THERE is no need for flowery language because a spade should be called a spade and nothing else.
And in similar manner, Mike Smith of Organic Matters Foundation puts it, “if we continue to rape the soil in Fiji with chemicals, in another 40 years we will not be able to grow anything”.
Mr Smith is no stranger to Fiji. Last week he spent three days teaching young farmers at Navuso Agricultural School about the importance of organic farming.
Termed the “Soil School”, Mr Smith teaches using natural fertilisers, crop rotation and effective methods of farming to ensure sustainable practices that will allow us to continue growing quality food and harvesting substantial yields for a very long time.
Mr Smith used to be a fertiliser and chemical sales agent frequenting Fiji quite often but in 2004 he adopted organic methods of farming and has continued to teach Fijians the best way to continue towards sustainable farming.
“I am a farmer myself and I know the importance of farming in a manner which will ensure healthy crops and resources are maintained for the future,” he said.
“I don’t think we worry enough about conserving soil resources for the long term. Looking at the farming methods that are used, I can say that if we continue down this path, then we will start to go hungry.”
Mr Smith’s services are in demand. He initially set up a soil school in Taveuni and has begun working with the NAS and further to that he makes trips to Mago Island which is owned by actor Mel Gibson.
“I do this work for free. I do it because I believe that the world should not go hungry as a result of human indiscretion. We need to right the wrongs in terms of farming so there is sustainability and the future generations are able to have food on the table,” he said.
“I am grateful to the United Nations Development Fund who have been backing us with such projects.”
A study has warned that global soil erosion has reached levels that will endanger humanity’s ability to feed itself if nothing is done to lower it.
The study published in the Science magazine said soils were being lost faster than they were being naturally produced in many parts of the world.
There is also increased pressure on farmland from non-food uses, such as crops being grown for biofuels, and there may be future shortages of rock phosphate, which is used to make fertiliser, the study said.
This is something Government has recognised as well.
A week earlier, the Wakatu Campaign was launched. This is a collective campaign headed by NGO Change, the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Fisheries and Forests to get Fiji on the path of sustainable farming.
According to local farmers from various areas of Fiji, they are already seeing the changes. Naitasiri housewife Sereana Lomaloma said native trees which used to provide firewood are fast disappearing.
Ministry of Agriculture’s director for Land Resource and Development, Nacanieli Waka, said Fiji had limited flat land with only 16 per cent in total classified as arable and good for some sort of agricultural development.
“Competing demand from land users is high as they continue to push for drastic economic development in all sectors to increase GDP and achieve the forecast growth,” he said.
“This has led to the agriculture sector looking for more land and may end up utilising vast marginal land to achieve targets both in the domestic and export markets.
“Climate change and land degradation represent the greatest challenges to sustainable development. These are issues that transcend national borders and requires action on national, regional and global fronts.”
Mr Waka said land degradation in Fiji was becoming a major problem.
“The almost complete utilisation of first-class arable land affirms that the current expansion of agriculture and other forms of land uses into marginal hilly to steep lands will continue to increase,” he said.
“Steep land agricultural practices such as steep land sugarcane and ginger production are not sustainable, they increase natural erosion rates, which are already high and are responsible for vast land areas going out of production.”
Ministry of iTaukei Affairs permanent secretary Naipote Katonitabua said the problem was in the way we were treating the soil.
“We tend to exhaust our soil resources without replenishing it. This cycle repeats, until we find that we are using land due to soil run-off and other problems,” he said.
“When we clear cut forest, clear areas around rivers and streams and coasts or burn fields to develop land without careful planning, our land becomes vulnerable to the impact of erosion.
“Losing good healthy soil is hurting our homes, our villages and our communities.”
Back to Navuso where more than 100 students including 15 young women from the Fiji National University’s School of Agriculture passed the Soil School.
There is some assurance we can adopt a farming method that is organic and sustainable. The use of chemicals and chemical based fertilisers also impact on human health.
Food security and land retention are global issues and if steps are not taken now, we are looking at a very grim future.
The Ministry of Agriculture research showed a total of 50 tonnes per hectare of top soil was lost through unsustainable farming practices.
Maybe, the Soil School can be introduced as part of curriculum in all high schools that teach agriculture and also have practising farmers go through it. That is food for thought.