SOILS NEED PROTECTION
SOILS NEED PROTECTIONIgor YATSUK, Victoria PANASENKO,
Journal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “Viche” No.15, 2013
Soil is called the main wealth of the state and the planet. However, this strategically important resource is not always managed rationally, and in Ukraine, as in most countries of the world, there is a dangerous process of soil degradation, which experts call the “quiet crisis of the planet”. In particular, the monitoring data of land resources convincingly show that in recent years our soils have been noticeably impoverished and losing their quality and productive indicators.
Land resources and food security
The agricultural sector has been and remains key for the development of our state’s economy. However, its role is not limited to domestic territories, because the potential of the agricultural sector is sufficient to provide food not only to the population of Ukraine, but also to numerous consumers outside its borders.
Meanwhile, experts of the European Union clearly state a rather disappointing development of the situation with land resources. It is enough to quote the following quote from official EU documents: “increasing the requirements for soil functions both in Europe and in the world will lead to more intensive land use, increased pressure on the soil and its degradation. The situation is complicated by the use of land for urbanization and infrastructure. Competition for land and water resources creates serious risks of geopolitical instability. Given this global pressure, Europe will be even more dependent on land resources and sustainable land use in the future. Only as a result of covering the soil, that is, allotment for building, roads, etc., during
11990-2006, Europe lost more than 16 thousand km2, or 1.6 million. ha, land, and with them – the potential capacity of agricultural production, equivalent to 6 million tons of wheat.”
this dangerous trend of reducing acreage will continue in the future, so the role of Ukraine as an agrarian state with unique soil-climatic conditions in the food security of Europe and the world will grow every year. Here we would like to take care of increasing crop yields and returning the country to the status of a “European breadbasket”, but we are faced with the problem of preserving soil fertility.
The natural rate of restoration of the fertile soil layer is 1 centimeter per 100 years.
First of all, you need to have objective data on the quality condition of the soil. For this purpose, the state monitors them by conducting agrochemical certification of agricultural land (agricultural land), during which more than twenty indicators of soil quality are recorded.
According to the results of such studies, over the past two decades, there has been a decrease in soil fertility. First of all, this concerns reducing the content of humus – an integral indicator of fertility. During the specified period, it was lost from 0.4 to 0.8 tons per hectare, which on a national scale is equal to losses in the amount of 453.4 billion hryvnia. At the same time, according to scientists, it takes 100 years for the formation of 1 centimeter of a fertile soil layer in natural conditions.
Also, since the beginning of the 90s of the last century, a negative balance of all food elements, especially nitrogen and potassium, has been recorded annually.
For almost 20 years, a permanent process of soil acidification has been taking place in the Polessky and forest-steppe zones. Today, the area of soils with an active degree of acidity is almost 4 million hectares, which is 300 thousand hectares more than it was ten years ago.
In the Steppe zone, the reverse process occurs – alkalinization. Currently, 1.8 million hectares of soil with a strong and very strong alkaline reaction of the soil solution have been recorded here, and their area continues to grow.
Another negative result of human activity is the spread of soil erosion. We can’t help but worry about the following data: as a result of water erosion, about 500 million tons of humus and about one million tons of nitrogen, 0.7 million tons of phosphorus and more than 10 million tons of potassium are washed away annually.
Retribution for violating the laws of agriculture
The main reason for the decline in soil fertility is a violation of agricultural laws. It is on human economic activity that the transformation of soils, that is, an increase or deterioration in their fertility, most depends. Analysis of operational and statistical reports shows that most land users do not take any measures aimed at preserving soils and increasing their fertility.
Currently, extremely small amounts of organic fertilizers are being applied. On average, during 2004-2011, Ukrainian farms contributed less than one ton of manure per hectare, while the minimum rate for ensuring a deficit-free humus balance, depending on the soil-climatic zone, is from 8 to 14 tons per hectare. Mineral fertilizers are also not sufficiently applied. The main share of them is nitrogen. Consequently, the scientifically based ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is violated. Chemical land reclamation works have been almost stopped.
The structure of Acreage, which characterizes the directions of agricultural production, does not meet scientifically based requirements. Almost 20 percent of the sown area (and in some regions this figure is 30 percent or more) is occupied by Sunflower, which is unacceptable from the point of view of preserving soil fertility. Over the past 20 years, the area of this highly liquid crop has tripled and amounted to almost 4.9 million hectares in 2012, while in 1990 – 1.6 million. At the same time, scientists say that the optimal area should be approximately 1.8 million hectares, at least not exceed two million.
When making certain decisions about nature management and, in particular, land use, a person tends to proceed from their subjective needs, which are mostly selfish, consumerist and contradict the laws of Integral and harmonious functioning of the biosphere. It is precisely this consumer approach to land use that prevails on the territory of our state, as evidenced by the deterioration of the quality of Ukrainian soils over the past decades.
Soil protection measures in the legal field
The EU Commission’s message “to the thematic soil protection strategy” identifies a number of major threats to soil degradation: erosion, quantitative and qualitative reduction of organic matter, pollution, salinity, compaction, loss of biodiversity, cover, landslides and floods. The draft framework soil directive of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe states that soils, in fact, are a non-renewable resource, since the rate of their degradation can be significant, and regeneration processes are extremely slow and costly.
That is why it is so important in this area to create conditions that would ensure the preservation of soils and increase their fertility. The analysis of regulatory legal acts shows that Ukraine has formed an appropriate legislative framework that allows for the implementation of a full range of soil protection measures in the legal field. However, unfortunately, most of the norms and provisions of the laws do not actually apply. Statistical and operational reporting data indicate that the main measures to preserve soil fertility are carried out in minimal volumes, and some of them are not carried out at all, while the production of products often leads to depletion of natural soil fertility.
To correct this situation, it is necessary to develop and implement a number of measures. The most important of them we consider the restoration of state and regional programs for the protection of soil fertility; the introduction of scientifically based crop rotations; increasing the norms and volumes of organic fertilizers, in particular by using a non-commodity share of the crop (straw, stubble, crushed sunflower stalks, corn, sorghum, tops, etc.), legumes, perennial grasses and green manure; introduction of mechanisms to stimulate the reproduction of soil fertility and compensate for their losses using the balance method of calculating the removal of nutrients by agricultural crops; conducting a large-scale repeated soil survey of land based on modern scientific research in the field of Soil Science; restoration of the law of Ukraine “On payment for land”.
In the complex of tasks, without which it is difficult to hope for solving problems related to the economical, rational use of agricultural land, we consider the following priorities:
— adoption of the law of Ukraine “On soil conservation and protection of their fertility” (currently undergoing preparation for consideration in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine);
— development of the concept and national program for the protection of soil fertility;
— development of the Concept and National program of large-scale soil survey.
In addition to the introduction of legal and economic mechanisms, which were discussed above, in our opinion, it is equally important to change the ideological position of people regarding the attitude to land resources, to achieve their awareness of the vital need to direct nature management in a rational and scientifically based direction, to educate the consciousness of the true owner of this unique natural gift with an appropriate attitude to it.