Soil............save it........

                                                     Soil degradation

Soil has been given a place of mother in many cultures of the world. As a mother plays an important role in taking care of her child, a similar role is played by soil[H1] . Soil provides  greater support to big buildings, houses, industries.  It also acts as a  layer for road construction, which is one of the  mean for  transportation. It is therefore[H2]  very hard to imagine about food production without quality soil. Accordingly to the Natural resources conservation service USA soil is defined as  – “The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the Earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants”. For the last few centuries, the world population has been  rapidly increasing. Consequently, the demand for food is also gradually increasing. Soil has been affected by number of reasons including urbanization, natural processes, human activities, and many more. Degradation of the soil is its displacement from one place to another. This kind of movement is forced by natural calamities, improper cropping as well as ad hoc land management  practices.. There are different natural calamities such as high velocity wind, high intensity rain, topography and where[H3]  are also human activities such as  intensive use of fertilizer, over irrigation, cutting vegetation, non adoption of soil conservation methods, overgrazing and shifting cultivation become  responsible for such kind of movement of soil causing degradation.

Soil Degradation

“Soil degradation is on the increase worldwide, especially in the countries within the tropics. Mismanagement of arable areas by farmers and grazing areas by livestock owners is one of the major causes of soil degradation” (FAO 1999[H4] ). Sustainable management system is needed to be introduced in such areas to manage the loss of soil effectively.   

[H5]     

   ( Images source- Google)

Table no. 1

Estimated Excessive World Soil Erosion Loss

Country	Total cropland (million ha)	Excessive soil loss     (million mg)
United states	167	1,524
Soviet Union	251	2,268
India	140	4,716
China	99	3,628
Other	607	11,201
Total	1265	23,337

    (Table taken from Textbook, The nature and properties of soil, by Nyle C. Brady p-433, Source- Brown and wolf (1984))

 There are  different reasons of soil degradation which are presented and explained  as follows.

Soil Leaching

As per[H6]  the dictionary meaning of leaching, it is the process of  removal of soluble constituents because of the action of the force of percolating liquid (thefreedictionary.com). The high amount of rainfall, temperature are having direct proportionality with loss of top soil material. These materials often are valuable elements. The displacement of top material results into the compact and dry surface of top soil. Water pollution is an another issue caused by leaching process, as the fertilizers are leached from drain soil and contaminate water in ponds, lakes and rivers. In tropics because of deforestation the soil is losing its fertility. Even though the leaching of nutrients form soil occurs naturally, for example because of high rainfall and temperature, human activities like deforestation, excessive use of fertilizers, improper land management, irrigation management, improper cultural operations are also became causes of the same. Natural soil erosion occurs due to high wind velocity, water and human activities as already mentioned. It is very much important to understand the causes of erosion before considering its management.

Steep lands

          

Accordingly to the Land and plant nutrients management system, FAO “ in the context of agricultural problem soils, Steepland are areas where a high slope inclination dominates the problems related to agricultural land use”. The soils of Steepland are generally found shallow[H7]  because of the active erosion and slope % is ≥ 12[H8] . As per[H9]  the classification of world reference base, the soils of Steepland can be categorized in to the following soil groups: Andosols, Arenosols, Calcisols, Leptosols, Regosols and Cambisols.

Surface, Channel, and mass erosion are the different types of steepland erosion. The relative interactions between climate, soil topography and vegetation determine the extent of steepland erosion and any changes of these compositions may result in the variation of steepland erosion.

