Problems of protection and rational use of land resources in Ukraine
The land resource of Ukraine, which is the world leader in fertile lands, is a national wealth, one of the attributes of the nation’s existence, and soil fertility is the basis of the state’s food security. Therefore, it does not matter whether it will be privately owned or leased, it requires a set of measures to monitor and control their use at a modern level.
In today’s conditions, there is concern about the ecological state of all natural resources without exception. The problem of protection and rational use of land resources and, above all, agricultural land is particularly acute.
Soil degradation has been an unavoidable companion of humanity for many centuries. Using the natural fertility of the soil without trying to restore it is a sign of a low level of development of both agricultural culture and society as a whole. Due to excessive plowing (78 %), the deficient balance of biogenic elements, insufficient application of organic and mineral fertilizers, chemical meliorants, intensive mechanical treatment, pollution, etc., the soils of Ukraine in modern conditions continue to degrade.
Until 1990 the issues of soil conservation, reproduction and increasing their fertility were a priority and had real state support. During this period, almost the entire complex of works aimed at preserving soils was carried out, and the volume of these works increased annually.
The situation has changed significantly in the last two decades. The implementation of measures for radical soil improvement has been reduced to a minimum, and some works are not carried out at all. As a result, there is a steady trend of deterioration of the quality condition of soils. Humus reserves are reduced, nutrients are irretrievably removed, acidification, salinization and destructurization of soils occur. Under such conditions, there is a real threat of further intensive degradation of the soil cover – the main means of agricultural production.
One of the dangerous degradation processes that covers large areas of arable land is dehumification, the main cause of which is a significant reduction in the application of organic fertilizers. Also in Ukraine, there is a depletion of soils for the main nutrients that play an important role in crop formation (easily hydrolyzed nitrogen, mobile compounds of phosphorus and potassium), which also causes a deficient balance in agriculture. This was caused by a significant decrease in the volume of mineral fertilizers applied, their irrational use, non-compliance with a scientifically based fertilizer system, as well as the lack of crop alternation in crop rotation.
Due to a significant reduction in chemical land reclamation measures, the use of physiologically acidic and alkaline fertilizers, the processes of acidification and alkalinization of soils are accelerated. These factors limit the production of high and high-quality agricultural yields.
The process of over-compaction of soils, which is accompanied by adverse environmental consequences and significant economic losses, has become widespread.
There is also local contamination of soils with heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides and other toxic substances. First of all, these are adjacent territories to industrial facilities, nuclear power plants, infrastructure, landfills, warehouses of agrochemicals, and so on.
Do not forget about water and wind erosion, which manifests itself in the destruction of soil cover and increases as a result of economic activity, forest destruction, which causes leaching of nutrients from the soil, loss of moisture, increased erosion and desertification, as well as waterlogging and loss of agricultural land, which are caused by irrational irrigation of land, infiltration of water from reservoirs, flooding and flooding of territories due to the construction of reservoirs or conservation of spent mines and quarries.
In the event of uncontrolled development of these negative processes, the threat of catastrophic phenomena of agricultural land degradation and deterioration of their quality state, which act as a guarantor of food security of the state, increases.