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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Well-known George academic, Prof Raymond Auerbach, urges the South African government to actively support organic farming in an effort to manage and combat climate change.
He warns that short-term thinking in agriculture and energy will have major implications on agriculture, the environment and health.
Auerbach recently returned from Europe where he and his doctoral students shared their research on mainstreaming ecological organic agriculture (EOA) in Africa at the BioDynamic Conference in Switzerland and the Organic World Congress in Rennes, France. Their research was carried out for the National Research Foundation.
Auerbach retired as professor of soil science and plant production at the Nelson Mandela University George Campus in 2018.
"We are making progress throughout Africa, and climate change has made political leaders more aware of the issues around getting carbon into the soil, rather than having greenhouse gases contributing to global warming," he says.
He and his team have developed an EOA typology and a map for the African Union showing which countries are looking good agro-ecologically. In South Africa there is little government support for organic farming - at the forefront are Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda and Madagascar.
However, the agricultural establishment in South Africa is becoming more open to agro-ecology. "They have to, because they can see what is happening with the climate. Too much carbon in the air creates a greenhouse. We need it in the soil," says Auerbach.
"Studies on organic agriculture and ecology show the use of poison can be reduced. A large study by Prof Denis Lairon, president of the French Nutrition Society, followed the diets of 140 000 people for four years. Some ate no organic food, others 20%, 40%, 60% and 70% organic. After just four years there were very clear differences - the more organic food, the better the health!"
Auerbach says organic food has higher nutrient levels and density. "You must have enough healthy food, otherwise diabetes, lymphomas, hypertension and obesity increase."
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The agricultural challenge plays out in three ways:
- Temperatures are getting higher, meaning that various diseases are becoming more of a problem;
- It is getting drier, increasing the risk of crop failure, and
- Every year the soil loses 2,5 billion tons of carbon; this is in addition to 7,5 billion tons of carbon entering the atmosphere from industry and transport.
Agriculture loses a lot of carbon through burning and ploughing. It would be helpful if agriculture could be turned around so that instead of being part of the problem, it can become part of the solution, through sequestering carbon as soil organic matter, which holds water and nutrients.
Current agriculture uses poisons and synthetic fertilisers that cause harm to human health and the environment and increase crop failures with less rainfall.
The future
Auerbach hopes that South Africa will join the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative. At the moment, four west African countries and five east African countries are members, through the African Union.
If the SA government and the ARC can support current international initiatives for Africa-wide research into EOA and integrated pest and disease management, farmers (small and large) can increase their competitive edge through healthier food, improved biodiversity and water and energy efficiency as part of the move towards climate resilient farming and renewable energy use.
Prof Raymond Auerbach in his study in George. Photo: Eugene Gunning
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