Farmers grow 95% of their food in the uppermost layer of soil, called “Topsoil”. Yet this Topsoil is globally endangered. In the last 150 years, worldwide nearly half of the most productive part of the soil has disappeared due to unsustainable farm practices. If we continue to degrade the soil at the current rate, the world could run out of topsoil in about 60 years. Today, one-third of our planet’s soil is already degraded. Ninety percent could become degraded by 2050. How do we produce food without healthy soil? All of us should know that healthy soil leads to healthy food, which again creates healthy people, and all of this maintains a healthy planet. Farmable soils have lost 80 percent of their minerals in the last century.

I have personally experienced that nine out of ten farmers from rural areas in Cameroon have been using chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers for more than 20 years. They cut down trees, till the soil, and engage in mono-cultural activities for example tomato cultivation just for short-term profits. By so doing, they neglect the cultivation of their staple food while damaging the environment and their health.