Land degradation: Ethiopia and Senegal find pathways to survival

Alem Hadera watches the rain with dread. Each downpour washes away more topsoil from her family's small plot in the Ethiopian highlands, leaving the earth thinner and paler.

A decade ago, the land yielded enough teff and maize to feed her family and sell the surplus. Now, the harvest shrinks every year.

"The rain takes away the fertility of our soil," Alem tells TRT Afrika. "We have been working harder for less."

Thousands of kilometres away, in Senegal's Fatick region, cattle herder Ibrahima Diop faces the same struggle.

Persistent drought and overgrazing have stripped bare the rangelands where his animals once thrived.  "The trees that gave shade are gone. The grass is thin. The land is tired," Ibrahima laments.

He now needs to walk further away from the old grazing pastures each day to find food for his herd.

Causing a perfect storm

Alem and Ibrahima represent a crisis affecting 1.7 billion people worldwide, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2025 report, released on November 3, points out that crop yields are falling across vast areas because of human-induced land degradation.

The problem is neither distant nor abstract. From Ethiopia's eroded highlands to Senegal's drying pastures, degraded land directly undermines food security, ecosystems and rural livelihoods.

The SOFA report defines land degradation as a long-term decline in the land's ability to support life. Deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable farming methods are known to be the primary triggers of this vicious cycle of arable land becoming unusable and rapidly declining yields.

Using a debt-based approach, FAO estimates that yields in affected areas are at least 10% lower because of degradation.

"To seize these opportunities, we must act decisively," says FAO director-general Qu Dongyu. "Sustainable land management requires enabling environments that support long-term investment, innovation and stewardship."

Not all gloom and doom

The FAO data, while alarming, also contains grounds for optimism. Communities suffering the ravages of land degradation are trying to tide over the crisis with innovative, practical solutions.

In Ethiopia, where farmers like Alem have borne the brunt of land degradation, communities are now building stone terraces and planting nitrogen-fixing trees like acacia and leucaena.

These terraces slow water runoff, reducing erosion and allowing moisture to seep back into the soil. Degraded slopes are becoming productive farmland again.

Senegalese farmers are also finding a sliver of hope in innovative practices.  

Ibrahima's community follows a method called farmer-managed natural regeneration to make up for loss of soil fertility.

Instead of clearing land, they selectively prune and nurture native trees and shrubs that sprout from existing root systems. These trees act as natural fertilisers and moisture regulators, combating desertification and restoring soil health.

The mathematics of the initiative makes a compelling case for its expansion to other zones.

The SOFA 2025 report estimates that reversing just 10% of human-induced degradation on existing croplands could produce enough extra food to feed nearly 154 million people annually.

Countries like Ethiopia and Senegal are already proving that this is an achievable target.

Lessons learnt from crisis

The report argues that scaling these solutions requires policies tailored to farmers' realities.

Standing by a newly terraced field where green shoots promise a better harvest, Alem reflects on the change that she hopes will provide a way out of adversity. "We are not just holding the soil anymore," she tells TRT Afrika. "We are holding our future together."

Under the shade of a regenerated tree, Ibrahima shares that sentiment. "My grandfather knew this land could provide what we need. Now, my son will hopefully see it happen again. When the trees return, life returns."