Soils complain about degradation and depletion. Is there a cure?

 

On April 27, Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Moscow Office, took part in an open webinar at the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy on “Protecting the planet’s soils from degradation and depletion. International experience in maintaining soil fertility and health”. 

The forum was organised by the RSAU-MTAA together with the Institute of Biology of Komi Scientific Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and PhosAgro with the participation of leading experts from the FAO Global Soil Partnership, the Eurasian Soil Partnership, specialized research institutions in Russia and several foreign countries. 

“Our webinar is attended by students, young specialists and practicing scientists, including participants and finalists in the international competition for the best scientific and applied work on soil health,” Academician Vladimir Trukhachev, Rector of the renowned Timiryazev University, said in his opening remarks.  

“It is wonderful that students from the Central, North-West, Southern, Volga, Ural and Siberian regions of Russia, as well as Belarus and Kazakhstan took part in the competition,” continued Professor Trukhachev. “The finalists and winners have carried out high-level research taking into account international best practice in maintaining soil fertility and health”. 

“The topic of preserving the planet’s soils and ensuring food security is higher on the agenda than ever before. This is a topic not only for agriculture, but also for the foreign policy of any state,” Professor Alexander Yakovenko, Rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, said in his opening remarks. “The amount of agricultural land is steadily declining, and this trend may jeopardise the planet’s food security.  

We feel this least at home in Russia, because our agricultural and natural resources allow us to use water without much restriction and sow vast areas. But for many states, the problem is very topical. In a number of European countries, the use of fertilizers with a high content of heavy metals makes soils less suitable for growing food and causes severe diseases in people.”  

“I want to pay tribute to FAO, with the support of which Russia is introducing advanced technologies in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Russian technologies help these countries ensure food security,” Professor Yakovenko continued.  

“We see a good prospect, i.e. the ability to feed all people, moreover, with healthy food,” the rector of the Diplomatic Academy said in conclusion. “In our country, no one is going to switch to artificial meat and fry bugs, because we have the opportunity to increase agrifood production focusing on healthy food. But to achieve this goal, soils must be kept healthy.”

This forum “is an opportunity to highlight the fundamental importance of soil for life on Earth, which is crucial not only for our country, but also in the global perspective,” Alexander Sharabaiko, Deputy General Director of PJSC PhosAgro, said in his welcoming remarks. “I would like to express special gratitude to colleagues from Timiryazev Academy and FAO for their contribution to the successful development of our long-standing partnership.”

“PhosAgro was the first and one of the few Russian companies chosen to implement global soil initiatives. It is a great honor and responsibility for us. We produce and supply eco-efficient fertilizers free of dangerous concentrations of toxic substances, mainly cadmium, lead and other heavy metals, and thereby help ensure global food security. 

Since 2018, we have been participating in creating the FAO Global Soil Laboratory Network. Today, this network covers 150 countries, and the total number of laboratories exceeds 800.  

As part of another FAO project, we are cooperating as donors in the Soils Doctors Programme, which focuses on the African region. We strive to teach our African colleagues how to use their land efficiently and our partnership has become an international benchmark of excellence in soil protection. 

Pollutants such as cadmium, lead and other heavy metals are a major cause of soil degradation. Under public pressure, regulators are imposing limits on heavy metal content, especially in fertilisers. For example, the European Union has imposed a limit of no more than 60 mg of cadmium per kilogram of fertiliser since July 2022. 

PhosAgro works hard to ensure that farmers all over the world harvest rich and healthy crops while maintaining soil fertility,” Alexander Sharabaiko concludes. 

“Among the Sustainable Development Goals, the most important one, in my opinion, is the 17th goal, which is about the importance of partnership. Without broad partnerships between governments, local authorities, public organizations, the private sector, and science, humanity will not achieve any of these Goals,” Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, stressed. 

“The history of mankind testifies that our whole life, our existence is enclosed in three habitats, namely earth, water and air. In this case, the earth is what we see under our feet, the top layer of fertile soil that gives us the bulk of all the food grown and produced in the world. We are depleting this resource. 

