Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa

Many constraints to intensive food-crop production in tropical Africa are related to tropical soils. Improved technologies are available for different ecological regions. Important technological innovations include manual land clearing, mulch farming, conservation tillage and tied- ridges, agrofores...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Lal, R.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 1987
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81149
_version_ 1855519194561380352
author Lal, R.
author_browse Lal, R.
author_facet Lal, R.
author_sort Lal, R.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Many constraints to intensive food-crop production in tropical Africa are related to tropical soils. Improved technologies are available for different ecological regions. Important technological innovations include manual land clearing, mulch farming, conservation tillage and tied- ridges, agroforestry, cover crops, mixed- and relay-crop- ping, and early sowing for improved and sustained pro- ductivity. Irrigation, animal traction or draft animals, and the use of chemical fertilizers are also important. Much of the agrarian stagnation in Africa is caused by neglect and misuse of the most basic of all resources, the soil. In fact, the root cause of the perpetual famine can be traced to the misuse of soil and water resources and issues related to their misuse. Substantial increases in food production are possible if the proven technologies can be effectively transferred and implemented. Priorities lie in both short- term development projects and in initiating long-term research to understand soil and water resources and how to manage them. The agrarian research must address the issue of improving the welfare of resource-poor farmer
format Journal Article
id CGSpace81149
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 1987
publishDateRange 1987
publishDateSort 1987
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace811492023-02-15T06:47:18Z Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa Lal, R. food crop ecological regions soil and water resources soil-management technologies natural resources tillage method conservation tillage tropical soils Many constraints to intensive food-crop production in tropical Africa are related to tropical soils. Improved technologies are available for different ecological regions. Important technological innovations include manual land clearing, mulch farming, conservation tillage and tied- ridges, agroforestry, cover crops, mixed- and relay-crop- ping, and early sowing for improved and sustained pro- ductivity. Irrigation, animal traction or draft animals, and the use of chemical fertilizers are also important. Much of the agrarian stagnation in Africa is caused by neglect and misuse of the most basic of all resources, the soil. In fact, the root cause of the perpetual famine can be traced to the misuse of soil and water resources and issues related to their misuse. Substantial increases in food production are possible if the proven technologies can be effectively transferred and implemented. Priorities lie in both short- term development projects and in initiating long-term research to understand soil and water resources and how to manage them. The agrarian research must address the issue of improving the welfare of resource-poor farmer 1987-05-29 2017-05-22T09:20:51Z 2017-05-22T09:20:51Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81149 en Limited Access Lal, R. (1987). Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa. Science, 236(4805), 1069-1076.
spellingShingle food crop
ecological regions
soil and water resources
soil-management technologies
natural resources
tillage method
conservation tillage
tropical soils
Lal, R.
Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa
title Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Managing the soils of sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort managing the soils of sub saharan africa
topic food crop
ecological regions
soil and water resources
soil-management technologies
natural resources
tillage method
conservation tillage
tropical soils
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81149
work_keys_str_mv AT lalr managingthesoilsofsubsaharanafrica