“The future of our agriculture partly rests on our shoulders. Let us make science, technology, and innovation work for the people and our nation.”—Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, DOST-PCAARRD Executive Director
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I have been writing about the significance of soil in agricultural production since the mid-1980s. This interest stemmed from my work at the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC), a non-governmental organization dedicated to addressing erosion issues in the upland areas.
However, it appears that my efforts have gone unheeded. As Karl Vincent S. Mendez and Venice Laurence N. Cosico wrote: “Soil is often overlooked in terms of prioritization for initiatives and programs from different national agencies, especially in addressing issues such as soil degradation and its looming threat against food security.”
All is not lost, however. Two years ago, several government agencies and the House of Representatives along with an agricultural research center and university from Australia took the initiative of convening the first national health science conference held in Manila.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. was the guest speaker. In his speech, he recognized that while the country is blessed with agricultural lands, the issue of pollution, soil degradation, and improper use of fertilizers threaten land fertility and the future productivity of the industry.
“Needless to say, our soil is under threat. And, to continue to neglect this vital agricultural component will lead to an even worse crisis in the future,” the president said.
According to Marcos, about 11 to 13 million hectares of land in the country have been degraded. In addition, some 2.2 million hectares suffer from poor soil fertility.
He said we are losing 457 million tons of soil annually to erosion.
I am hoping that politicians, policymakers, environmentalists, and ecologists will address the issue. After all, soil – the link between the rock core of the earth and the living things on its surface, is the foothold for the crops our farmers grow.
Without topsoil – the storehouse of nutrients that plants need for growth – it means less food for Filipinos.
“All our food comes from soil,” wrote Paul Stamets, a mycologist and author of Mycelium Running. “When we destroy the biology of the soil, we destroy the food networks that give us life.”
All over the world, five to seven million hectares (the area of Belgium and the Netherlands combined) are lost each year to erosion. If this problem is not soon corrected, “the alternative is famine,” said a report released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
In the Philippines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported that 22 provinces had “alarming” soil erosion rates. Batangas in Luzon and Cebu in Visayas had been reported to have lost 80-85% of their topsoil to erosion.
In Mindanao, the following provinces have already lost more than 50% of its soil to erosion: Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental, and Davao del Norte.
Believe it or not, it takes nature a hundred years to form a centimeter of topsoil. And erosion is a natural process. But when man entered into the process, it was devastating. Wind, water and glaciers accounted for most erosion in the past. But Mother Nature was in no hurry.
Humans cause erosion at a rate 10 to 15 times faster than any natural process, according to Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, an American sedimentary geologist with Syracuse University in New York. Although the processes are different, there is a common factor in all man-made soil erosion – the absence of vegetation to hold and cover the soil.
“Soil erosion is an enemy to any nation – far worse than any outside enemy coming into a country and conquering it – because it’s an enemy you cannot see vividly,” said my former boss, Rev. Harold R. Watson when he received the 1985 Ramon Magsaysay Award for peace and international understanding.
“Soil erosion is a slow creeping enemy that soon possesses the land,” Watson added. “We must consider ourselves in a state of emergency; our topsoil is all going…”
It’s time to pay attention to the problem. “No other soil phenomenon is more destructive worldwide than soil erosion,” wrote Dr. Nyle C. Brady in his book, The Nature and Properties of Soils.
When the topsoil is lost, productivity of such lands will always be low, and the farmers won’t earn enough to meet their basic needs.
Lester R. Brown and Edward C. Wolf, authors of the Worldwatch paper, Soil Erosion: Quiet Crisis in the World Economy, explained that erosion affects crop production in two ways. “The loss of topsoil reduces the inherent productivity of land, both through the loss of nutrients and degradation of the physical structure. It also increases the costs of food production.
“When farmers lose topsoil,” the two authors wrote, “they may increase land productivity by substituting energy in the form of fertilizer. Hence, farmers losing topsoil may experience either a loss in land productivity or a rise in costs of agricultural inputs.”
If productivity drops too low or agricultural costs rise too high, “farmers are forced to abandon their land,” Brown and Wolf warned.
