Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

Dear colleagues:

Please find below my comments in relation to the Zero Draft of the documents VGSSM.

Kind regards

Dr Olegario Muniz Ugarte

Soil Institute, Havana, Cuba

President of Steering Committee of RSP for Central America, Mexico and The Caribbean

[English translation below]

Criterios acerca del Borrador Cero (Zero Draft) del documento “Directrices voluntarias para el Manejo Sostenible de los Suelos (DVGSS)”.

Considero que constituye un valioso y detallado documento de gran utilidad para la promoción y apoyo de las prácticas para el Manejo Sostenible del Suelo (MSS), que trata en detalle las características que deben reunir los suelos y establece directrices generales para preservar las mismas mediante prácticas que posibilitan la conservación y rehabilitación de este recurso natural. Sin embargo, pienso que debe incluir también de forma explícita, vías concretas para lograr alcanzar el MSS y, muy importante, poder evaluar su impacto. En mi opinión, la primera, lograr un Marco Regulatorio Legal Internacional Mínimo que comprometa a los gobiernos a la conservación de los suelos; ya que son muchos los países y regiones, fundamentalmente los menos desarrollados, que no cuentan con el mismo.

Otras: el establecimiento de Programas Locales, Regionales o a mayor escala, con financiamiento gubernamental, privado y/o con participación de organismos internacionales, que subvencionen a aquellos pequeños agricultores u obliguen a los grandes productores, al financiamiento de las prácticas que permitan alcanzar el MSS; el establecimiento de Bases de Datos Armonizadas Regionales y a más amplia escala que posibiliten el seguimiento y monitoreo de la calidad y productividad de los suelos; la permanente capacitación de los productores y formación y/o actualización de especialistas de suelo en los principios del MSS mediante programas establecidos a ese efecto.

No menos importante, es la necesidad del establecimiento de metodologías armonizadas que permiten evaluar mediante indicadores verificables, el impacto tanto biofísico como socioeconómico de la introducción del MSS.

Entiendo que la inclusión de un acápite en el documento que incluya este aspecto, le dará al mismo mayor integralidad.

Dr. Olegario Muñiz Ugarte

Instituto de Suelos, Cuba

Presidente del Comité Directivo de la Alianza Regional por el Suelo para Centro América, México y El Caribe.

Comments on the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management (VGSSM)

I think it is a valuable and detailed document, highly useful for promoting and supporting the Sustainable Soil Management (SSM) practices. It addresses the features that soils must meet in detail and establishes general guidelines to preserve these by means of practices enabling the conservation and rehabilitation of this natural resource. However, I think specific ways of achieving SSM and, very importantly, assessing its impact, must also be explicitly detailed in the document. In my opinion, one way should be setting an international regulatory minimum framework committing governments to soil conservation as many countries and regions, majorly the least developed, lack one.

Another way is developing local, regional or larger-scale programs, privately or governmentally funded and/or involving international organizations, that subsidize small farmers or enforce large producers to finance those practices leading to SSM; or establishing regional harmonized databases -and on a larger scale- to monitor the soils quality and productivity; or continuously training producers and soil specialists in SSM guidelines by means of specific programmes.

The need to establish harmonized methodologies to assess the biophysical and socio-economic impact of SSM introduction using verifiable indicators is equally important.

I believe the inclusion of a section addressing this aspect will yield a more comprehensive document.

Dr. Olegario Muñiz Ugarte

Soil Institute, Cuba

Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Regional Soil Partnership for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean

This is an excellent initaitive that needs all possible support. That said, this initiative will only deliver if it sticks to its laudable objectives. The draft document appears to consist of two parts: one part objectively describing what are good soil management principles and practices, based on a good analysis of available knowledge (pages 1-15), followed by a political part, ‘pushing’ CA as the ultimate sustainable soil management paradigm, whereby facts and figures are often interpreted to suite one’s purpose (pages 16-end).

As mentioned in the introductory paragraphs, the voluntary guidelines should apply globally so why then try to push CA to all farmers? Fortunately in Sub-Saharan Africa, most policy-makers recognize the need for fertilizer (used efficiently) and varieties, in combination with good agricultural practices, including recycling or crop residues as is or via farmyard manure, and even tillage. After all, why has tillage been adapted nearly everywhere as a land management practice? The above is often summarized as Integrated Soil Fertility Management (which the document summarizes quite well on page 17), a paradigm promoted by major investors in African Agriculture and rightfully so!

Another – minor – observation is related to the selective use of publications. While CA is quite prominent in the reference list, papers such as Giller et al (2009) stressing competition for organic resources or Vanlauwe et al (2014) proposing a fourth principle to assure sufficient biomass production to kick-start CA are lacking.

