: What is soil degradation and what are the factors responsible for it?
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The soil usually contains a mixture of all sorts of elements.
There’s minerals, that’s the big part. and there’s organic matter (much smaller usually)
Plants dont really absorb a lot of minerals. They absorb some, but only tiny amounts.
But they absorb quite a big of the organic matter.
micro organisms break down the organic matter and the rain draws it into the soil. where the plant’s roots absorb it with the water they drink.
In nature, the plant then dies after a while and the organic matter is replenished.
But in agriculture, the organic matter from the plant is removed by harvesting the plants.
So the soil loses more and more of it’s organic matter.
This can be countered by fertilising the ground (adding organic matter)
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