**Abstract**

Agricultural sustainability is an indicator for economic prospect across the globe. The revolution of industrial development and the growth of annual crop to meet the need of increasing world population is a determining factor for SOC availability. Sustainability of agriculture is largely related to SOC and management practices. Agro-ecological stability is significant to soil type and fertility input. Organic matter is a combination of plant residue and/ or animal waste. This is capable of accumulating carbon and nitrogen in the soil. It retains water and support the buildup of organic carbon. It enhances the stability of SOC and crop yield. The use of organic matter is effective at stabilizing the microbial communities. Carbon sequestration is high with crops that have abundant residues. SOC can potentially mitigate climate change. It prevents the use of minimum and conventional tillage. Higher deposit of SOC is associated with crop yield. Perennial crop cultivation such as cup plant (*Siliphium perforliatum. L*.) can potentially sequestrate carbon into the soil than annual crop. SOC are often exhausted with the cultivation of annual crop such as maize. However, SOC can be retained by growing clover in between harvests and the next sowing. Mineral fertilizer can likewise accumulate SOC but not as efficient as the use organic manure and plant residue. Perennial crop was found useful at preventing environmental degradation and soil compaction. Consistent assessment of SOC is essential for continuous food production and plant growth. This can be achieved through a multidimensional software called multiple linear regression.

**Keywords:** soil organic carbon, sustenance, ecosystem

## **1. Introduction**

Global warming is caused by the continuous increase in greenhouse gases in the earth's atmospheric surface [1, 2]. 50% of the total global emission is from agricultural production [3]. Excessive application of inorganic fertilizer causes ammonia volatilization, soil nitrogen leaching, air pollution, and soil acidification [1, 4]. This is a result of a rapid increase in the global population. They suggest the need for the protection of soil quality to meet the food requirement of the increasing global population and societal development [5, 6]. Climate change significantly affects the atmospheric carbon pool and its availability in the soil for agricultural productivity [7]. The loss of soil organic carbon and land degradation is one of the

major factors that affect the yield of existing farmland [3, 8]. Soil organic matter deposition is released from approximately two-third of CO2 exchange between the terrestrial ecosystem and atmosphere [9, 10]. The most active part of the global carbon pool is soil farmland. Farmland soil enables global carbon and nitrogen cycling [4, 11]. Farmland is an important source and sinks of CO2 for the farmland ecosystem. Agricultural farmland with decrease organic carbon has been proven to be unreliable [6, 12]. This has led to pressure in crop production through cropland management practices such as irrigation and fertilization [8, 13]. Organic matter plays a significant role in food production and agricultural land expansion. It is an environmental factor that determines sustainability and development [8, 13]. It is an indicator for factors such as water retention and nutrient availability [14]. It is a structural balance that promotes efficient drainage, aeration and minimizes loss of topsoil from erosion [6, 15]. It decreases reliance on external inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation [11, 16]. It is a stable and a last longing input that supports crop yield and sustainability [11, 16]. One of the major limitations to the availability of soil organic matter in the soil is the target method of prediction for a specific agricultural land and environmental development [17, 18]. Yield is often expected to increase per unit area with a certain measure of organic matter. But yardstick for determining organic matter is yet to be fully exploited [6, 19]. Several studies have been established in relationship with soil organic matter and yield [6, 19]. It was also found that a concrete agreement among researchers is yet to be reached. For instance, a decrease [20], an increase [21], and no change were recorded in some research findings [11]. Variation in result findings may be due to management, climate change, and soil type [11, 20, 21]. Likewise, a global understanding of soil organic with yield is heterogeneous [11, 20, 21]. This suggests the need to test and understand the effect of soil organic matter and carbon in agriculture and its environment [11, 20, 21]. This paperwork investigates the impact of organic carbon and its relevance in agricultural sustainability and development.