At the same time, the population is growing: we are now over 8 billion, and by 2050 this number will almost reach 10 billion. To feed this number of people, to provide them with nutritious and high-quality food, agricultural production must be increased by at least 70%. Priority should be given to the conservation and restoration of soils.  

In this regard, there are UN framework initiatives such as the “Decade on Ecosystem Restoration”, launched in 2021, which also focuses on healthy soils. The Russian Federation is now preparing to set up a national committee to implement the Decade.  

In this regard,” Oleg Kobiakov said in conclusion, “we look forward to deepening cooperation with Timiryazev Academy, the Diplomatic Academy, and the private sector, including PhosAgro, FAO’s long-standing and reliable partner in conserving, improving and restoring soil resources.” 

“If the soil is healthy, then it retains more water and for a longer period. Today, taking into account climate change, we need to make sure that the soil is able to retain all rainwater,” Ronald Vargas, Secretary of FAO's Global Soil Partnership (GSP), said in his opening remarks. “To do so, we must also take care of soil biodiversity conservation”.  

“FAO is grateful for the financial support of the Russian Federation and PhosAgro, in particular, for the activities carried out within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership,” Ronald Vargas stressed. “Together we can more actively promote the agenda of sustainable soil management. Not only individual commitment is important, but also donor funding for our plans.”

“The majority of Brazilian soils, Ferralsols, Acrisols, Lixisols and Alisols, fit in the general concept of tropical, weathered, acid soils, of low fertility,” Professor Lucia dos Anjos, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Soils Department, and Embrapa Soils, MAPA, said in her report. “This was interpreted as low potential for agriculture, especially intensive systems such as required in the production of grains. Nevertheless, Brazil is the first country in the Annual Soybean Production by Country and the third in corn production, after U.S. and China.” 

The Brazilian government has for a number of years prioritized the issue of soil erosion, as well as the problem of dependency of fertilizers, which “is a National Security Case”. “The success of Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF) to supply nitrogen instead of mineral fertilizers” in soybean production has proved to be a positive experience. No less effective has been the initiative to introduce a system of boardless plowing, as a result, in terms of cropland used for conservation agriculture (CA) Brazil is the second country in the world.”

Among other Brazilian achievements, Professor Lucía dos Anjos highlighted the successful implementation of the double purpose of the Brazilian Fertilizer Plan 2022-2050 to reduce Brazil’s dependency of fertilizers importation by 50%, and transform Brazil in a country exporting fertilizers technologies for tropical soils. Simultaneously, the authorities have established effective control of deforestation and loss of biodiversity in Brazilian valuable Biomes, such as the Amazon and Cerrado, concluded the guest from Brazil.

The key issues of land degradation in Uzbekistan, that are of grave concern in terms of providing vital environmental services, were named by Laziza Gafurova, Professor of the Department of Soil Science at the National University of Uzbekistan, Head of the AgroEcoBiotechnology Research Centre.

In her opinion, the reasons of soil degradation should include secondary salinization of irrigated land; swamping, waterlogging and imbibition of land due to irrigation agriculture; deflation and pasture digression in distant-pasture deserted areas that suffer from soil depletion – loss of humus and nutrients; soil compaction; water and irrigation soil erosion in mountainous and foothill areas of animal husbandry; deforestation and loss of species diversity; soil pollution with agrochemicals, industrial chemical pollutants; desertification of land adjacent to the territory of the dried bottom of the Aral Sea.

“Soil degradation is associated with the violation of land-reclamation activities related to cotton monoculture, the use of high doses of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, the extreme insufficient use of organic fertilizers and the cultivation of perennial grasses and green manure crop.

Lack of organic matter supply and moisture, irregular passage of tillage equipment, imperfection of agricultural practices, all this leads to soil dehumification, destruction of soil structure, soil compaction, formation of a thick tillage pan and soil crust in some places, a sharp deterioration in the agrophysical properties and biological activity of soils, and desertification, in general”, said Professor Laziza Gafurova.

