POTENTIAL OF AGRICULTURAL LAND MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES FOR INCREASED SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN AFRICA-A REVIEW

This paper reviewed the potential for agricultural land management activities for increased soil carbon sequestration with particular reference to Africa. The sections of this review covered different land management activities (including agroforestry, conservation tillage, fallow management, mulching/cover crops, water management, rotation, manure, fertilizer use, grazing management) which lead to carbon sequestration in different farming systems. This review has revealed that there is high potential to sequester additional carbon through selected land management practices. The performance of these practices depends on soil properties and climatic conditions, and the degree of soil degradation at the time of time of intervention. There is need to integrate these land management practices for carbon sequestration into larger sustainable development and livelihoods strategies and practices in order to enhance an holistic approach and reduce some of the constraints that may inhibit these positive effect of land management practices for carbon sequestration.