AS IF the threat of famine wasn’t bad enough, the outlook just got worse for Africa with news that farming is sucking the goodness out of the soil without putting anything back.
A comprehensive survey of soils released last week reported that three-quarters of Africa’s soil is now severely depleted. The only answer, the report says, is to renourish the earth with fertilisers.
Africa currently applies only 10 per cent of the world’s fertiliser. “Bangladesh uses as much fertiliser as the entire region of sub-Saharan Africa,” says Amit Roy, director of the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development,…
