Effects of Land Erosion

According to Henderson (2006), the effect of soil erosion can be grouped into two, namely on-site and off-site effects.

1.         On-Site Effects

The onsite loses as it affects farmers include loss of water, fertilizer and pesticides, meaning immediate production loss. The loss of arable land is immense/reduced economic viability as a result of soil depletion. He stated

that soil erosion leads to poor yield through loss of natural nutrients and applied fertilizers. Organic matter from the soil residues and many applied manure can be transported off the field, soil quality, stability and even texture are affected.

2.         Off-Site Effect

Bunnet and Okunrotifa (2004), the off-site effect of soil erosion are not always an apparent as the on-site or downstream damage as it affects towns, people, include deterioration of water quality. This leads to pollution of rivers, death fish, silting up of reservoir, high cost of dredging harbours. The polluted water when drunk by man can cause sickness and even death. The increase in suspended load means higher cost of drinking water. The flooding of inhabited area causes mud flows, destruction of residential houses, bridges, etc.

Soil or land erosion leads to loss of lives and properties as it happened in Ibadan in recent years. It can also lead to the land and water pollution through disposal of waste indiscriminately. 

Pollution of water can be defined as a process of discharge of harmful substances into the water which causes harm to man, plant animal and make it unfit for human consumption.

To know water pollution, it is good to know the source of water supply and types of water with all that brings about water borne diseases, which are dangerous to health of man such as cholera, typhoid fever, schistosomiasis, dysentery and diarrhoea.

Lal (2009) explained that soil erosion leads to loss of lives and properties. He outlined some of the effects thus;

·         Damage to building, property and farmland

·         Unwanted spending of money through relocation of victims who live in such area.

·         Destruction of roads and water pollution.

·         Reduction of nutrients in soil.

References

Bunnet, R.B. and Okunrotifa, P. O. (2003): Geography in Diagrams for West African 8^th ed., Longman Group Limited, pp 35, 63, 84.

Henderson, (2006): “Causes and Effects of Soil Erosion” Omaff Fact Sheet Index 573.

Lal, R. (2009): Managing the Soil of Sub-Saharan Africa. Iowa State University Press, pp 1069-1076.