https://en.sputniknews.africa/20260422/a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-why-africas-soil-crisis-threatens-its-food-security-1085246901.html
“A Disaster Waiting to Happen”: Why Africa's Soil Crisis Threatens its Food Security
“A Disaster Waiting to Happen”: Why Africa's Soil Crisis Threatens its Food Security
Sputnik Africa
Agricultural experts are urging African nations to declare a state of emergency over soil degradation as rapid land loss, nutrient depletion, and erosion... 22.04.2026, Sputnik Africa
2026-04-22T18:37+0200
2026-04-22T18:37+0200
2026-04-22T18:37+0200
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“A Disaster Waiting to Happen”: Why Africa's Soil Crisis Threatens its Food Security
Sputnik Africa
Agricultural experts are urging African nations to declare a state of emergency over soil degradation as rapid land loss, nutrient depletion, and erosion worsen food insecurity across the continent. They warn that without immediate changes to farming practices, degraded soils will struggle to sustain crop yields.
Across Africa's farmlands, already strained by climate-change-induced insecurity and contested land rights, the earth itself is failing. Erosion strips topsoil, indiscriminate fertilizer use increases acidity and weakens soil structure, and many smallholder farmers lack the means to halt damage before it becomes irreversible. Soil scientists and agronomists say the response cannot rely on chemicals alone. Governments need to fund large-scale restoration where degradation is advanced, while farmers require support to adopt practical, low-cost measures such as cover crops, tree planting, and organic manuring to rebuild soil health before declining fertility turns into lost harvests.African Currents turned to Professor Olayinka Ibiwunmi Nwachukwu, a Nigerian soil science scholar at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Umudike, Abia State. She detailed the urgency of restoring soil health and reviewed current innovative approaches to restoration and their impact on Africa's food security, agricultural productivity, and economic development.Catch the full discussion on the African Currents podcast, presented by Sputnik Africa.Listen to this episode on our website or Telegram.► You can also stream the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Pocket Casts, Afripods, Podcast Addict.► Subscribe to and explore all the episodes of African Currents.
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“A Disaster Waiting to Happen”: Why Africa's Soil Crisis Threatens its Food Security
Agricultural experts are urging African nations to declare a state of emergency over soil degradation as rapid land loss, nutrient depletion, and erosion worsen food insecurity across the continent. They warn that without immediate changes to farming practices, degraded soils will struggle to sustain crop yields.
Across Africa's farmlands, already strained by climate-change-induced insecurity and contested land rights, the earth itself is failing. Erosion strips topsoil, indiscriminate fertilizer use increases acidity and weakens soil structure, and many smallholder farmers lack the means to halt damage before it becomes irreversible. Soil scientists and agronomists say the response cannot rely on chemicals alone. Governments need to fund large-scale restoration where degradation is advanced, while farmers require support to adopt practical, low-cost measures such as cover crops, tree planting, and organic manuring to rebuild soil health before declining fertility turns into lost harvests.
African Currents turned to Professor Olayinka Ibiwunmi Nwachukwu, a Nigerian soil science scholar at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture in Umudike, Abia State. She detailed the urgency of restoring soil health and reviewed current innovative approaches to restoration and their impact on Africa's food security, agricultural productivity, and economic development.
"Soils Sustain Life. And why it's that important is because most of the food, as of now, 95 percent of food produced for human consumption grows in soil. You cannot take away the importance of soil. The soil is the largest sink for carbon on our planet [...]. Soil degradation should be treated as a crucial matter right now because if [good agricultural] practices are not put in place to reverse it and the soil loss continues and soil loss of nutrients continues, it's just a disaster waiting to happen. And that's why currently most of Africa is not able to meet up with its food needs," Professor Nwachukwu noted.
Catch the full discussion on the African Currents podcast, presented by Sputnik Africa.
Listen to this episode on our website or
Telegram.►
Subscribe to and explore all the episodes of African Currents.
