Looking at a pertinent population issue: food security
Saturday, 11 July 2020 was World Population Day, a day that brings attention to the many different population issues that are evident in society. Apart from COVID-19, a major issue that affects many populations around the world is food security. One of big the factors that contributes to a lack of food security is poor agricultural practices.
Ensuring that we keep our soils healthy is a step in the right direction towards addressing food security. Let’s look at three common practices for soil conservation.
Crop rotation and diversity: large-scale monoculture, where a single type of crop is grown in one area to produce a big yield, will significantly degrade the quality of soil over time. Soil conservation methods such as crop rotation and adding organic content to the soil can prevent soil degradation.
Maintaining the organic content in soil: organic farming is an agricultural practice that is completely free of synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Soil fertility is purely based on the addition of organic content.
Adopting closed-loop waste systems: another big population issue is the waste that we produce, however, we can derive value from our waste. Composting our food waste is an opportunity to provide organic content to soil, while preventing pollution.