Surface  erosion

Sheet erosion and rill erosion are two kinds of surface erosion where top soil materials are removed by the raindrop, rain film and then they saturate in the form of sheet and rill. We may find that surface erosion is minimal in undisturbed forest because of infiltration rates exceeds rainfall. Lack of permanent channel is the characteristic of surface erosion. Out of other known methods of predicting surface erosion, the famous one is that universal soil loss equation which is developed by department of agriculture, United States for agricultural lands. Attempt to apply it to steepland forest area s[H10]  generally have been unsuccessful- mainly because of the invalid basis assumption that most erosion from forest soils results from sheet overland flow (Robert and Ziember1986,p-9[H11] ). Many attempts including contour terracing and mulching, grass seeding are being developed to control the surface erosion. To reduce the impact of raindrop and energy of surface sheet to establish the network of roots to hold the top soil materials (Soil particles), As it is  compared to other kinds of erosion, surface erosion has been given least importance.

Universal soil loss equation-

 A= RKLSP

                         Where,

                       R= Climatic erosivity,

                       K= Soil erodibility

                       L= slope length

                       S= slope gradient or steepness

                       C= cover and management

                       P= erosion control practice.

[H12]                                      

(Source- Textbook- Soil condition and properties, Nyle C. Brady p-437 )[H13]      

Channel erosion

Displacement of material from gully or channel is nothing but [H14] the Channel erosion. This displacement would be of any single particle or whole sediment derived. The size of material being moved in transportation is directly vitiated with the extent or amount of channel. Channel erosion can be effectively managed by keeping the erodible materials in existing channel, by placing large organic debris into small perennial channels, by improving micro drainage network, increasing surface runoff from bare and compacted soils.[H15]  On steepland, the formation of gully is considered as a crucial process where the slope angle is critical and soil properties and surface runoff have a direct impact with the slope angle. Extent of runoff, footpath and soil drill have a positive impact on gully/ channel erosion. 

                                                       

Mass erosion

Mass erosion relates to the movement of  enormous [H16] of soil or rock. In steep lands mass erosion includes a large variety of process that range from slow and subtle deformation of the soil mantel[H17]  to rapid, discrete failure of hillside and stream channels(Robert R. Ziemer[H18]  1886, p-11). It is critically responsible for the movement of the soil particles from hill slopes to stream channels in undistributed forests. Land management activities of course![H19]  dramatically increases the probability of mass erosion.

                “Creep” is the most common and downslope movement of mantel in steep lands but unfortunately less documented.  It occurs in cohesive soils at varying rates and depth.

As stated earlier[H20]  it is important to understand ‘how’ and ‘where’ land management programme should be operated. In addition to this,  proper planning is also an another requirement to achieve the desired results. Well planned work on the selected site will decide the success on eleventh hour. Technical knowledge in turn has a significant role to play in all of these respects before implementing the erosion management programme.   

In most part of the world like in Asia, China, America, Africa, steep lands are economically helpful to grow the crops and contribute in food production, but the soil erosion and surface runoff are the real constraints  to exploit the natural advantages of the steep land. According to  Purnell (1986), 45% of the hillside are being cultivated in Nepal, and in Ethopia, 54% land area is having slope exceeding 8%, (Source R.lal,p-338 1990)

( Table no. 2) [H21] 

% of land area by slope class
Slope %	Africa	Southwest Asia	South America	Central America	Southeast Asia	Total area 106 ha	%
0-8	58	45	52	35	40	3340	51
8-30	34	31	30	40	31	2107	33
More than 30	8	24	18	25	29	1048	16

(Source- R. Lal, 1990 p-339)

Principles of Erosion control.

Major principle of the erosion control is to avoid the loss of soil during heavy rainfall by covering it with protective layers. Different agricultural practices including sod culture and mulching with the help of plastics helps to prevent the soil loss. In contrary to this, the disposal of excess of water and sediment deposition comes under engineering techniques. “The strategy for minimizing soil erosion risks on steeplands, lies in erosion  prevention or management”(R.Lal[H22] , 1990 p-341). Under erosion prevention method, surface runoff is reduced while improving the structure of soil where as under Erosion management, the importance is given to decrease the runoff velocity with the transport of sediment with[H23]  special devices. Crop and soil surface management are the key elements of erosion prevention methods where the agroforestry, cropping systems and crop husbandry comes under the crop management and tillage, residue management and soil structure improvement comes under the surface erosion management.

