Friday, 07 April 2023, is World Health Day, drawing our attention to the importance of human health and well-being. A common theme for World Health Day every year is the link that is drawn between human health and environmental health, especially our soils, where we derive most of our food from, and even our modern medicines. BiobiN South Africa highlights soil health and conservation as a key environmental concern that impacts human health.
Healthy soils are productive soils, sustaining nutritional food sources and ecosystem health and providing us with other vital resources like soil microorganisms used in the production of antibiotics and other forms of medicine. The more soil is extensively worked and eroded beyond its environmental carrying capacity, the less our soil will be able to provide us with these critical resources. We can even argue that soil is just as important as water for human health.
South Africa’s soils are under severe strain to produce enough crops to feed our population. Our 12% of remaining fertile needs to be carefully managed, and soils that are used for agricultural production should follow a form of conservation or restoration to retain its ability to produce healthy food.
What soil restoration initiatives should the agricultural sector implement to maintain productivity? Our food and organic waste are the greatest opportunity to help our soil health. More attention has been placed on this waste stream to produce high-grade organic compost that significantly improves soil health. Adding compost to a soil body increases its carbon content, facilitates beneficial biological activity, and improves water retention.
Closing the loop with food and organic waste gives us the opportunity to improve soil health for a productive and healthy food system.
At BiobiN, we have seen many of our retail clients process large volumes of organic waste into compost which is supplied to local and regional composters.
To find out more about BiobiN South Africa, visit: www.biobin.co.za