The Economic Cost of Environmental Degradation

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The land is a key environment and natural resource assets in Agriculture. It is also the case that the viability of arable land has a direct relationship with productivity. Land degradation caused by soil erosion is a major threat to the sustainability of agriculture. Soil erosion is one of the main forms of land degradation in Ghana, a problem that has been studied and researched by numerous scholars both local and abroad. Since 2006, the agricultural sector's contribution to Gross Domestic Product has declined, possibly because of the negative effects of land degradation i.e. soil erosion challenges among others. The paper assesses the cost of land or soil degradation in the Agricultural Sector and its effect on the economy of Ghana with a focus on the on-site effects of soil erosion on agricultural productivity. The study draws on the productivity loss and nutrient replacement cost approaches in estimating the cost of soil degradation in the agricultural sector.