The Montpellier Panel - made up of agricultural, trade and ecology experts from Europe and Africa- warned that land degradation reduces soil fertility, leading to lower crop yields and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Montpellier Panel works together to enable better European government support of international and regional agriculture development and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Neglecting the health of Africa's soil will lock the continent into a cycle of food insecurity for generations to come, a Montpellier report has warned.

The publication by the Montpellier Panel stated that the problem needed to be given a higher priority by aid donors.

It added that soil degradation was also hampering economic development, costing the continent's farmers billions of dollars in lost income.

The study has been published ahead of the 2015 international year of soils.

"In Africa, the impacts are substantial where 65% of arable land, 30% of grazing land and 20% of forests are already damaged," it observed.

Panel chairman Sir Prof Gordon Conway, from Imperial College London, told BBC News: "We spend a lot of time talking about crops and we spend a lot of time talking about livestock. We have big debates about all kinds of agriculture, yet we tend to ignore that it all depends on soils."

"Serious land degradation accounts for about a quarter of land area of sub-Saharan Africa - it is a vast area," he said.

"There are about 180 million people who are living on land that is in some way or another degraded. It is really very severe." The problem threatened food production in a region that was already experiencing very low crop yields, he explained. "The average yield in sub-Saharan Africa is about one tonne per hectare. In India, it is about two- and-a-half tonnes, while in China it is more than three tonnes per hectare.

"So in Africa, we have the combination of land degradation, poor yields and a growing population."

Sir Gordon described the issue as a "crisis of land degradation and soil management", adding: "We have got to do something about it".



http://greenworldtech2014..com/2014/12/african-soil-crisis-threatens-food.html

Then we should focus on alternatives such as Hydroponics (growing of crops without soil) while working towards solutions that would regenerate our soil.

Pavore9:
Then we should focus on alternatives such as Hydroponics (growing of crops without soil) while working towards solutions that would regenerate our soil.

true talk boss, but is there no solution to d land degradable?

1stUnique:


true talk boss, but is there no solution to d land degradable?

There is, we should depend less on synthetic fertilizers & go organic. Crops like Jatropha & Neem do help in boosting soil fertility.

l have been to farms where brocolli, cabbages,lettuce, watermelon & strawberries were grown hydroponically utilizing waste water from fish ponds & rabbit urine without d use of soil as medium,tasting sweeter than ones grown wit synthetic fertilizer.

Pavore9:
There is, we should depend less on synthetic fertilizers & go organic. Crops like Jatropha & Neem do help in boosting soil fertility.

I'll go with your idea. I believe it would be wiser to focus on mitigation of land degradation rather than shifting totally to alternatives. Hydroponics is kind of more expensive and I dont think it can be applied for the cultivation of every crop. However hydroponics can be encouraged to allow breaks for land and its nutrients

@Taolyn4lif, of course not all crops are suitable for hydroponics & it is not expensive as it may seem once u have the knowledge.We have been so sold to agricultural practices that does not sustain the environment as it has become too "chemicalized"!