Carbon Credit: An Opportunity for Erosion Management and Food Security in Southeast Nigeria

Healthy soil is a major requirement for food security, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where soil quality, degradation, and poor health have been accelerated by erosion and other degradative processes. It's no news that 52% of agricultural lands have already been degraded, affecting food production and the quality of food globally.

Soil erosion has been known to adversely affect soil structure and create an imbalance in the soil-water regime. There is a need to create a nexus between soil erosion and food security, especially in regions where soil erosion has affected food production.

In Southeast Nigeria, food security has been a major problem, particularly as the region battles an existential food crisis. It is visible that the region has the most expensive food prices and has largely depended on other regions for support. Several interventions have been attempted in the past, but most of these interventions have been insufficient, leaving many communities unattended to.

For communities in the region to gain access to funding for erosion mitigation management and food security, the government must come to terms with innovative approaches to solving the problem by leveraging the carbon credit market, especially the voluntary market. Communities must think of ways to leverage the market to address their erosion infrastructural needs, as some communities in the region are gradually transitioning to urban centres, and most water bodies, which used to be the source of water and riparian areas in communities, are almost dried up due to climate change.

Understanding that communities must leverage global opportunities available to them, creating a pool of smallholder farmers within the region who must begin to think of ways they can benefit from the carbon market to address erosion issues and tackle growing food insecurity in the region.

Leveraging the voluntary carbon market is not without its challenges, as it is capital-intensive and will require expert inputs that some of these communities do not have. Accessing global opportunities like the carbon credit market for the benefit of the Southeast region, severely plagued by erosion, must see the government of the region investing in training personnel and professionals in the skills needed to mitigate erosion challenges, improve soil health, and drive the necessary change to enhance food security and reduce food prices in the region.