Introduction
The primary causes of soil pollution are caused by human beings due to negligence. This occurs when the pollutants causing pollution becomes harmful to the soil.
Soil helps to support life on earth to all living things. It is essential for the growth of plants, which in turn supply food for animals. Besides supporting plants, it also plays some of the vital roles that sustain life to human beings, such as purifying water that drains from the ground to water channels. It is a big challenge in the 21st century to sustain a human population due to degrading soil resource base in a changing climate. Management of soil is vital to all agricultural schemes to avoid degradation from forms such as loss of its organic matter, erosion, contamination, and other harmful (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2015). Several human activities have an emotional impact on soil and its ability to carry its services. They include farming, domestic and municipal wastes, agricultural wastes, radioactive materials, and biological agents. In this topic, we are going to focus on how farming practices affect the genesis of soil and its capacity to deliver service.
Several farming practices are harmful to the soil. This is caused by how people practice agricultural activities, thereby affecting the level of nutrients and the increase in soil pollution. The soil PH or acidity may also be created. Some of these farming activities expose soil to rain and wind, thereby leading to loss of soil (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2015). Some of the four major tasks that depend on soil health include regulation of diseases and pest, maintenance of soil structure, nutrients cycle, and carbon transformation. Some of the human land-use practices are farming, construction and development, and mining. They are the main undertakings that influence the quality of soil.
Most of the food being consumed in the world are full-grown in farms. This makes farming be a significant activity for society. There has been a revolution in farming methods to increase food production. However, some harmful effects affect soil due to farming techniques being used. Farmers always use artificial fertilizers or biological to add nutrients so that they can increase their crop yields (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2015). These artificial fertilizers have some dangerous harmful substances when overused, and this prevents microorganisms from yielding nutrients naturally in the soil. They also increase the soil PH or acidity due to a decrease in organic matter from the soil; hence, plants do not grow in acid soil. They also deplete some essential nutrients in the soil; therefore, the crops produced from these soils possess fewer nutrients.
Farming without practicing crop rotation affects the soil structure and the organic matter in the soil. This process is called over cropping. It is when the land is cultivated continuously and is not being balanced with different crops. This organic matter and soil particles hold nutrients for plant use. Farming one type of crop in one firm by preventing incorporating a different crop residue will deplete nutrients in the soil (Ukpaka, 2016). For example, crops are grown above the ground, such as leguminous plants, possess nitrogen-fixing bacteria that convert nitrates into nitrogen in the soil. Besides that, crops being grown below the ground, such as potatoes, have adverse effects on the soil structure. Soil is a non-renewable resource once it has been eroded. Constant tilling of the land reduces soil’s ability to yield humus valuable for fertility due to always being cultivated or exposed for the growth of plants. Due to less humus, the soil dries up and becomes open for water and soil erosion. Over cropping usually occurs in areas where there is a high demand for food to feed the nation or for exportation.
Furthermore, overgrazing or stocking of too many animals such as goats, sheep, or cattle on land destroys the soil service. The animals’ damage by feeding on all vegetation or either plowing into wet soil or pressing the soil using there hooves (Hou & Li, 2017). This will prevent water filtration from slowing down to the soil, and also grass will be prevented from rising. The soil structure will be damaged, and the level of nutrients will be removed while the air is compressed out from between pads. Animal movements compress and flatten the soil, thereby preventing water between the soil fragments. Animals eat the vegetation, which in turn exposes the soil, thereby become prone to further erosion by rainwater and wind.
Human beings are engaged to deforestation to clear land for use as pasture for animals, crop plantations, settlements, and wood sales, source of fuel, and burning of charcoal. This occurs by cutting down large trees in a forest plantation, thereby exposing an open landscape. Tree cutting has destroyed biodiversity loss and drying of the soil. Tree cutting increases erosion in two ways (Lazarus, Ellis, Murray, & Hall, 2016). They are the source of minerals and nutrients; hence, humus will be significantly reduced in the soil from tree cutting; this is due to the natural organic materials that supply humus comes from trees. Secondly, tree cutting speeds up soil erosion by creating exposure to rainfall or wind. Roots of trees help to keep the soil structure. Hence, deforestation will cause the soil to become loose and easy to erode (Lazarus et al., 2016). Tree plants are natural barriers of wind due to many leaves and branches acting as windbreaks. It is the best method to be used in large farms to prevent wind from blowing away the top layer soil. Trees are also valuable in permitting the particular volume of wind .large countries such as Mali have discovered that there is an increase of protected fields by up to 20% by tree windbreakers.