On the other hand, safe water disposal and surplus storage of water are the key elements of erosion management. Disposal of water is done through terraces, drop structure, and gabiens, and reservoirs, tanks and dams are used to store the water[H24] .

Agrobioforestry: Active role in Steepland management.

Agroforestry is the kind of agricultural system where agricultural crops are grown with other trees and animal rearing on fixed unit of land. Agroforestry plays an important role in maintaining the ecological efficiency with proper and adequate cycle of nutrient flow. Agroforestry is the best option to utilize the Steepland where fruit trees like Mango, ber,

Citrus can be grown economically with the trees  Acacia catechu, Dalbergia sissoo, Anacardium occidentale (Cashew), Bombax ceiba, Santalum album, Acacia nilotica, Schima wallichii, Michelia doltsopa, Pterocarpus dalbergioides,Albizia lebbek,etc. The main aim behind adopting the Agroforestry is to maintain and sustain the yield with effective erosion control.

“Agroforestry systems have also been successfully used in restoring eroded lands in Rwanda. At Nyabisindu, a complex system combining trees, animals and crops was developed (Dover and Talbot, 1987; Laizer et al.,1987)”. [H25] the above mentioned plantation of trees, help to establish the erosion control strip and overall plantation contribute in higher yield.

Agroforestry has been becoming a useful technique or practice in reducing the soil erosion. “Usefulness of Agroforestry systems in erosion control and in stabilizing steeplands has demonstrated in Java(Wiersum,1981;1984) Phillippines (Pacardo and Monecillo,1983) Kenya (Raintress and Torres, 1986) Sumtra ( Sukmana et al.,1985) and Naigeria (Lal, 1989)

Table No.[H26]  3

Run off control by alley cropping soon after pruning and planting (April May, 1986) IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.      

Treatment	Runoff	Relative runoff
Plowed control	99.5	100
No ill	10.3	10
Leucaena (4m)	26.6	27
Leucaena (2m)	9.0	9
Gliricidia (4m)	30.5	31
Gliricidia (2m)	27.8	28

(Source- R.Lal, 1990)

In brief, in Agroforestry, planting of closely spaced timbers and hedges create the barriers and reduce the runoff velocity. Closely spacing of trees allows more water to infiltrate, and as a result of this the surface runoff is decreased. Mulching with leaves and  plastic helps to reduce the shit erosion. Since the soil is an important parameter in ecology, it has become important to  look after soil erosion issue. There is again a good scope  for erosion control technique in future.

Soil degradation can be prevened by soil water conservation methods such as formation of terraces, contour, graded bunds.etc. Along with this aforestration and water conservation methods also helps to reduce the soil erosion .Plantation of wind breaks cropping patterns, perennial plantations also stop soil erosion.     

References-

1)Ziemer, Robert R. 1981. Keynote address, Theme 4, Management of  steepland erosion: an overview. Journal Hydrology (N.Z.) 20(1): 8-16.

2) Agroforestry systems to control erosion on arable tropical steeplands.

     R. Lal publication year 1990. (Page no-?)

3) Textbook, The nature and properties of soil Nyle C. Brady

    Web sources.

http://www.unescap.org/stat/envstat/stwes-04.pdf (prepared by Dominic Ballayan, FAO)

http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/prosoil/steep.htm

http://soils.usda.gov/education/facts/soil.html

                             

       

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                                                                 Assurance schemes for UKs growers 

To what extent are current assurance schemes (for conventional crops) addressing environmental sustainability issues?

