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Erosion is the cancer of agriculture

http://www.agrisa.co.za/Dokumente/Hulpbron/Erosie.pdf

Erosion is a major environmental problem in South Africa and there are currently no official structures in place to monitor and control erosion. Efforts aimed at controlling the problem only manage to slow down erosion, not to stop it. As a result the country’s arable soil resources are being exhausted and this poses a threat to South Africa’s ability to maintain food security and achieve sustainable development goals. Lehman Lindeque, President of the International Erosion Control Association, South Africa (IECA-SA) spoke to Denene Erasmus about the erosion problem.

What is the current status of erosion in South Africa?

We only recently finished gathering information for the Land Degradation Assessment in Dryland Areas (LADA) project and provisional date shows that erosion is a very big problem in South Africa and it is getting worse. It is not a new problem, it is something that has been going on for centuries, but our main concern is we currently do not have the ability to stop erosion, at best we manage to slow down the process. But this means that the situation will continue to get worse and soil , one of our most important natural resources, will further deteriorate if we do not step up our erosion mitigation and control efforts.

What are the implications of soil erosion for South Africa?

A very large part of South Africa can be described as semi-arid and we have very little high potential agricultural land. As far as I know only 4% of land in South Africa is really high potential land. Most erosion takes place on land that is being utilized and therefore the limited amount of high potential agricultural land we do have are at high risk of degradation as a result of erosion. It is a well known fact that the population in South Africa and also in the rest of the world is growing at a higher rate than ever before and to feed the growing population we need to produce more food, faster but our natural resources are not going to get more or bigger. Soil is the basis for food production and the implication of erosion is that we lose productive, high potential agricultural soil as a result of it and this holds back our ability to produce more or even enough food. This in turn threatens food security and sustainable development.

There have been many media reports lately regarding South Africa’s looming water crises, with water quality and availability becoming ever greater concerns. Is the erosion problem as serious as the water crises?

Definitely, but people are not as aware of the erosion problem as they are of the water problem because water affects every person directly, while soil affects most of us indirectly. People use water every day, when it is dry you can see dam levels go down and water restrictions are imposed which directly affects our lives, if the water quality deteriorates you can often see or taste it. Soil erosion on the other hand is a slow process, it is almost like a cancer which slowly eats away at you without you seeing it. And when you go into the supermarket there is always food available which means people are not aware that there is a reason for concern.

Are there any formal structures in place in South Africa to manage erosion control? South Africa used to have soil conservation committees. These committees functioned on provincial level and at national level and their task was basically to coordinate land and soil conservation. After 1994, most of these structures ceased to exists, in some provinces, the Western Cape in particular, some remnants of these structures still remain, but there is no longer and over arching controlling body that oversees this function. The law does still provide for such a structure to exist and the mandate for land and soil preservation is with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, but land and soil conservation is not on the national agenda and there is not really a budget for this. Currently the department does not have the resources or the capacity to address erosion.

Why is soil and land conservation not part of the government’s national agenda?

Unlike the water crises, food security and climate change, erosion is not a very appealing cause because as I explained earlier it is a slow process and most people are not even aware of the impact it is having on our ability to produce food. Addressing the erosion problem is also a slow process and it takes very a long time before you can see any real results, therefore it’s not a vote winning issue. People in political and many governmental positions want to take on projects with which they can achieve fast results because once they have been elected or appointed they only have five years to prove themselves.

Do you think our government has any will or motivation to address the erosion problem?

I think the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are focusing mainly on the production aspects these sectors and not so much on the conservation aspects. LandCare is the flagship programme which is supposed to look at soil and land conservation, but there are many questions regarding the real impact the programme has had on conserving and protecting natural resources. They can tell you how much money has been spent and how many jobs the programme created, but in terms of real results they have very little to show. This is a real problem because as I said earlier we are not managing to stop the process of erosion at best the LandCare projects that worked on erosion managed to slow down the process, but our natural resource base is still shrinking. But there are good programmes, for example the Working for Water programme, which has now branched out in to Working for Fire and Wetlands programmes. These have been more effective than the LandCare programme and ideally we need something like a Working for Soil programme to replace or work with LandCare.

To what an extent do farmers cause soil erosion?

All farmers farm with, and on, natural resources, and the farmer has a limited amount of these resources available. The amount of soil, water and other resources you have dictates the specific yield or production capacity of a farm and a farmer’s primary responsibility is to manage these resources in a sustainable way and not to over utilize them. But the reality is that there are many external pressures on farmers, like rising input costs and lower profit margins, which makes it increasing difficult for farmers to farm profitably. And you cannot farm sustainably if your farm is not profitable. This is why farmers are sometimes forced to start over utilizing their land and other natural resources, just to keep the business going. The message that we need to get across though is that in the long term, over utilization of your natural resources will make it impossible to farm. If you have no water or fertile soil left, you cannot farm.

Is there any difference between the impacts commercial farming has on erosion versus small-scale farming?

It is not really the type of farming that makes a difference to the amount of impact, but it is rather problem of taking ownership. It is also a historical problem. One of the vestiges of apartheid is that we still have vast amounts of people living off of limited areas of land in the former homelands. This has caused major over utilization of land in these areas, resulting in major erosion. These areas are also often classified as communal land, which means that there is no real ownership, and if there is lack of ownership there is lack of responsibility. We see time and time again that one of the most important elements of conservation is taking ownership and responsibility for the problem. On a commercial farm the farmer takes this responsibility, but on small-scale farms in communal areas, nobody takes this responsibility on.

Are there any direct financial incentives for farmers to control erosion on their farms?

No, the state does not provide any financial incentives for commercial farmers to do erosion control on their land and the LandCare programme has limited funds available and they focus more on small-scale and emerging agriculture. I think it would be a good idea for government to look at putting some incentives, for example tax benefits, in place to urge farmer to do more conservation work.

You have painted a very dire picture of the state of erosion and erosion control in South Africa. Is there any good news?

The good news is that there is enough people with the right skills and enough people who are really concerned about this problem in South Africa, and even in the Department of Agriculture, the problem is they need to be organized and mobilized. And they need financial backing from government. Another positive point is that on a global scale environmental issues are becoming more and more relevant, people are being made aware of the issues, and there is an ever increasing push toward more sustainable ways of living and food production.

Contact Information: Contact Lehman Lindeque on lindequel@arc.agric.za or 083 453 0600 Words: 1534 Ends