A precautionary approach, must take into account the relative magnitude of the problem, the relative importance of land degradation to the poor and the relative weakness of existing institutional and market-based mechanisms to deal with on-site degradation and externalities this means that efforts to reduce land degradation should focus on sloping lands and forest margin areas in Calabar South and should depend mainly on market-based instruments, accompanied by efforts to ease and increase investment in the development of technologies for sustainable agriculture.
Land resources are non renewable and it is necessary to adopt a positive approach to ensure sustainable management of these finite resources. Soil scientists have an obligation not only to show the spatial distribution of stressed systems but also to provide reasonable estimates of their rates of degradation.
Many assessments in Calabar South have dealt with land degradation risks rather than dealing with degradation status, its socio-economic cause and its political driving force. Most estimates of soil erosion for instance, have been on erosion hazard not actual observed erosion.
There are consequently large differences between estimates of areas at risk and areas actually affected by land degradation. One of the most obvious direct causes and driving forces of land degradation in Calabar South is the mismatch between land potential and actual land use which is different from land cover and it includes information on land management and inputs.
Some socio-economic data have to be collected at farm level during rapid rural appraisal or other livelihood surveys to establish the general conditions leading to certain land use practices. It is important to realize that the socio-economic parameters collected should be simplified and classified according to their role in the assessment of land degradation. This research can be summarized in two points. Firstly, it was observed that land degradation is proportionally and absolutely very severe in Calabar South, where it represents a loss of long-run earning power for farmers and negative externalities for larger rural populations.
Monetary values aside, the problem of land degradation becomes more acute when the welfare of the poor is given higher priority. Secondly, we must note that the same policy instruments that we have advanced as the best means to alleviate land degradation are also components of reform packages with much broader economic development aims. Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.
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Our readership spans scientists, professors, researchers, librarians, and students, as well as business professionals. Downloaded: Introduction Land degradation is a concept in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by one or more combination of human induced processes acting upon the land. Furthermore, the main outcome of land degradation is a substantial reduction in the productivity of the land as shown in figure 2 The major causes of land degradation include, land clearance poor farming practices, overgrazing, inappropriate irrigation, urban sprawl, and commercial development, land pollution including industrial waste and quarrying of stone, sand and minerals.
Nssc Table 1. Soil Properties and Equipments. Table 2. Water melon 41 12 Yam 63 18 8. Cowpea 20 6 Melon 35 8 Cassava 42 16 Water yam 45 14 Cocoa yam 43 15 Maize 56 22 Rice 49 20 9.
Tomatoes 7 25 8. Pepper 63 46 4. Sweet potatoes 33 15 Water leaf 89 48 3. Okro 60 35 5. Vegetable 52 38 7. Spinach 56 32 8. Bitter leaf 42 26 Otazi 53 31 6. Afang 66 42 4. Etinkene 13 20 9. Garden Egg 38 17 8. Sugar cane 42 21 9. Scent leave 45 24 Curry leave 37 18 6. Ginger 44 20 7. Pineapple 39 22 8. Banana 41 20 6. Groundnut 34 12 Lettuce 31 16 9.
Melon 23 8 5. Table 3. More Print chapter. How to cite and reference Link to this chapter Copy to clipboard. Cite this chapter Copy to clipboard Imoke Eni November 7th Available from:. Over 21, IntechOpen readers like this topic Help us write another book on this subject and reach those readers Suggest a book topic Books open for submissions.
More statistics for editors and authors Login to your personal dashboard for more detailed statistics on your publications. Access personal reporting. More About Us. Potentiometer using glass electrode Bates, Oxidation Method Allison Atomic absorption spectrometer AAs. Titration using Chapman, To prevent water runoff from driveways and other paved areas, consider paving with material that lets water soak into the ground. Use porous pavers or asphalt to redo paths, driveways and other impermeable surfaces that cause runoff.
Using gravel is another option. If rainwater from your roof causes erosion in your yard, use rain barrels to capture some of the rainwater. Another way to reduce water erosion is to dig a small ditch near the top of a slope and allow the ditch to drain into a thickly planted area or a drainage area, created in a suitable area of the yard. Sandy soil is threatened more than clay or silty soil by water and wind erosion.
Erosion caused by water is most severe in wet, hilly or sloping land areas, while erosion caused by wind is greatest in dry, windy and flat terrains. To reduce erosion caused by wind, plant shrubs or trees to serve as windbreaks. Not all shrubs and trees grow well in windy areas, so check with your local garden nursery as to what shrubs and trees are best for a windbreak hedge. Home Guides Garden Soil Care. By Marie-Luise Blue. Last year, they sold enough to cover , The sense of urgency over topsoil is growing as the planet is projected to reach 9 billion people by To see what can happen to civilizations that lost the topsoil they needed to grow food, look no further than Syria or Libya.
Roman tax records show that those areas grew ample amounts of wheat, but as farmers continued to plow their fields, they exposed valuable microbes and topsoil eroded. Today those areas barely have any soil to grow crops. The world is also facing a crisis in nutrition. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition compared nutrients in crops grown in to those grown in and found declines in protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin B2 and vitamin C.
The practice of farming one or two crops, like corn and soybeans, hastened soil degradation, according to Montgomery. Government policy encouraged US farmers to specialize, resulting in monocultures that require an increasing amount of water and fertilizer and pesticides. Practices, however, are changing, say Montgomery and Myers. Improving soil health pays dividends, but investment in topsoil may take years to show results.
This is a challenge for farmers operating on tight margins, according to Montgomery, who says that the government could do more to help incentivize best practices. Berns suggests that farmers make these changes slowly, employing them on one patch of the farm at a time.
In mid-Atlantic states like Maryland and Virginia, local governments have incentivized farmers with grants to plant cover crops, resulting in high adoption rates over the last 20 years.
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