Sustainable Land and Water Management: An African Initiative to Develop Agriculture under Pressures of Land Degradation
A major challenge facing governments and society worldwide on the threshold of the twenty-first century is to achieve sustainable economic growth by means which alleviate poverty without jeopardizing the quality of the environment. While this is a task of global significance it presents particular problems to the agricultural sector in Africa especially Sub-Saharan Africa because of the direct links between production and the natural resource base, and high dependence on agriculture for income and employment. Assessment of arable land in Africa suggests that large areas of countries are vulnerable to land degradation, a resource environmentally fragile and easily degraded. Land resources lay the heart of social, cultural, spiritual, political and economic life of the most of African continent. Africas ability to conserve and manage her land resources is key to sustainable development. Major trends to land degradation and agricultural productivity include loss of water for agriculture to other uses, reduction of soil and water quality, and loss of farm land. Through the AU/NEPAD initiative under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) a framework is being developed at continental level to help national governments manage their land and water resources by paying particular attention to issues related to soil fertility, agricultural water and land policy/administration. It is envisaged that with political commitment and common shared vision at the highest level, Africa can implement strategies that addresses issues of land degradation in an agriculture-led economic development.
poverty alleviation policy initiatives food security
Phiri Elijah Bwalya Martin
University of Zambia, School of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil Science, P. O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
国际会议
北京
英文
35-45
2008-11-06（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）