Ecological and Economical Requirements for Sustainable Land Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

Summary

Jens B. Aune, ‘Ecological and Economical Requirements for Sustainable Land Use in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Forum for Development Studies, No. 2, 1993, pp. 211–219.

Population growth in Africa is about 3 per cent. This implies that if food production is to keep pace with population growth, the annual increase in food production has to be above this figure. The necessary increase in food production can either be obtained through an increase in the cultivated area or through an increase in the production per unit of land. From the environmental point of view, the first option is the less attractive because opening up of new land means more soil erosion, increased deforestation and CO₂ emissions as well as reduced biodiversity. A basic principle of sustainable agriculture is that the input of nutrients to the system is higher or equal to the output (soil mining). In East Africa more than 30 kg of nitrogen and 5 kg of phosphorous are removed annually per hectare. In order to reverse this trend of declining soil fertility, the fanner should be given economic incentives to enable him to increase the soil capital. Norwegian aid should address this situation by increasing the assistance to the agricultural sector. In fact, the opposite is happening since the percentage share of agriculture and fisheries in Norwegian bilateral aid has dropped from about 19 per cent in 1986 to about 8 per cent in 1990. There is therefore a need for strengthening the support to the agricultural sector, and special attention should be given to reversing the trend of declining soil fertility and to improve the quality of the human resources.