Food safety plays an important role in food production. Now a days it has become a challenge before the growers to produce a qualitative and quantitative food for fast increasing population in many part of the world. In due course of time the food  requirement will reach to escalated level and the gap between the supply and demand will rise. Assuring food safety, the entire food chain is the vital priority for the food industry. The food scarcity would be the big issue and people will starve due to want of food. It is not only of the availability of food but also the safety of food. Besides food safety, the environmental sustainability is another important issue to be considered while making any agriculture plan and insurance. A typical assurance schemes of different conventional crops plays an important role in deciding its impact on several environmental issues. Many environmental issues can be explained for eg. Soil fertility, soil erosion, soil structure, human safety, environmental pollution created by excessive use of chemicals, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, intensive farming system…etc. An assurance scheme for conventional crops must be studied carefully to see at what extend these schemes address the environmental sustainability.    

                Red tractor farm assurance addresses the standards for fresh vegetables, salads, and fruit grown on producer’s farm. In order to provide safety and quality food to consumers, these assurance schemes mainly focus on Integrated farming systems with minimum use of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals, implementation of good horticultural practices, and gives more emphases on the environmental protection.Besides this red tractor assurance also believes that it is much important to know from where our food comes from? Where it is grown (origin) and in what way it has been grown? So all these points ensures us about conventional crop assurances provided by red tractor assurance. It has  positive effect over a food safety and environmental sustainability. Red tractor schemes are owned by assured food standards and have been updated from year to year. The aim behind updating  these assurance scheme is to address the scientific evidence, legislative requirements , sufficient scientific knowledge, skilled horticultural practices, and consumers concerns. Well recognized framework ‘Integrated crop Management system’ is adapted, in which the use of pesticides is reduced with other well balanced application of fertilizers and use of pollution free agricultural technologies. In such management system producer must meet the every need of their animals and should honour the ‘Five freedom’ expanded by Farm animal Welfare council. Therefore Consumers can be confident that products carrying the Red Tractor Logo have met Red Tractor Standards through all stages of production, processing and packing. However it is again necessary to examine these (or some of them) conventional crop assurance very carefully to see if they really have not any adverse effect over environmental sustainability. After careful examination of conventional crop assurance schemes, it will clear that, at what extent they address the environmental sustainability.

                                                

Certification in the Scheme and Compliance with Legal Requirements

                One can only get certification for his produce if it meets all the  standards set by red tractor assurance scheme. The inspection is done by the independent assessee and in animal section, the reports from nominated private veterinary surgeons. As the standard changes, the producer is informed about that. Producer’s routine point of contact with the Scheme is through  several Certification Bodies appointed by the Scheme to manage membership and to carry out assessment and certification against the standards.The Scheme operates as a Product Certification Scheme and Certification Bodies must be accredited to the international standard EN45011 by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. New applications are accepted throughout the year.Producer can not sell his produce until he get the certificate of conformity from the dignified authority. The multi-enterprise holder should mention for which part of the enterprises must included in assurance. Upon a contact made to certificate bodies, the producer will be issued the copy of registration pack which includes the relevant standards, an application form , useful literature..etc. Membership is registered under the name of the Business with a  nominated person who has functional responsibility for the management, decisions and operating systems being assessed in the Scheme. The  nominated person must sign the Certification Body’s application and subsequent renewal forms and keep the Certification Body informed of any material changes. Assessment is done on the appointment only. After assessment, initial certification is issued followed by certification of confirmation.

Standards

1)      Seed Nursery and root stock.

Nursery management is a skilled job and plays a key role in overall development of crops. In assured schemes it is recommended to treat the seeds before use. The pretreatment of the seed has considerable advantages as it can protect seed from seed born diseases. It is advisable to keep the records of all such treatments. The pest and disease resistance crop species are accepted. If the recommended treatment is with chemicals it  may create some environmental issues.   

2)      Soil Management

It is found that, if the same crop is grown in the same land for many years, it creates a  favourable conditions to increase the soil born diseases, soil erosion, loss of nutrient, loss of organic matter….etc. Therefore Crop rotation is necessary to follow to minimize all these issues.

