Effect of cropping

Credit for the production of cash crops for export is an important programme in the Sahel. Now their overcultivation has almost destroyed the soil in the northern part of Senegal. Cotton farmers have a guaranteed market. After the harvest, the state-owned cotton company's lorries arrive to take away the crop. Next year, they will grow more cotton production has increased more than 30 times since independence in 1960, while food production has stagnated. Continuous cultivation of cotton is slowly destroying the Sahelian soil. Africa has less young and rich soils than any other continent, and the weathered sandy surface of the Sahel lacks many important elements. Traditionally, land was rotated between crops, or at least left fallow to enable the soil and vegetative cover to regenerate after cultivation. But farmers who take credit have to repay it through intensive use of the land. There is now very little eft fallow in the cotton-producing areas of the country. Cotton requires more pesticides than almost any other crop. The continuous use of cotton fertilizer, without the complementary addition of organic matter such as compost, is slowly acidifying the soil and reducing its fertility. Despite this ecological damage, cotton is a crop which is much encouraged in the Sahel by both Sahelian governments and their donors. Credit for cotton production is offered to men, without taking into account is effect on the other half oh the population. They have less time and energy to devote to their own essential food crops.