Minor comments:

- There’s very often talk of improving the use efficiency of nutrients – which I fully support – but equally important is to use appropriate rates; the fertilizer industry refers to the 4Rs: the right type at the right place at the right rates and the right time.

- Page 4: Principle 3: peculiar statement  for a definition: ‘…is a particular concern’.

- Page 9: Fertilizers are not acidic – ammonium-containing fertilizers can acidity the soils.

- Page 9: Acidification through N fixation is a minor process and never a reason not to promote legumes.

- Page 16: Pls add a 4th principle: appropriate fertilizer management (the 3 principles as such are ‘masked’ CA principles).

Dear Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils,

1. In general, very useful, worldwide acceptable and we can built on it.

2. I have some few comments.

Please some comments in the uploaded file (track changes)

Thanks

Mubarak A. Abdalla (PhD)

Desertification and Desert Cultivation Studies Institute, University of Khartoum

Sudan

Also,

Department of Soil and Environment Sciences, Fac. of Agric., University of Khartoum, Sudan 

This document on the guidelines for sustainable soil management is interesting as far as I’m concerned but, it can be improved. First, I suggest that there’s no section named 1.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0. Just name them 1., 4., 5., 6. Second, I think it’s important to present the causes of bad soil management observed through the world. For, the guidelines should indicate how to face the obstacles to sustainable soil management worldwide.  

In fact, human life is highly dependent on soil quality. That’s why the quality of soil management is very complex. It’s linked not only to the level of land pressure, but also to the farmers economic status, and their knowledge on agricultural techniques of soil conservation, such as natural fallow, improved fallow technologies, planting perennial crops, agroforestry, cover crop use, drip irrigation, lowland crop development, salt tolerant crop adoption, etc. Sustainable land management has been the focus of my thesis presented in November 2008. This thesis, entitled “Poverty Dynamics and Agricultural Practices for Environment Conservation in African Rural Area: The Case of Adja plateau in Southern Benin”, (see https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00680042),  has developed a complementary theory to the two former theories on soil management in the situations of high land pressure; the theory of Malthus (1798), and that of Boserup (1970).

On one hand, the pessimists, mainly represented by Malthus (1798), think that land pressure is associated to negative effects on agricultural production and leads to famine, soil degradation and rural exodus. On the other hand, the optimists, mainly represented by Boserup (1970), think that land pressure is an essential factor for technological change and sustainable soi management. Although in general the demographic and food evolution in Africa presents a Malthusian trend, like the cases of Yatenga in Burkina Faso, Serer district in Senegal and Adja plateau in Benin Republic, it was even though observed some Boserupian evolutions like the cases of Bamileke district in Cameroon and that of Machakos district in Kenya. One wonders if it’s still possible to presage in Africa a generalised optimistic evolution of Boserup (1970) and in which conditions. This thesis, from a temporal analysis of 122 households on the Adja plateau in the southern Benin, developed a theoretical intermediary position between Malthus theory and that of Boserup. It’s demonstrated that in land pressure situation, the farmers’ welfare state was an important determinant of sustainable soil management and agricultural productivity improvement. Land pressure does not induce ipso facto technological change and agricultural development. The Malthus spectrum and the optimistic vision of Boserup represent the extreme situations induced by a higher chronic poverty rate in the first case and a lower chronic poverty rate in the second case.

In order that the farmers can develop sustainable agriculture, sustainable soil management techniques in land pressure situation, it’s necessary to reduce significantly (or eliminate) chronic poverty among them by facilitating a truly profitable agriculture. The situation on the Adja plateau, where the chronic poverty rate is estimated at 28.7 %, followed the Malthusian spectrum. The Zero draft proposed should then take into account actions for chronic poverty elimination among the farmers. Efficient agricultural policies are then necessary.

Dear Moderator

It is a very good start.  I am very pleased to provide my comments on the Draft VGGSM in track, attached.

With regards

Daniel Danano

Land Management and Tenure Officer

FAO Regional office for Near East and North Africa

Please see in the attachment a few suggestions made on track-mode for consideration.

Best regards,

E.V.S.Prakasa Rao,

Ph.D, FNAAS, FISA, FISS

Formerly Head, Central Institute of Medicinal   and Aromatic Plants, Research Centre,Bengaluru, India;

ex- Chief Scientist and Advisor, CSIR- Centre for Mathematical   Modelling and Computer Simulation, Bengaluru, India;

Assoc. Editor-in-Chief, Indian Journal of Agronomy;

Advisor and Consultant(Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Sustainable Agriculture)