Feed the soil to feed the people, the IPI jubilee

Editorial

Feed the soil to feed the people, the IPI jubilee
- Session 1: Policy issues related to food supply and the environment
- Session 2a: Economic and social issues
- Session 2b: Economic constraints
- Session 3a: Plant nutrients for sustainable agriculture
- Session 3b: Imbalance in nutrient supply
- Session 4: Potash in agriculture
- Acquiring and putting knowledge into practice - the role of IPI

News
- The law of the minimum
- Soil fertility in Czech Republic in decline

IPI Publications

Publications from other sources

Other editions of IFC

Session 1: Policy issues related to food supply and the environment
Session 2: Economic and social issues
Session 2: Economic constraints
Session 3: Plant nutrients for sustainable agriculture
Session 3: Imbalance in nutrient supply
Session 4: Potash in agriculture
Acquiring and putting knowledge into practice - the role of IPI

Session 2: Economic and social issues to achieve sustainable and viable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture can be interpreted in many ways but Manfred Zeller, from the University of Göttingen in Germany, says that "an agricultural system can be said to be sustainable if the amount of income generated for consumption each year can be sustained over time". However, sustainable agriculture cannot be seen in isolation from economic growth, equity and poverty reduction.

Low population pressure, coupled with modest food demands and adequate natural resources meant that, in the past, sustainable forms of agriculture were comparatively easy to achieve. The picture has changed drastically and will continue to do so as the world's population grows. Within the next 20 years, global demand for cereals is likely to increase by 39%, and the demand for meat by 58%. This has to be achieved despite declining per capita land and water resources and without relying heavily on non-renewable energy because of the impact of fossil fuels on climate change. In order to sustain increases in future food production and counteract declining growth rates in yields of cereals, a new Green Revolution will be needed but, says Professor Zeller, this will be achieved by using non conventional breeding technologies.

Source: Vosti and Reardon, 1993

To illustrate the inefficiency of using fossil fuels for agriculture, Professor Zeller took the example of a peasant in a developing country who uses only one calorie of labour, an abundant and renewable energy source, to gain ten calories out of production. In contrast, a Great Plains farmer in the USA spends ten calories from fossil energy to gain one calorie in production. Professor Zeller expects that prices for non-renewable resources will increase and that new technologies and fiscal policies will be needed to encourage energy saving and the use of renewable sources.

Soil is the principal capital of all agricultural activities. As a rule of thumb, sustainable management means replenishing the nutrients that are harvested with crops while taking into consideration other net influxes of nutrients. Future challenges lie in the fact that production of N fertilizers depends mainly on fossil energy, that P reserves are declining and that there is a growing regional nutrient imbalance caused by cross border transfer of nutrients contained in agricultural products. Based on these facts, higher fertilizer prices can be expected in future. Fertilizer use in most developing countries is low for a number of reasons. Farmers lack capital and credit, fertilizer prices are high because infrastructure is poor and market volume low and, because the yield and quality are uncertain, farmers are unwilling to invest in fertilizers. In these circumstances, soil nutrient mining and, ultimately, poverty, are inevitable. Policies that could be put in place include improving rural infrastructure to reduce farm-gate fertilizer prices, promoting applied research in nutrient recycling (the integrated approach) and developing plant varieties that have a higher nutrient exploitation potential.

The social issues related to sustainable agriculture refer to food security and poverty, to the distribution of land and security of land tenure, to human health and to gender. Food insecurity has nearly always been a problem of distribution, e.g. access, assets and income, rather than lack of production. As far as distribution of land and security of land tenure are concerned, there is still unequal distribution and insecurity in many parts of the world and this in turn prevents long-term investments in soil fertility or in trees. The issue of human health refers to the contamination of potable water due to agricultural activities (nitrates) and the growing concern about pesticides. The adoption of integrated pest management, the production of more effective but less harmful chemicals, conservation tillage, genetic improvement of crops, and organic agriculture go some way to providing solutions to these problems. As far as the gender issue is concerned, we should not forget that in developing countries more than half of farm labour is provided by women and, in some countries, 30-40% of farm households are headed by women. But, women have less security of land tenure and are largely ignored by political decision-makers even though it is usually women who decide on whether and how to invest in the soil.

Environmental problems are caused by poverty, by greed, by lack of information on environmental hazards and by a lack of awareness, particularly by consumers. Sustainable agriculture and rural development are the responsibility not only of government but of all sectors of society. A pro-poor policy and corresponding investments in research, education and in rural infrastructure would be an important step toward sustainable agriculture.

