Without healthy soil, life on earth would be unsustainable. Soils provide vital ecosystem services and the basis for food, feed, fuel, fibre and medical products important for human well-being.
These were the comments by the Acting Permanent Secretary for Agriculture Uraia Waibuta while opening the Ra Agriculture Show at the Uluda Grounds in Raikiraki this week.
“This year’s 2015 Agriculture Show theme is “Sustain our Soil, Nourish Our Nation, Reaffirm our Future.” It was derived from this year’s International Year of Soils theme Healthy Soil for a Healthy Life as declared by the United Nations,” he said.
The International Year of the Soils is being celebrated to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable soil management as the basis for food systems, fuel and fibre production, essential ecosystem functions and better adaptation to climate change for present and future generations.
“We need healthy soil to achieve food and nutritional security. Very often we tend to take soil types for granted. Soil is the major resource for agricultural production therefore healthy soil is critical to sustainable agriculture,” Mr Waibuta said.
He added that soil degradation is a rapidly increasing problem in all parts of the world and about 33 percent of global soils are already degraded through urbanization.
“According to a United Nations Report, the world population is anticipated to hit the global mark by 2050. In order to feed this growing population we will need to clear 11,000 hectares of new land for food production.”
Mr Waibuta said that significant changes have been noted in Fiji’s economy in the last 50 years.
“There has been a shift from heavy dependence on sugar and other agricultural commodities as the main foreign exchange earner to more dependence on tourism, mining and forestry. It is therefore required to have farmers that can bring in the highest level of efficiency to the whole value chain. We need smart farmers, efficiency is not about commercial or subsistence, but it is about who is doing the things right.
“There is still a heavy dependence on soil related activities for export earnings and local economic activity. Domestic production of food is still critical and so important and a degree of subsistence living is still found in more rural areas. The dependence on soil resources will continue far into the future,” he said.
Mr Waibuta said that farming in Fiji is increasingly being forced onto steeper slopes because of the expansion of cash cropping and infrastructural developments on the lucrative flats.
“The unsustainable land use practices have led to nature’s inability to protect the country from natural disasters such as the last floods that has been happening frequently. The extent of the problem is such that the soil loss measurements clearly demonstrates that the agricultural productive base in many sugarcane areas and with ginger and dalo on slopes is running down at a rate that is well above what would be regarded as economically acceptable.”
He said that it is the hope of the Ministry that this year’s Agriculture Shows will be used as a platform to advocate the importance on knowledge of soil and its institutionality, vulnerability to climate change, desertification and extreme events and its sustainability on agriculture and livestock.
Mr Waibuta urged farmers in Ra unite and practice the sustainable use of soil for food security and for the future of their children.
In addition, he also addressed the plight of farmers on dry weather conditions.
“The Ministry of Agriculture fully understands the difficulties that farmers in the Province of Ra have gone through in terms of the drought so let’s not get down hearted, but ensure to do our best in trying to maintain production,” he said.