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Declining soil quality is a food security concern across Africa. In Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, about 70% of soils are acidic, according to the government.
Degradation of African soil causes decreased food production, damaging ecological effects, and an overall decrease in the quality of living in Africa. [12] This issue would lessen if fertilizers and other cropping supplies were more affordable and thus used more. [13]
The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. [1] The environmental impact of agriculture varies widely based on practices employed by farmers and by the scale of practice.
Management techniques range from animal management and housing to the spread of pesticides and fertilizers in global agricultural practices, which can have major environmental impacts. Bad management practices include poorly managed animal feeding operations, overgrazing , plowing, fertilizer, and improper, excessive, or badly timed use of ...
Recently fertilizer subsidies have enjoyed renewed attention as a potentially potent tool for wide scale development in Africa. [10] Jeffrey Sachs, founder of the Millennium Promise Alliance has said of fertilizer use in Africa, that governments should "provide subsidized fertilizers to subsistence farmers so that they can produce enough to eat."
Soil fertility and quality of land have been impacted by the effects of colonialism and slavery both in the U.S. and globally. The introduction of harmful land practices such as intensive and non-prescribed burnings and deforestation by colonists created long-lasting negative results to the environment.
The first environmental effect is increased crop growth, such as in the Rubaksa gardens in Ethiopia The irrigation that grows crops, especially in dry countries, can also be responsible for taxing aquifers beyond their capacities. Groundwater depletion is embedded in the international food trade, with countries exporting crops grown from ...
Manmade, or cultural, eutrophication occurs when sewage, industrial wastewater, fertilizer runoff, and other nutrient sources are released into the environment. [3] Such nutrient pollution usually causes algal blooms and bacterial growth, resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen in water and causing substantial environmental degradation. [4]