Abstract:
Since humans worldwide obtain more than 99.7% of their food (calories) from the
land and less than 0.3% from the oceans and aquatic ecosystems, preserving cropland and
maintaining soil fertility should be of the highest importance to human welfare. Soil erosion
is one of the most serious threats facing world food production. Each year about
10 million ha of cropland are lost due to soil erosion, thus reducing the cropland available for
world food production. The loss of cropland is a serious problem because the World Health
Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization report that two-thirds of the world
population is malnourished. Overall, soil is being lost from agricultural areas 10 to 40 times
faster than the rate of soil formation imperiling humanity’s food security.
