Effects of Land use Changes on Soil Fertility in Kapuonja Village, Kisumu District, Kenya.

INTRODUCTION

Environmental problems are as old as the beginning of mans creation. Concern about the environment is a recent and localized phenomenon that began only in the late 1960s. Thus, the recognition of the deteriorating state of environment quality has been understood and seen now, after many years of accumulation of public outcries. Environmental issues affect every life on this planet from the smallest microorganisms to the human race. The reason for this is simple. A single disruption in the earth’s delicate balance can mean certain destruction of the very place that cradles the lives of many species. What is not simple is finding alternatives to the now dangerous and confronting acts of planet degradation that have been afflicted it over recent years. (Kimberlin, L.W. 1981) Everywhere in the world where people change a natural ecosystem into agriculture, the land degrades. The visible part is erosion, when soil particles leave the land and are transported by gravity, water or wind. Some erosion is natural but present rates are more than worrying. Fortunately there ~are many ways to reduce erosion. Soil erosion and degradation are so severe worldwide, that it threatens our agricultural base. (Schertz, D.L. 1985).