Waruni Jayathunga
According to Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science at Ohio State University and an Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Goodwill Ambassador, farmers are the key to recovering the world’s soils. However, in order for them to carry out this function, players in the food and agriculture systems must financially support their initiatives.
During a fireside chat with Jose Mai, Belize’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise, which IICA and Food Tank co-hosted at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan, Lal said, “We have 40 percent of the earth seriously degraded by erosion, by salinity, by waterlogging, by nutrient depletion, and by depletion of organic matter.”
Additionally, food quality, harvests, and ultimately communities suffer when soils deteriorate, according to Lal. “People reflect the soil in which they live.” The farmers are the major participants in improving the productivity of soils.
According to Mai, “the Americas’ small farmers want, desire, and hope to help improve the environment in which we live.” “However, assist the farmer to improve the situation.”
Lal points out that when food producers alter their farming methods, they frequently have to take significant risks. And despite everything that the world expects of them, Lal and Mai claim that they don’t get much in return. For this reason, Lal supports paying farmers for the “ecosystem services” they provide.
Lal also urges increased collaboration between farmers and researchers, the commercial sector, and policymakers. He asserts that “this transformation [of agricultural systems] will happen” if these connections can be established with producers at the core.
Lal is in charge of IICA’s Living Soils of the Americas initiative, which aims to strengthen ties between North and South America. The effort uses land management techniques to increase carbon sequestration and decrease land degradation, bringing together agri-food companies, federal, international, and civil society organizations, and technological cooperation.
Lal and Mai both emphasize how urgent this task is; according to Mai, the farmers required assistance “yesterday.” But Lal is still hopeful. He thinks “we have a bright future ahead” if institutions like IICA, the next generation of farmers, and governments can keep restoring soils.
Source: foodtank.com
