by Trang Kowalkowska –
The Global Nutritional Report found that there are around ‘820 million hungry or undernourished people’ [1] and The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World estimated that about ‘3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet’ [2]. The figures are expected to rise due to rapidly increasing population growth (Figure1) and in order to stop this future projection food security must be ensured. This means that everyone would always have access to safe and nutritious food [3] and one of the ways to achieve it is through improving food production.
Agriculture is a major contributor to environmental issues. For instance, chemical fertilizers can lead to acid rain, declines in forest health and ozone depletion [4]. However, we need to raise the food production by more than 70% in order to meet the future demand [4] and because of environmental and economic implications, this must be attained by increased efficiency instead of more agricultural inputs [5]. One of the methods is through Integrated Soil-Crop System Management (ISSM) first introduced by Chen et al. [5] and Zhang et al. [6].
Corn field; Image: Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
China Agricultural University collaborated with partners across the world to develop ISSM. The aim is to maximise the use of uncontrollable resources such as solar radiation and controllable resources including nutrients in the root zone. Firstly, applying the Hybrid-Maize simulation model the researchers have identified planting date, crop density, and plant variety that is the most suitable for each experimental site based on long-term weather data. Then, using an in-season root-zone nitrogen (N) management strategy (IRNM) they created the most effective N fertilizer usage scheme which caused minimum environmental degradation and secured nonlimiting N supply [5]
The results from the 66 experimental sites across China were successful as ISSM lead to a cereal yield of yield of nearly double while using no more N fertilizer than usual [5]. This suggests that ISSM might be a potential sustainable solution to secure future food production to meet the demand. It will help to reduce pollution and contamination by decreasing the use of N fertilizers while increasing agricultural efficiency. Furthermore, ISSM is suitable for and is estimated to have the largest success in rapidly developing countries which are a large consumer of fertilizers [5]. For instance, China alone in 2007 consumed 35% of global fertilizer on only 9% of the world’s arable land [6].
In conclusion, making agriculture more sustainable is key in order to tackle the global environmental issues. ISSM approach would both address the pollution and contamination caused by food production and ensure food security for future population. This could result in huge benefits across many scales such as social (by reducing the number of hungry or undernourished people), economic (a more efficient agricultural business model) and environmental (a decrease in fertilizer use). Therefore, further research in ISSM is needed as it might be crucial for a sustainable future.
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References
[1]: WHO (2020) The 2020 Global Nutrition Report. ‘https://globalnutritionreport.org/reports/2020-global-nutrition-report/’ [01.12.20]
[2]: FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO (2020) The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020. Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. ‘http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html#chapter-executive_summary’ [01.12.20].
[3]: FAO (1996) Report of the World Food Summit. ‘http://www.fao.org/3/w3613e/w3613e00.htm’ [01.12.20]
[4]: Middleton, N. (2019) The global casino. Abingdon: Routledge.
[5]: Chen, X., Cui, Z., Vitousek, P.M., Cassman, K.G., Matson, P.A., Bai, J., Meng, Q., Hou, P., Yue, S., Römheld, V., Zhang, F., (2011) Integrated Soil-crop Management for food security. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – PNAS, 108 (16), 6399-6404.
[6]: Zhang, F., Cui, Z., Fan, M., Zhang, W., Chen, X., Jiang, R., (2011) Integrated Soil-crop System Management: reducing environmental risk while increasing crop productivity and improving nutrient use efficiency in China. Journal of Environmental Quality, 40 (4), 1051-1057.
