Over-grazing encourages soil

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks what over-grazing (too many animals feeding on a piece of land for too long) leads to in terms of soil.

Step 2: Explain the concept When livestock graze excessively, they strip away the grass and other plant cover. They also trample and compact the soil. Plant roots normally bind soil particles together, and plant cover shields the soil from the direct impact of raindrops and wind. Without them:

• The topsoil is loose and exposed.
• Rain runoff and wind easily carry the soil away.
• This is soil erosion, a major problem in parts of northern Nigeria, where cattle rearing is common.

Step 3: Check each option

• A. Acidity: Not the direct result of over-grazing.
• B. Conservation: This is the opposite. Over-grazing destroys soil, whereas conservation protects it (for example, through rotational grazing).
• C. Erosion: Correct. Loss of vegetation cover exposes the soil to wind and water.
• D. Fertility: Over-grazing reduces fertility, because the topsoil and its humus are lost.
• E. Formation: Soil formation is a very slow process, and over-grazing does not encourage it.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is C. erosion.

Exam tip: Remember the chain: over-grazing → no plant cover → loose soil → erosion. Whenever you see "removal of vegetation" (over-grazing, deforestation, bush burning), think erosion. To prevent it, remember the opposite: rotational grazing, afforestation, cover cropping and terracing.