvesting technology for tree establishment. (Mekdaschi & Liniger 2013)