Land use: the competition between agriculture and other human activities

Mr. Andrea Sisti , Italy President, Consiglio dell'Ordine Nazionale dei dottori agronomi e dottori forestali (CONAF)

Introduction

• • • • • • • Of the five million hectares, for natural reasons, only 1.6 million hectares can be used as surfaces on which to cultivate cereals, maize, vegetables, potatoes, rice, etc.

The remaining acres, or approximately 3.4 billion, to be used as meadows, pastures, meadows or steppes.

Globally the UAA, in the form of meadows and areas planted, is approximately five billion hectares.

Such areas cannot be further extended without till forests or reclaim wetlands or swamps.

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For climate and biodiversity issues, these options are not viable alternatives.

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The problem is aggravated because globally, we lose approximately one billion every year due to UAA salinisation, erosion or water shortage.

• • • In fact, next to almost one billion undernourished people who need more food, there's more than one billion people suffering from excess weight and cause high health costs.

The world's population increases to 75 million people per year, a figure that corresponds to the total of the German population.

These people need to be able to eat them, too, with the necessary resources, such as the useful agricultural area (UAA) or water, are limited.

• • • • As happened to us during the 20th century, today in Asia are more and more people who, thanks to the growing purchasing power, can afford to eat meat.

Depending on the system, to produce one calorie of animal origin are, in fact, needed two to eight calories from the production of vegetable origin.

Or to produce one kilogram of wheat requires 1 ' 000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of beef do you need 15 ' 000.

Also the balance of greenhouse gas emissions of the flesh is generally unfavorably compared with that of products of plant origin.

The theme It has developed a new phenomenon which is that of competition in the use of soils: for food; For livestock; for the agro-agro-industrial; finally subtracted from urbanization.

Crisis factors can be substantial if you don't establish shared principles when using priority in using the soil.

The phenomenon of competition in the use of soils has a strategic importance.

Restrict livestock use of the soil

• • • • • Aside from the fact that biologically humans is an omnivorous animal, and then, in biological evolution feeds in mixed mode, not all purely regimes do register a flora ecobalance better (see Carlson-Kanyama, 1998).

From the ecological point of view, the alleged respectively agronomics is inadequate.

Since, as mentioned, more than two-thirds of the surface usable for agriculture must be used for ecological purposes as Prairies, animals are needed who are able to transform the plant material in the form of grass, grass silage or hay.

The man is not able to transform this plant material.

Cows, goats, sheep, camels, yak and water buffalo can however use this roughage and produce milk and meat, precious foods, but also valuable leather and wool.

• • • • • • If you withdraw from this nutritional potential, the food situation of the world's population would be more than precarious.

On the one hand, it is therefore essential, from the ethical point of view, take advantage of the green areas of our planet with the animals they eat roughage.

Secondly, with this meat consumption as a product of luxury is not ethically justified. In fact, if the animals they eat roughage become direct competitors for that man comes to power, the balance tips in favour of livestock production.

As always in nature, it aims at a maximum optimization.

At least the same amount of products of animal origin obtained from the exploitation of meadows and pastures, should fall in the configuration of man's rations.

Limit the use of «agro-energy» soil

• Until 2025 and beyond is expected to further increase in demand vegetable raw materials for the production of agrofuels. • This phenomenon will be much more relevant with the progression of global growth and the replacement of fossil fuel with biofuels.

• An aggravating circumstance is also represented by the fact that climate change will test the adaptability of agricultural production worldwide.

Limit the use of «agrochemical» soil

• Until 2025 and beyond is expected to further increase in demand vegetable raw materials for industrial process replacement of synthetic products (green chemistry).

• This phenomenon will be much more important with the development of eco-sustainable development to facilitate industrial processes which may be within the biological cycles of the natural environment.

Limiting soil sealing

• • • • • • • Over the next 15 years it is expected a further depletion of natural resources. Following the growth of world population and development of settlements by 2025 it is assumed that will be lost as a result of waterproofing, from 30 to 40 million hectares of farmland. Since most of the city is built in fertile areas (coastal, mouth of rivers) the major needs of surfaces will be at the expense of the land grow good quality.

The World Bank also believes that every year will be lost by 5 to 10 million hectares of land to grow due to the strong degradation. According to estimates from FAO and OECD, it will be possible to allocate to agriculture more 500 million hectares of agricultural land.

However, this will require considerable investment and yields of such areas are below average. It is conceivable, therefore, that over the next 15 years will be for agriculture over 100 million hectares, corresponding to about 7 per cent of agricultural land is managed globally

Conclusions and Proposals

• • • • • It is therefore necessary to establish skills and strategies aimed at optimizing the use of resources tending to decrease in intensity of use of soil and water with simultaneous improvement in the percentage of use of goods produced. In essence if from a hectare of retracts 8 t of wheat this in its supply chain process makes for human consumption if they are using the 55% the rest is discarded.

Need to program better and manage the gap from the outset. Since natural resources are limited, you must make more progress in resource efficiency in agriculture and food sectors. Order the productive chains on a global scale, and then bring the process on a local scale means preserving the use of soil and water use.

• • • • • • This means, for example, that by the same surface can be produced when food and energy or green chemistry or animal feed.

To do this you must invest more resources in research, innovation and advice.

Need to develop knowledge networks to improve the preparation of agronomists and constitute a world observers professionals on the use of soil and water resources.

The AMIA would take on this task.

This tool would allow our society to urge countries to orient their agricultural policies on the concept of bio-economy: that doesn't mean other that multifunctionality of land use and production chains.

Thanks for your attention