“Why is the topic of soil health so relevant in Asia?” asked Lucrezia Caon, Land Management Officer FAO Office for Asia and the Pacific. “Asia and the Pacific accounts for half the people facing moderate or severe food insecurity in the world. Nearly half a billion people, eight in 10 of them in South Asia, were undernourished in 2021 and more than 1 billion faced moderate to severe food insecurity.”

“Progress in eliminating hunger in Asia and the Pacific has been steadily slowing down over the past few years, as undernourished people increased by 26 million between 2020 and 2021. The number of undernourished people in the Asia-Pacific region was 396 million in 2021.”

One of the key reasons is that food systems in the region are not sufficiently resilient and are unable to recover robustly from shocks. Moreover, soils in Asia were found to have been degraded by several factors: water erosion (59%), wind erosion (30%), chemical degradation (10%) and physical degradation (2%).”

The Asian Social Health Monitoring System, which “takes into account the differences and priorities of countries, available international and national instruments, as well as current initiatives and projects,” has been launched. This system, as Lucrezia Caon explained, “brings together the efforts of FAO, the private sector and the government in the field of soil protection”, suits the interests of all stakeholders, including farmers and politicians, and can “help in solving cross-border problems related to soil management”, for example, air and water pollution, water scarcity, issues with irrigation and the ability of soil to accumulate water.

“Each year, Africa loses about 56 billion euros of its GDP due to land degradation. The aggregate of approximately 500 million hectares of land are classified as degraded, super-arid, semi-arid or arid and unsuitable for agricultural production, said Ebrima Jarrah, Executive Director, The Soil Solution (NGO). “As a result, a significant part of our young population leaves for Europe and other parts of the world in search of happiness, leaving our rural population old.”

According to Mr Jarrah, in order to solve these problems, it is necessary to promote traditional and scientific knowledge about soils transmitted from generation to generation in order to promote technological innovations adapted to various socio-ecological contexts and justify solutions that meet the specific needs of individual territories and communities of people.

The Gambian expert also called for facilitating the search for resources that help learn more about soils, such as nutrient status, suitability, potential productivity and soil health, and to develop a number of tools and packages to assist indigenous countries and communities in building their capacity and mapping.

“In 2017, the Global Soil Laboratory Network was established by FAO to ensure the comparability, quality and reliability of soil data. GLOSOLAN is a multi-level system that includes national, regional and global levels. The aim of the network is to globally harmonize soil analytical data while building and strengthening the analytical capacity of laboratories. The reason for the creation of such a structure has been the lack of unified methods and procedures for measuring soil parameters on a planetary scale,” explained Elena Shamrikova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Vice-Chair of EUROSOLAN, representing the Institute of Biology of Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“The request for unified soil standards has come from representatives of various professions,” the expert continued. “To achieve global harmonization and overcome various barriers, GLOSOLAN has developed a unique inclusive bottom-up approach. For example, 67 laboratories from 52 countries located on different continents have participated in the harmonization of the Walkley & Black method for measuring organic carbon.”

At the same time, as Elena Shamrikova emphasized, “compliance with the relevant protocols determines the improvement in the quality of the data obtained, the minimization of health risks and the possibility of reducing costs.”

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Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Pavel Krasilnikov, Executive Secretary of the Eurasian Soil Partnership, and Professor Rosa Poch, Chair of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, Professor of Soil Science at the University of Lleida (Spain), also spoke at the forum.

The hybrid format of the international forum-webinar attracted more than 350 scientists from Latin America, Africa, Europe, Southeast and Central Asia. The Forum participants actively discussed the prospects for scaling up Russian innovative technologies to maintain soil fertility and health through the use by farmers of “green” mineral fertilizers that are free from such toxic and dangerous elements as cadmium, lead and mercury.

THE BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Currently, about 33% of the world’s soils are in a state of moderate or severe degradation. Every year, humanity loses up to 75 billion tonnes of soil from arable land, which leads to a shortage of agricultural products worth more than USD 400 billion and threatens food security and the sustainable development of the world community as a whole.

Soil degradation causes a decrease in its ability to store organic carbon, mineral nutrients and water, which leads to an aggravation of global climate change, an increase in social tension and economic imbalance.