Abstract:
The paper provides an insight into the problem of land degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa, with emphasis on soil erosion and its
effect on soil quality and productivity, and proposes a lowland-based rice-production technology for coping with the situation.
Crop yields are, in addition to the degree of past and current erosion, determined by a number of interacting variables. This,
coupled with the generally weak database on erosion-induced losses in crop yield in spite of the region’s high vulnerability to
erosion, makes it difficult to attain a reliable inference on the cause-effect relationship between soil loss and productivity. Available
data suggest, however, that the region is at risk of not meeting up with the challenges of agriculture in this 21st century. Based on
the few studies reviewed, methodology appears to have an overwhelming influence on the erosion-productivity response, whereas
issues bordering on physical environment and soil affect the shape of the response curve. We argue that the sawah ecotechnology
has the potential of countering the negative agronomic and environmental impacts of land degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This is a farmer-oriented, low-cost system of managing soil, water, and nutrient resources for enhancing lowland rice productivity
and realizing Green Revolution in the region.