Well and properly managed soil will help to maintain the soil structure and reduce the use of different chemicals. Conservation of soil organic matter splay an important role in soil binding and maintaining the soil nutrient level, and soil conservation as well.  Under this standard it is necessary to have knowledge of soil classification to the producers.As much as possible It is recommended to avoid the soil fumigation with chemicals.To my opinion it is  necessary to maintain the soil  health better with nature friendly ways which ultimately ensure the degradation of soil and get rid of chemical hazards.

3)      Environmental Sustainability

 Due to rapid urbanization, agricultural land is utilized for industry, construction of buildings and  other purposes.Ultimatelyit results in to loss of natural habitat ,wild life and species as well. Under these standards, the management of wild life and conservation of natural species has been given importance.This ensures protection to wild life, flora and fauna . Besides this, the producer must understand the growing procedure to maintain balance between production system and natural resources present in the area. This certainly has positive impact over a environmental sustainability.

4)      Environmental protection

There are several factors which cause the environmental pollution viz. excessive use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, their improper management etc. Under red tractor assurance standards producer must keep the storage area clean and should use proper balanced dose of fertilizer and pesticides. Under these standards producer must carry all safety measure while using chemical pesticides, fertilizers and cleanliness should be maintain at all the levels.

                       As per my own perception is concern after reading this standard, if the producers are advised to use organic pesticides and fertilizers, then it will have more favourable impact over a environment. The key point from this standard I must focus that ‘Potential pollutants such as silage, slurry, agricultural fuel oil and waste such as empty containers must be stored appropriately to prevent pollution and spread of disease’ and this would be the positive point of this standards. Pesticides should be sprayed in such way that they should not create any kind of pollution. Inorganic fertilizers must be used within a 12^th months.  However I must add from my knowledge that, the maximum emphases should be given on natural pesticides since they are comparatively cheap as against chemical pesticides. Their storage is also safety.

5)      Irrigation

          

Water is most vital element for life,availability of water and its quality are of utmost important as polluted water acts as source of cause for many diseases and health of living things.Unlike human beings the crops grown in field too require proper supply of water through efficient irrigation system. Under the Irrigation standard I came to know that, producers should adapt scientifically recognized irrigation system. Proper record of irrigation should be maintained with the analysis of source of water.

                        In Harvesting, the producers should follow the hygienic conditions while harvesting the produce with the personal cleaning and should avoid all kind of contamination to the produce. Here the producers are told not to use any chemicals, lubricants, oil, cleaning chemicals, plant and other debris, lunch bags etc as a containers of the farm produce. Under residues and contaminants standards, the producer must  test for the pesticide residues at least once in a year. In addition to this producer must read specific guide lines relevant to particular or specific crop to minimize the pesticides residues.  So in this section I found all the strategies are addressing the environmental issues in a positive way.  So in a summary of the standards I would conclude that, the standards are set in a way that the producers can put their produce before the consumers most acceptable safety way. It also ensures ‘quality’. Consumers are provided with the confidence what they they are going to consume,Since all kinds of protection measures are taken to protect the rights of consumer.this not only at final stage but each stage of production,packaging and storage,transport and marketing.Some of them are application of fertilizers,use of pesticides etc.it ultimately ensures  quality of produce. Natural flora and fauna has to be maintained and conservation of the genetic resources for future use. It is advisable to use essential chemicals on seed , nursery and rootstock, but here I would like to mention that , the maximum emphasis should be given on safety level. use of ‘ pesticides , fertilizers of organic origin’. Crop rotation is suggested under the soil and site management which is really a great step to maintain health and impact on environmental sustainability, since the crop rotation helps to maintain the soil structure.          

                                                 Protocol- Tomato (Protected)

The crop specific protocols are based on typical crop production process and food and environmental safety. The protocols are generally set with the aim to give minimum damage to environment and other environmental sustainability issues. The overall layout of the tomato protocol is similar to Red tractor Farm Assurance Fresh produce Standards.

1)      Choice of Variety or rootstock and plant health certification.

