Lecturer of Can Tho University - Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Khuong (right) said: The solution to improve soil health is to increase biological production.
Duong Van Tuan, Acting Director of the Long An Province Agricultural Extension and Services Center, said: “Soil is an irreplaceable means of production in agriculture. About 60% of farmers depend on land, and the role of soil is very important to the development of agriculture. Accordingly, soil retains water, fertilizers, and provides water and minerals for crops; a substrate for plants to adhere to and grow; a habitat for beneficial microorganisms; a place to regulate the air for plant roots; and directly affects the yield and quality of agricultural products. Therefore, it is necessary to understand soil health and soil nutrition, helping farmers effectively manage the absorption of nutrients by crops.”
However, currently, agricultural land is being degraded and degraded. The reason is that orchard and vegetable land lacks organic matter, leaching nutrients; rice land due to burning straw and high temperatures loses nutrients and organic matter in the soil. In addition, farmers are used to traditional farming practices, seeing the neighboring fields spraying pesticides, they also spray pesticides. Farmers do not rely on the ability of the soil to provide nutrients and the nutritional needs of plants, so some places have excess, some places lack. Therefore, crop yields are likely to be high, but quality and economic efficiency are not necessarily high, pests and diseases arise frequently and impact the environment.
Mr. Huynh Van Nam (Binh Hoa Hung commune, Duc Hue district) shared: “My family grows 5 hectares of coconut and lemon. At first, using fertilizers and chemicals, the trees grew quickly and bore fruit quickly. After two years, I had to double the amount of fertilizers and chemicals, but the trees still did not grow well, and many diseases often appeared, especially gummosis.”
Similar to Mr. Nam, Mr. Le Van Minh (My Thanh Dong commune, Duc Hue district) also overuses chemical fertilizers and pesticides in rice cultivation. According to Mr. Minh, Duc Hue is an area of alum soil, so production costs are higher than other areas. In the winter-spring rice crop, production costs are from 22-25 million VND/ha, compared to other areas, which are 7-10 million VND/ha higher.
Mr. Minh said: “Using chemical fertilizers and pesticides regularly, I see that the soil becomes barren and infertile, especially susceptible to diseases such as leaf blast, stem borers, etc. Meanwhile, the surrounding water is heavily acidic, forcing me to increase the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to protect the production area. I know that chemical fertilizers and pesticides affect the health of producers and consumers, but I have to accept it.”
In order to change farmers' awareness, recently, the Department of Agriculture has recommended organic production, limiting the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This contributes to protecting people's health, the surrounding environment and the health of the soil. And in fact, many farmers have understood the value of soil in agricultural production.
Mr. Tran Van Lu (Tan Binh commune, Tan Thanh district) said: "Participating in the high-tech rice area has reduced the amount of fertilizer and chemical pesticides by 30%, and increased the use of organic fertilizers and microbiological pesticides. Over time, I have seen that diseases have occurred less, costs have decreased, and productivity is the same as before."
Lecturer of Can Tho University - Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Khuong said: "To develop sustainable agriculture, farmers need to focus on biological production. The main biological direction is to use organic fertilizers and microbial products to improve soil properties through soil cycles such as dissolving nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, contributing to providing nutrients back to the soil in biological form, which will be better. In the long term, chemical fertilizers of potassium and phosphorus still remain in the soil, so farmers need to find microorganisms that decompose immobile compounds of potassium and phosphorus to provide nutrients back to crops."
Healthy soil will help plants grow healthy, increase productivity, and contribute to food security. Healthy soil also stores carbon from the atmosphere, reducing climate change./.
Le Ngoc
Source: https://baolongan.vn/nang-cao-suc-khoe-cho-dat-a197888.html
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