ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the factors that have led the sub-Saharan zone in Africa (SSA) soils to be of low fertility. The tropical zone of Earth, the region on either side of the equator between 23° S and 23° N, is a zone plagued by generally infertile soils as compared to those of the temperate zone further south and further north of these latitudes. Soil erosion has been perhaps the most potent agent leading to soil degradation, and in recent times, SSA has perhaps been the region with the most degraded soils. Destruction of humus also leads to the loss of the nutrients conserved by the humus and hence reduction in soil fertility. The indiscriminate burning of vegetation is a visible feature in much of SSA where, for different reasons, vegetation in large tracts of land, including natural forests, conserved land and agricultural land, is deliberately set on fire during dry seasons.