It is always beneficial to choose the healthy plant material before planting. It is not advisable to accept the seed material of unknown provenance, such as those intended for trial purposes, and it is because there is a chance of transmission of diseases. To my  view this kind of standards are really helping to maintain the environmental sustainability.

2)      Site and Soil Management.

                                                     

                                     Under this section, generally producers has to reduce the pest numbers on previous crops before any particular pest go into the diapauses in next season. High volume spray with short persistence pesticide if there is a still problem after termination of cropping. Fumigants  are allowed to disinfect. Weeds has to be removed around the production area (Green house) before the arrival of new plant, as many weeds e.g. chickweed sowthistle, are called as a hosts of tomato spotted wilt virus. Green houses should have appropriate ‘no smoking zone’

3)      Environmental protection, pest and diseases control.  

                                    Pesticides of biological origin must be used. However chemicals pesticides can be used as a substitute to them if they are not showing desirable effect. The records of pesticide application must be maintained. The impact of pest and disease attack on crops is quite considerable and has greater effect on quality and quantity of food produce. Chemical pesticides are of chemical in nature and where as Bio pesticides have a biological origin. In Bio control of pests the existing population of living organism is reduced by other living organisms. Under biological control, predators, parasites and natural enemies are used to control the pests. There are some benefits behind using the chemical insecticides, as they kill or repel the insect pest those causes the quality and yield of the food produce. Many of the chemical insecticides are economic. But while considering these benefits we cannot neglect the hazardous effect of chemical pesticides over a pests and crops since they cannot distinguish between pest and non pests and may become harmful to useful organisms. After spraying chemical insecticide they just kill any insects those come in their way. While applying chemicals over the crops if they are applied in excess and their leaching may contaminate the irrigation water as well as ground water. It is  necessary to take prevention method while spraying the chemical pesticides otherwise it may affect adversely to the sprayer and may pollute the environment. There are many advantages behalf the biopesticides can be quoted like, if they are used as a part of Integrated Pest management, they can show better result as compared to the chemical pesticides.  Biopesticides since having a biological origin so do not leaves any residual effect behind and therefore never can be harmful to the crops, humans and environment. So here I must say that Biological control as a part of this protocol is really helping to maintain the environmental sustainability. Many of the bio control methods of pests are listed under this protocol. And grower can find suitable method of controlling method out of them, and can reduce the use of chemical pesticides.

                                    It is necessary to have identification knowledge of diseases and pest because unless we can’t examine which kind of disease or pest it is, we can’t apply proper pesticides. Therefore this is another considerable parameter of this protocol.   Under the ‘Disease control’ it is advisable to avoid the maximum use of fungicides by proper and good use of disease management system. Bio control methods are also encouraged to use to control the diseases.

                                The excellent work is done in this protocol by listing the major and important diseases of tomato. In this protocol it seems that the maximum important has been given to the use of bio-control agents and therefore it is addressing the environmental issues in a positive way.

4)      Nutrition.

Growers/producers are advised to keep water and nutrients in recirculation. Soil and water conservation are important parameters of this protocol which can help in maintaining the environmental sustainability.

5)      Residues and Contaminants.

It is important to keep production area very clean and contamination free. And under this protocol the producers should late apply the fungicide to the edible portion of crop and it is because to avoid the contamination of chemicals. 

                                                                     Conclusion,

In conclusion, I would say about this assurance, standards. Protocol, that these schemes are playing an important role in maintaining the environmental sustainability. These are most important steps to protect rights of cosumer as well as the efficient management of crop management with most desired manner to create a synergy between production and consumption.The safety of production, consumption and environment sustainability are the priority areas at world level. Careful examination of the all important standards, I feel that it serves all the purpose of the organization to make it in best form to address the environmental issues in a positive way. However looking towards present situation emphasis should be given to Integrated Farming System, Integrated Pest Management, and Integrated Diseases management Systems.We can never rely upon a single way of safety standards but a sound balance between modern and previlaged organic and integrated approach to the existing protocol and assurance.