East African Drylands
Land Degradation THREATENS Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa
Low infiltration rates in mineral-deficient soils intensify the risk of surface water runoff and decrease soil and groundwater recharge.
That means MORE LOSS OF SOIL FERTILITY, WATER SHORTAGE, and CROP FAILURE.
Increasing woody vegetation typically enhances soil water permeation by filtration, but little is known about how plant species respond to the local soil hydrological properties.
How do woody plants, such as trees and shrubs, affect soil fertility and water filtration?
Studies show that vegetation quantity and quality may affect soil health:
- Woody biomass increases the field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity and soil organic carbon.
- Woody plants with low leaf thickness increase the field-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity.
LAND RESTORATION
The studies are a guide to LAND RESTORATION in East Africa. For example, promoting woody plant growth in soils that are not bare, with thin-leaved plants with reasonable wood density and water storage ability, COULD boost soil health across agricultural landscapes in the East African Drylands.
These findings are all well and good, however.
But it will be a LOSING battle if the soils are NOT replenished with the 70+ minerals that Mother Earth once supplied.
It’s a challenging world we live in, but with sound financing and determination by ALL countries and territories, soil mineral depletion CAN be made a thing of the past.
Our only problem today is CORRUPTION and AVARICE at the HIGHEST LEVELS of governments, quangos, military and industrial complexes, technocracies, kleptocracies, corporatocracies, and oligarchies.
Plants Growing on Mineral-deficient Soil do NOT Bolster the Mineral Content of the Soil
In the meantime, while the aforementioned FOOLS OVER THE ABYSS wage their inane wars, people, livestock, and pets can get 70+ minerals back in their diets by straightforward supplementation.
