A comparative study of red soils of India and West Africa, and their management for sustainable agriculture

The differences between the tropical ferruginous soils of West Africa and the red soils of Peninsular India have often been ignored. The pedogenic interpretation of these differences has not yet been completely elucidated, but studies carried out in India have shown the primary importance of rainfall. The fluctuations of tropical climates during the last millions of years witnessed the development of soil covers, in India as well as in West Africa, where spells of humid climate have left thick kaolinitic saprolites and vast areas of laterites. The fertility of these two major categories of soils was examined by taking two examples: the red soils of Gundlupet region in India and the tropical ferruginous soils of the agronomic station of Saria in Burkina Faso. Cultivation has considerably modified the properties of the Indian red soils, however the fertility gets stabilized enabling continuous production. In West Africa, the search for methods of sustainable agriculture is still on. In Africa, the agronomist should try to preserve the buffering properties of cultivated soils. In India, acidification is not a problem in the red soils of semi-arid zones, which are often deficient in zinc due to high pH. Some differences prohibit a simple transfer of techniques used in India to the African soil