Basic Knowledge in Agriculture #65

What is Desertification

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Desertification is the process of fertile land slowly becoming dry and degraded and less productive land becoming ordinarily to the point where it becomes a desert like land. It is mostly found in the dry and semi arid states, though it is found anywhere that the environment has been strained. The overgrazing, unsustainable farming, and inappropriate utilization of water as well as cause some desertification, deforestation, climate change, and extended droughts. These activities also destroy the plant life, weaken the soil and augment wind and water erosion.

This leads to fertility of the land that cannot sustain crops, wild animals and human beings. Desertification has effects, which include food insecurity, poverty, displacement of people, and biodiversity destruction. It also constitutes a degrading climatic change as it destroys vegetation that stores a carbon dioxide. The mechanisms that will help eliminate desertification will be sustainable land management, reforestation, water conservation and community awareness to save and restore the existing fragile ecosystem that will be needed by the future generation around the world.

What are the different causes of desertification.

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Desertification causes are both natural and man-made factors that cause land degradation in dry environments. The first one is climate change because it leads to prolonged drought, reduced precipitation, and high temperatures that dry the soil. The other cause of this is deforestation that results in less stability and moisture of the soil due to the depletion of trees. Overgrazing of livestock kills vegetation covers leaving the soil at a risk of soil erosion.

The quality of soil is also reduced by unstable agricultural practices such as over-irrigation, mono-culture and excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Soil erosion was caused by wind and water and this also causes the erosion of fertile top-soils. In addition, poor land management, population and urban development also lead to land resource being under strain and therefore initiates a desertification process which is much faster.

How do we ameliorate desertification.

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Sustainable land management and community engagement can be used to reduce desertification. Trees and reinstatement of the natural vegetation will have a stabilizing effect on soil, decrease soil erosion, increase moisture retention. Crop rotation, agro forestry, and reduced tillage are some of the sustainable farming practices, which prevent soil erosion and degradation, and also sustain fruitfulness. Scarcity of water is preserved by efficient water management such as rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation.

Overgrazing can be controlled by reducing livestock population giving a chance to have a natural recovery of the land. The use of renewable energy does not put strain on trees as fuel wood. Lastly, training of the local communities and advocacy of policies that facilitate environmental protection guarantee long-term adherence to land restoration and climate change resilience.

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