Addressing the state of South Africa’s soil.

One of South Africa’s most valuable resources requires us to implement considerable management
and conservation measures, should we want to have this resource available to us in the future. Our
soil allows us to grow food, keep groundwater clean, regulate local climate conditions, and supports
the rest of the ecosystem.

While a third of South Africa receives sufficient rain for crop production, only a third of this area
(approximately 12% of the country) has fertile soil. Farmlands that are affected by a lower soil fertility,
often resort to fertiliser use, which in the long term degrades soil even further, and pollutes water
ways.

Over the last few months, non-profit organisation, Save Soil Movement embarked on a 10 000km
walk across the South Africa with the aim of educating citizens about the state of our soil. Save Soil
Movement ambassador, Tseke Nkadimeng highlighted that our soil’s organic content is quickly
diminishing, with most of the farms that they visited only having between 0.2-0.3% organic content.
Essentially, this means that farmers need to quickly add more nutrient to keep their soils productive.

The initiative has sparked the attention of many citizens and grown the awareness to find more
sustainable ways to manage our soil. By replacing the use of fertiliser with organic compost, we can
reduce the excess runoff of nutrient into our water ways. Compost will also improve a soil body’s
organic content, increase its water retention ability and promote beneficial microbial life. These are all
the factors that make soil productive.

BiobiN South Africa has been working with retail, hospitality and corporates to process large volumes
of organic waste into compost. With the increased availability of compost, more local and regional
composting businesses, we can accelerate the use of organic compost instead of artificial fertilisers.
To keep up with the conversation, visit www.biobin.co.za

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