Across the globe, food insecurity is becoming a growing concern for a large number of people, irrespective of where they live. Soil Health a billion people across the world are experiencing the impact. Pakistan too is one of the worst impacted countries with over 80 million people categorized as food insecure despite the country being an agri-economy.
The key aspect at the base of this issue is the need of feeding a growing population while simultaneously maintaining the natural health of the soil. Maintaining the health of the agricultural lands is the only way to produce food that will be free of chemicals and will feed and sustain the world.
When it comes to the management of any country’s agricultural lands, what it comes down to is implanting regenerative agriculture tools and techniques as they are imperative for an overall healthy soil, capturing carbon through healthy soils increasing the soil organic carbon (SOC) and also most importantly for climate change adaptation.
However, in the last century, the exponential growth in crop production with the use of modern agricultural practices around the world including in Pakistan has shifted the trend from traditional sustainable practices to what is known as industrial farming. The primary objective of which is to focus on the increase in production by all means necessary.
The result of this end goal has been that modern farming practices have focused on using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase agricultural outputs. These chemicals over the years have shown to have adverse effects on the environment as they contaminate not only our land by depleting the soil of nutrients but also contribute to water and air pollution.
Soil acidification and salinization – reduces the soil’s organic content, alternates its pH, harms the beneficial species, aids the growth of pests, and leads to the release of greenhouse gases.
Water pollution – overuse of chemicals/fertilizers impacts both the surface and ground water. Chemical run-off into the nearby water bodies results in oxygen depletion which kills the marine life and simultaneously makes this precious source of life unusable for human consumption by becoming a source of serious health.
Air pollution – mainly is contributed in the form of ammonia, which enters the air as a gas from heavily fertilized fields and livestock waste combined with other industrial and vehicular emissions these convert to particulate matter of over 2.5microns which are harmful to human health.
The reduced functionality and capability of our agricultural lands pose a serious threat to both our collective food security and human health. While unchecked human activity is at the base of the issues highlighted above, the saving grace is also going to come from those working on innovations with the aim of creating harmony between nature and people.
Biodyne is a USA based environmental biotechnology company focused on harnessing the power of naturally occurring, beneficial microorganisms and other sustainable technologies for use in a variety of agricultural and environmental applications to restore soil health and renew soil microbes in the soil.
The journey of the company started when a microbiologist with a long history of association with the food industry, Dr. Fred Farley saw the growing issues being faced by the different sectors. When approached by horticulturists to improve their plant strength and longevity, which he undertook paved the way for the beginning of a long and in-depth research that resulted in the development of a product that would enhance the soil’s natural ability to protect, nurture and strengthen plants.
Through Dr. Farley’s research, he saw the soil microbial activity at play and his endeavor became to use nature to replenish the soil and to strengthen its capability in order to improve plant health which laid the foundation of Biodyne World in 1986.
With a diverse combination of beneficial microorganisms present in high concentration levels, ENVIRONOC 401 is a natural way to promote the fundamental relationship between the soil and the plant it grows. The microbes that make up this robust team are not genetically modified, are non-pathogenic, and hundred per cent naturally occurring. This microbial solution with its diverse population of beneficial microorganisms ensures the soil and plant are able to efficiently work together to maximize the plant’s growth and productivity.
ENVIRONOC 401 allows the farmers to establish larger and more diverse populations of beneficial microbes in their fields, optimize the rhizosphere with a more robust and efficient plant and microbe relationship to improve growing conditions and improve nutrient release, and management through microbial activity, enhancing overall soil productivity.
Nitrogen fixing and Mineralization: Certain microbes in the 401 compositions after using the nitrogen in the air and soil make it available to plant roots.
Phosphorous solubilizing microbes: The majority of phosphorous in soils is in a form plant cannot use it. Therefore, farmers use artificial and chemical fertilizers such as Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) to add it to the soil. The P microbes in 401, as the name suggests are living organisms that break down phosphorous that is in the soil in forms that plants can use ensuring that the farmers don’t require any chemical addition anymore.
In addition to the above-mentioned microbes, there are numerous others added to the ENVIRONOC 401 that help combine and strengthen the root systems leading to a considerably reduced chance of disease, a higher immune response by the plants, and an overall improved yield.
Source : This news is originally published by pk.mashable