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Definition
Food security and human nutrition are inextricably linked
to the maintenance of productive, healthy agricultural soils.
When soils become degraded, farmers get caught up in a vicious
cycle of poverty and food insecurity that compromises their
ability to live healthy and productive lives; as crop yields
decline, it becomes increasingly difficult to feed their families
and earn income.
In many countries where people suffer chronic food security
problems, the soils are old and highly weathered; they have
inherently low levels of mineral nutrients and are dominated
by types of clays that don't retain plant nutrients well.
Their nitrogen content, as well as their capacity for nutrient
retention, is most strongly related to the soil's organic
matter content. But, clearing the soil of its natural vegetation
and bringing it into cultivation results in a rapid decline
in soil organic matter. Continuous cropping without returning
organic matter to the soil, protecting the soil from erosion,
and replenishing the nutrients removed with the harvested
crop rapidly depletes soil fertility and generally causes
the soils to become completely degraded (non-productive) within
a relatively short period of time. Previously, people would
leave depleted soils fallow for the number of years it would
take nature to restore their fertility, but this is no longer
a viable option in the face of increasing human population
pressures.
It is possible to intensify agricultural production and maintain
the productivity of soils indefinitely. (Chinese farmers have
maintained the productivity of some soils for centuries, for
example.) However, this requires a strategic plan for replenishing
soil organic matter, as well as making judicious use of fertilizer
inputs to replace the nutrients removed by cropping. Because
external inputs are costly and many organic matter management
technologies are labor-intensive, maintaining soil productivity
is likely to be most challenging in countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa, the Andes, and wherever else a large portion of the
rural population is already severely impoverished; the poorest
people tend to have to spend all of their financial (and energy)
resources on day to day survival, and therefore have nothing
left over to invest in soil resource management, despite the
fact that this is key to their ultimate well-being. Integrated
soil management is a knowledge-intensive approach that aims
to empower farmers to make the most strategic use of whatever
organic and inorganic nutrient resources they have (or can
develop) by understanding how to deploy them in the most efficacious
and efficient ways possible.
We provide links to additional web-based information, as well
as a list of scientific references, for each of the related
soil management topics that appear below. We hope that these
information resources will help to enhance understanding of
some of the complex issues involved in soil management, as
well as to be of practical use in farmer outreach programs.
We would appreciate your feedback concerning which information
is useful and which is not.
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Related topics
Background information on soils
Soil health management
Soil conservation (erosion
control, tillage, moisture conservation)
Integrated nutrient management
(INM): Overview
INM: Replenishing soil organic
matter
INM: Replenishing mineral nutrients
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Relevant CCRP projects
Currently funded projects
Biodiversity and soil (Peru)
Cereal
roots (Brazil/East Africa)
Climbing bean (Southern Africa)
Cover agriculture
(Ecuador)
Grain legumes
(Mali)
Green manures/
legumes (Bolivia)
P-efficient
legumes (China/Mozambique)
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Relevant events
July 30-August 1
Workshop: Consultation on breeding for adaptation to P-deficient
soils in Africa
Dundee, NY
Description: This one-day discussion meeting included representatives
of existing CCRP projects involved in P-acquisition: P-efficient
legumes (China/Mozambique) and Cereal
roots (Brazil/East Africa), as well as external resources.
The objective of the workshop was to explore the idea of an
additional project on this theme, more focused on Africa.
English
May 6-11
Workshop: The international workshop on adaptation of crops
to low-Phosphorus soils in the tropics and subtropics: innovative
approaches for sustainable development
Guangzhou, China
Description: CCRP scientists from China and the U.S. involved
in the soil projects met to plan and discuss research activities;
and to renew existing relationships and form new ones among
the participants. A field trip to one of the principal field
research sites showed the results of field screening of soybean
genotypes, showing substantial genetic variation in crop adaptation
to low P soils, which appeared to be correlated with root
architecture and is consistent with the premise of the P-efficient
legumes (China/Mozambique) project.
English
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Relevant literature
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Relevant links
Online literature resources
The Essential
Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL)
- Website: TEEAL
- Description: "TEEAL
is an annually updated full-text and bibliographic library
of over 100 of the world's most important scientific journals
in the field of agriculture. TEEAL is available at well
below cost to over 100 low-income countries, as listed in
the World Bank's 1998-99 World Development Report."
Acess
to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA)
- Website: AGORA
- Description: "The
AGORA program, set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the UN (FAO) together with major publishers, enables
developing countries to gain access to an outstanding digital
library collection in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental
science and related social sciences. AGORA provides a collection
of 849 journals to institutions in 69 countries. AGORA is
designed to enhance the scholarship of the many thousands
of students, faculty and researchers in agriculture and
life sciences in the developing world."
Health
InterNetwork Acess to Research Initiative (HINARI)
- Website: HINARI
- Description:
"The HINARI program, set up by WHO together with major
publishers, enables developing countries to gain access
to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical
and health literature. Over 3230 journal titles are now
available to health institutions in 113 countries, benefiting
many thousands of health workers and researchers, and in
turn, contributing to improved world health."
World Wide Soil Health Information Portal
- Website: Cornell
University
- Description: The Worldwide Portal to Information on Soil Health
offers an extensive, searchable database of annotated English
and Spanish language soil health information resources. The
portal gives users access to a subject-specific browsing library,
an online
resource reference service, and classified resource
listings for products, services, organizations, databases,
and literature related to soil health.
FAO technical information on soils
The Land and Water Publications
- Website: The Land and Water Publications Series Directory
- Description: A treasure trove of technical information on
soils! Entire books in PDF version are available for download and
printing or are presented in HTML format (no loading time;
for reading on line). The directory lists the titles included
in the different land and water publication series, several
of which are also available in French and/or Spanish. Make
sure to keep scrolling down in order to see all of the individual
titles.
Corporate Document Repository
- Website: Corporate Document Repository
- Description:
If PDF versions of specific FAO technical books and reports
are too large (making them difficult to open without a fast
internet connection), this is a good place to check for HTML
versions of those documents.
World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) Portal
- Website: WAICENT Portal
- Description: A directory that provides links to approximately
250 main sites and subject entry points for accessing FAO
technical information.
The Agricultural Library
- Website: The Agricultural Library
- Description: The Agricultural Library has the full text versions (some
HTML, some PDF) of many out of print and public domain classics
of organic / holistic agriculture. You can find books by (and
about) Sir Albert Howard, Lady Eve Balfour, J. Rodale, as
well as King's Farmers of Forty Centuries, Dale and Carter's
Topsoil and Civilization and many, many others.
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