World Soil Day in Sochi through the prism of climate-smart agriculture

The Eurasian Center for Food Security, the World Bank, and FAO’s Liaison Office with the Russian Federation together with partners co-organized the IV Annual International Scientific and Practical Conference on Food Security and Soil Science. The event took place on 5-6 December at the Russian Research Institute of Floriculture and Subtropical Crops in the Southern Russian city of Sochi. The event was dedicated to the celebration of World Soil Day.

The conference brought together 98 participants from Austria, Armenia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mozambique, Russia, Uzbekistan, Uganda and South Africa. The following topics, climate-smart agriculture, soil erosion and agriculture in the tropical and subtropical zones in the context of food security, dominated the agenda.

On the first day of the conference, welcoming remarks were delivered by Sergey Shoba, ECFS Director; Mikhail Sharafan, Head of the Department of Science and Technology Policy of the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth Policy of the Krasnodar Region; Alexey Ryndin, Director of the Russian Research Institute of Floriculture and Subtropical Crops; Artavazd Hakobyan, Senior Agriculture Economist, the World Bank; Aghasi Harutyunyan, Officer-in charge of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation; and Yuxin Tong, Associate Professional Officer of Global Soil Partnership (FAO).

The panel discussion on the role of soil scientists in food security and SDGs achievement discussed the importance of the soil science profession in addressing the global challenges of sustainable development, as well as the prospects and growth points of interdisciplinary research. Experts noted the importance of economic calculations to justify the introduction of technologies for sustainable soil management. In Russia, soil scientists are concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg, while specialists are in huge demand across Russia.

At the first roundtable session on “Technological innovations for sustainable land management”, moderated by Aghasi Harutyunyan, experts discussed how to combine scientific achievements, technological developments and the experience of farmers to effectively address issues of sustainable land management. 

Dr Andrei Rozanov, Senior Lecturer in Soil Science, Stellenbosch University (South Africa), for instance, highlighted the situation in the field for farmers using the services of soil laboratories and succinctly summarized the situation with the words of V.A. Gilyarovskiy: “A penny's worth dimes!” The expert quoted the prices for chemical analyses in different countries around the world and demonstrated why it is more profitable for farmers to use spectroscopy despite some disadvantages of this method.

The second roundtable, “Agroecological problems of erosion, soil degradation and the best available technologies for climate-smart agriculture in Chernozem and Black soils”, was devoted to the key issues of quantitative research, modelling, forecasting and prevention of processes of anthropogenic degradation of black soils against the backdrop of global climate change, economic conditions of land and water use, massively applied farming systems and agricultural technologies.

Particular attention was paid to the systematic analysis of the agroecological problems of the accelerated erosion, increasing the economic efficiency and environmental safety of the use of fertilizers in intensive and organic farming systems.

The Sochi conference was widely covered by media. Federal and regional TV channels interviewed keynote speakers and moderators. 

5-6 December, 2019, Sochi, Russian Federation