Soil under strain

A full-page feature in the Financial Times looks at soil degradation. Fiona Harvey writes, "As policymakers talk of raising yields in response to the food crisis, arable land is increasingly being degraded by pollution, erosion, misuse of fertilisers and poor farming techniques - and it is Africa where the problem is worst."

According to Otto Spaargaren, head of the World Data Centre for Soils at the International Soil Reference and Information Centre, even if large quantities of fertiliser are applied to degraded soils, it would still take centuries to recover their health. Another potential difficulty is that the overuse of fertiliser can generate problems such as the acidification of the soil that has occurred in places such as Europe and Australia." Full story: Financial Times