David King, from the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), pointed out that views on sustainability differ between developing and developed countries. In the former, farmers need secure and equitable access to land, water and other resources such that they have enough incentive to preserve and invest in soil fertility. In industrial countries, the priority is seen in terms of food safety and quality, countryside management, and maintaining rural culture and tradition.

Farmers in developed countries are under immense pressure and close observation from consumers who want to know more about how and where their food is produced. Concerns about food safety have placed new demands on farmers and the regulation of farming and food production is increasing. Food quality, which refers to the specific characteristics of a product, can be controlled by producer quality assurance or certification schemes. Globally, farmers are responsible for the management of about 70% of cultivable land and 70% of fresh water. It is little wonder, therefore, that governments want the management of natural resources under their regulatory control. Examples for these are measures to reduce the use of pesticides and the loss of soil nutrients, rewarding farmers for stewardship or environmental services, promoting organic agriculture, maintaining biodiversity, and protected areas.

Many industrialized countries have developed their own national plans for "good agricultural practice" although, due to the dynamic nature of agriculture, it would be difficult to come up with a rigid and permanently acceptable workplan. Naturally, the best farmers always look to see how they can improve the sustainability of their farms. Nevertheless, when government rules go beyond normal consideration, farmers should be compensated accordingly. The regulatory framework for globalization was also covered in the presentation from IFAP. Globalization has been driven by spectacular progress in transport, information and communications technologies. However, the benefits of globalization have not been shared equally. Developing countries are being left behind. To cope better with the impact of globalization, farmers in developing countries should have access to an income safety-net, including crop insurance and other risk management tools.

Globalization was also the subject of the contribution from Balu Bumb of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), USA. He described the fertilizer scene and discussed policy and efficiency issues. Under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, WTO members agreed to decrease tariffs and quotas and reduce export subsidies and domestic support in order to stimulate the global agricultural market. It was expected that these changes would increase the demand for agricultural exports and therefore have a positive impact on fertilizer demand (see graph). However, the reality has been that developed countries did not fully implement their commitments on tariff and subsidy reduction, and transitional and developing countries failed to make progress in liberalization of their markets. Consequently the impact on fertilizer demand was low. The statistics show that fertilizer use in developed markets is still declining, and that fertilizer use in transitional markets, mainly the former Soviet Union, has still not recovered from the tremendous setback after the economic reform in the late '80s. It is only the developing markets which show an almost linear increase in fertilizer consumption.

From Bumb, IFDC

Looking beyond total consumption of fertilizers, John Lingard from the University of Newcastle reported on nutrient balances, i.e. nutrient input versus output. When considering agro-economic benefits, he pointed out that the optimum combination of the nutrients N, P and K depends not only on their separate and combined contribution to yield but also on their relative prices. Lack of available nutrients in appropriate amounts and ratios and at realistic, affordable prices, prevents farmers from choosing balanced fertilization. A good example is Africa where fertilizers cost between two and six times the world price and nutrient depletion is therefore widespread. But negative balances for all three major nutrients are also observed in rice in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Worldwide, Lingard estimates annual soil nutrient depletion of 12.1 kg/ha of N, 4.5 kg/ha P and 20.2 kg/ha K (figures for 1996). From 1990 to 1996, the depletion rate increased sharply. Looking more specifically at potassium shows that from the total K flow of 103 Mt K in world farming, 23% is contained in arable crops, almost 60% in crop residues and 18% is lost through leaching and erosion. Mineral fertilizers contribute 15% of the total K input, recycled crop residues nearly 36% and manure 20%. But 30.6 Mt K or 30% of the total input has been taken from soil reserves. In other words, there is still considerable soil K mining.

Nutrient balance sheets provide useful information but cannot indicate the existing level of nutrient stocks in the soil and, therefore, whether nutrient depletion is occurring on soils with plenty of nutrient reserves or on soils which are already exhausted.

The proportion of nutrients derived from manure is steadily declining. Since 1960, the contribution of manure relative to fertilizer+manure has decreased from 60% to 25% for N, from 50% to 38% for P and from 75% to 57% for K. This is a clear indication that manure can never fully replace harvested nutrients. There is simply not enough livestock in the world.

The benefits of balanced fertilization are obvious. With increases in crop yield it contributes to food security, affordable consumer prices and increased agricultural employment. It therefore helps to improve the rural economy. In tropical, nutrient-poor soils, fertilizers boost yields and the biomass can be ploughed back to augment organic matter. Increasing the organic matter in soil improves moisture retention, nutrient use efficiency and soil productivity. As Lingard points out, using fertilizers is labour intensive. On the one hand this can increase rural employment and sustain rural wages but on the other, where farm households, particularly in Africa, lose working age family members to disease and migration, those who are left - often women with young children and old people - cannot afford to hire labour to apply fertilizers to their fields.