Land degradation is a threat to food security. This is according to Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana. He was addressing the National Biennial Land Care Conference in Bloemfontein.
The conference provides a platform to showcase strategies to address land degradation in order to optimise productivity and sustainability of natural resources.
“It is devastating because you will find that during times of drought and some of the alien species like wattle also make the situation worse – where wattle will absorb water and living habitat in the form of grass not growing,” he said.
It is estimated that a large percentage of the world’s agricultural land is seriously degraded.
Sustainable farming practices were also highlighted: “The challenge that we are going through in our farms is water: if there is no rain the production is going to be affected,” says a farmer, Pauline Maleka.
The three day conference is expected to adopt resolutions for the best practice models on how to prevent soil erosion.
