On World Soil Day, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says soil is under pressure around the world. FAO studies have found that one quarter of the Earth's land areas are highly degraded due to a variety of human activities - including farming.

Some 1.6 billion hectares of land are currently used to grow crops, and in many instances have become degraded through bad practices that result in water and wind erosion, the loss of organic matter, topsoil compaction, salinization and other forms of pollution, and nutrient loss.

FAO’s Soils and Land Management Officer, Ronald Vargas Rojas explains to the agency’s Sandra Ferrari that World Soil Day is intended to be a platform in order to raise awareness of the importance of soils.

Duration: 3’51”