“Soils, Origin of Food” is the motto of World Soil Day 2022. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014, this day seeks to raise awareness of the importance of this essential resource to human life on the planet, and that far too often we assume. This is a grave mistake that joins many others in what United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called a “suicidal war against nature.”
Soil is the cradle of up to 95% of the food consumed on Earth. It’s a key element in our survival, but we don’t pay attention to it because we believe that like air or water, it’s something that will always be there and that it renews itself easily, but it’s not like that. According to the UN, salinization alone – the increase in salt content in the soil – makes 1.5 million hectares of farmland unavailable every year.
Agriculture and livestock not only suffer from climate change, but also contribute to their existence with around 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions
The soil harbors huge natural resources: there are more living beings in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on earth. However, the increasing pressure on the natural resources to feed humanity poses a growing threat.
It is estimated that by 2050 we will need to produce 60% more food to feed the world’s population. However, the increase in temperature on the planet and associated phenomena such as loss of biodiversity, salinization and others lead to the fact that the capacity for food production decreases. With every degree of global warming, this capacity drops by at least 5%. In addition, agriculture and animal husbandry not only suffer from climate change, but also contribute around 11% to global greenhouse gas emissions.
This data forms the basis for the key conclusion of the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit: Food systems – the way we produce, process, distribute and consume food – are in crisis and need fundamental reform to to make them sustainable. able to continue producing in the context of climate change; and to be resilient – having the ability to withstand economic shocks such as that of the war in Ukraine.
Soil is the cradle of up to 95% of the food consumed on Earth. It is a key element in our survival
For the reform of food systems, we need political will, which must be translated into investments that enable change, such as funding research that enables the development of natural and organic agriculture that uses the land in a careful and sustainable way.
This new farming, which technicians are calling climate-smart farming, will also be farming that is more resilient to economic and social turmoil. Also, it would be less dependent on synthetic fertilizers made in the nitrogen and phosphorus phase.
In other words, if we take better care of our soils, our agriculture would not be dependent on fertilizer production in Russia and Ukraine, and the war taking place there would not pose such a high risk to ensure global food security. And especially food security in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the price of chemical fertilizers has doubled as a result of the conflict, affecting the price increase of the staple food basket.
The soil harbors huge natural resources: there are more living beings in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on earth.
The work of scientific research organizations such as the CGIAR enables the development of improved seeds into new farming methods and best practices that help maintain soil health, thereby ensuring the resilience and sustainability of agri-food systems and actors.
But for these scientific innovations to become concrete, practical and applicable projects, and to move from the laboratory to the farm, it is crucial to create solid scientific knowledge transmission chains in which no link is missing, that is: no partner.
This means that the work of scientific institutions must be linked to producer organisations, the private sector, academia and above all governments who can determine that good agricultural practice or improved seed is within the reach of every farmer thanks to public policy programs. We need this chain to effectively tend our soils and ensure that food security is an effective right for all and not a privilege for the few.
Joaquin Lozano He is Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the CGIAR Research Center for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.
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