This is your site for solutions. Please contribute your knowledge, leave a note, support Appropedia or let the world know about this resource.
Living with the Soil 11
From Appropedia
| This material is copyright, and is displayed here by permission of the rights-owner(s). It is believed that permission has been given to display this page, as open access content. However, there is no permission to release this under an open license, as far as we know. Please respect the copyright - do not reuse without the permission of the rights-holder. This is an exception to the usual Appropedia license. |
|---|
[edit] Living with the Soil
[edit] Soil - A Key Component of Development Cooperation
Since the drought disasters of the seventies, the Sahel region has been a focus of development cooperation. One key objective has been to stabilise farming systems, and combat desertification. For example, attempts are made to tackle the root causes of poverty and hunger in countries such as Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
Further focuses are the upland regions of East Africa, South-East Asia and the Andes of Latin America. In these regions, high population density and crop farming on steep slopes cause soil erosion and other forms of soil degradation. In these mostly poorly accessible regions, natural resource management is accompanied by equally important measures of rural development.
Development cooperation can also be appropriate in areas with fertile soils, however. A number of tropical and subtropical regions possess very good potentials for crop and animal farming. Yet high precipitation and temperatures cause rapid soil degradation. Maintaining fertile soils is an important aim of national and international development plans, since these soils can generate high yields if managed intensively and correctly.
