Effective environmental management is crucial for sustainable food security.
This is the opinion of Dr Gawie du Toit, one of the country’s leading soil experts, and the man at the helm of TLU SA’s Advisory Service.
“Environmental management investigates and studies the natural soil system, climate (water and temperature or solar energy), vegetation, animal life on the soil (macro life) and in the soil (microbial population) as well as human actions on its environment; with the aim of better understanding land use, for sustainable food production for the never-ending population increase in South Africa,” explains Dr Du Toit.
“Agriculture can have a huge impact on the ecosystems that surround it. At the same time, the absolute dominant role that climate plays for the sowing industry of South Africa in general and the maize industry in the summer sowing area cannot be overemphasised.
“Keep in mind that apart from a climate that is currently balancing the equilibrium point for food production (with seemingly good food production and exports), a critical-analytical assessment must be made of an extremely delicate strategic aspect that should not be taken lightly.
“The core value of environmental management lies in ensuring that this equilibrium point is not negatively affected. However, it is now that red lights are flashing.”
Dr Du Toit points out the following aspects: The equilibrium soil-plant climate, unfortunately, has a rather serious deterioration of soil acidity and degradation that does not bode well for food production unless the problem is solved soon.
“This is a problem that has arisen because farmers are being led to chase large maize crops with unnecessarily large amounts of especially nitrogen applications, which are responsible for the undesirable pollution condition of soil acidity. If this condition does not receive urgent attention and is resolved, food security could be seriously affected.”
Dr Du Toit adds that the problem can nevertheless be solved relatively easily and managed by farmers. “Here we can therefore handle environmental management successfully.”
Another aspect that results in severe degradation, with a very detrimental effect on food production, is, among other things, pollution of underground water by Mining (especially Open Coal Mines) which is driving our limited good water supply, especially for irrigation in South Africa.
“Apart from the water problem, this disorderly mining is destroying our extremely scarce natural resource – land – of which we have very little. Remember that no more land can be ‘made’. What the Dear Father has given us, we must keep as a treasure.”
A further chaotic and frightening water aspect is the sewerage works of almost all City Councils and Municipalities that have completely collapsed. From the point of view of Environmental Management, this aspect is an insurmountable challenge that deserves serious attention.
“Everything that is thrown out and thrown away – that which is meant for the ash heaps – is a great headache. Incredible processing potential can take place here. There is so much that can be done with processed plastic, not to mention the thousands of tons of vehicle tires – plastic and rubber are a major source of pollution, which can be recycled for reuse. The well-known chemical process for this is called ‘pyrolysis’. ”
Although negative impacts are serious and can include pollution and deterioration of soil, water, and air, agriculture can also have a positive impact on the environment, for example by trapping greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide) within crops and soil. Soil science is important in this regard because with this knowledge soil is kept healthy for sustainable production.
“In order to give shape to this value of agriculture on the fundamental understanding of the dynamic interaction of soil-plant climate, it is important to refer to the background philosophy as formulated by soil scientist from the University of Pretoria, Prof Willem Fölscher.”
According to a well-known law of nature, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the universe strives for an increasingly disordered distribution of energy and thus the decay of matter (entropy process). Biological life, the existence, and functioning of which is based on an orderly state of energy and the pursuit of the accumulation of matter, is therefore actually a natural anomaly. The production system (which is utilized by man) thus represents a metastable equilibrium state which consequently experiences strong external pressure to undergo change. Destructive action of natural forces is then buffered by surely the greatest natural wonder, namely evolution of the photosynthetic process of the green plant with the soil as a key component. Water, sunlight energy, and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are used by the green plant to synthesize energy-rich compounds. Not only does this make food for me and animals, but sufficient potential energy is also created in the form of organic residues in the soil, to stop decay processes. An extremely delicate equilibrium is consequently created between the heterotrophic (C-oxidation) activity (protection process) and autotrophic (N-oxidation) activity (decay process).
Dr Toit concludes: “From this, it is now clear that the wonderful constructive natural process of photosynthesis sets a clear example and speaks to us as human beings, how to act to counteract decay and destruction in our environment for survival on planet earth.”
