Desertification Granario hidden side of boom Today is the World Day to Combat Desertification, a problem that is rarely discussed, despite threatening sustainability in food production. In Argentina, for the imaginary country "breadbasket of the world", is also a hidden track, subject to successful export model. Also, a related problem is the fertile soil degradation, because it also affects the ability to produce. In this regard, a recent study by INTA, released by the Ministry of Environment of the Nation, concluded that the soil loses nutrients. Even this loss accounted for almost 4 billion dollars to the campaign from 2010 to 2011. Degradation of soil by soybeans in Santa Fe Photo: INTA . The work "Removing and balance of nutrients in agricultural soils of Argentina" prepared by Gustavo Roberto Casas Cruzate and Soil Institute of INTA was published by the National Observatory of Land Degradation and Desertification, an initiative of the Ministry of Environment of the Nation. There is warning: "It is recorded high nutrient extraction spares no equal magnitude, which causes progressive deterioration in soil fertility threatening the sustainability of production systems." From the perspective of economics Ecolóigca, always questioned the profitability of the agro-export model. Even Raul Montenegro FUNAM biologist, calls it a "mining agriculture" since no replenish minerals extracted. Therefore, a renewable resource such as soil, is becoming nonrenewable. This is what the process of desertification, a phenomenon which soils can not become fertile happens in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid. However, in wet areas, degradation is also a serious problem. "Figures for the balance between nutrient removal by major crops and inputs by fertilization, remain deficient in agricultural soils of Argentina "and describes the situation work. In this sense, states that for the 2010/11 drew 3.93 million tonnes of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and calcium, of which only 1.26 million tons replenished. This represents a 34.6 percent replacement, ie a lack of nearly 65 percent. the report also details the phosphor decreases by 1 to 2 parts per million per year. Similarly, organic matter core area (Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe) experienced a drop of 0.5 percent in the last three decades. And notes: "This kind of" subsidy "that the natural wealth of our soil gives the user of the land and the state is not really anything but a gradual loss of capital floor." The breakdown of the nutrients lost, as contained in the work cited. So then, doing well the accounts, the business is not business. "In economic terms, it is observed that the net export of nutrients in grain, corresponding to the crop year 2010/11, was about 2.57 million tons, representing an amount of U $ S 3.63 billion", quantified INTA researchers. They were not wrong then social movements posed soy: "Bread for today, hunger for tomorrow." That is, as well analyze the authors: "If gross margins farms were included replacement costs nutrients removed by crops, crop profitability suffer variations depending on the chosen rotation system. would serve well to demonstrate the difficulty of obtaining sustainable planteos from both physically and economically, when strictly short-term vision. " La problem of loss of fertility is more acute with advancing deforestation. According to the researchers: "Simultaneous with increased yields, the agricultural frontier has shifted most fragile areas, traditionally mixed or livestock, often occupied by native forests." That is why more than 200 thousand hectares per year who lose natural forest coverage which suffer serious risk of desertification. And the major culprit there is the soybean production, which quadrupled the surface in the last two decades. According to researchers at INTI: "The above situation indicates the existence of production systems that are not sustainable, negatively affecting fertility levels and increased process of degradation and, thus limiting the growth of domestic agricultural production ". ***************************************************************
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:34:17 +0000
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