In Sinaloa and a large part of the agricultural states, there is already evidence of successful cases in agroecological production, which raises leave behind the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to generate food, and focuses on holistic practices that are capable of giving excellent results.
But nevertheless, greenpeace, the international environmental organization based in Mexico, highlighted for EL DEBATE that since the farming Many of the practices that harm the flora and fauna in our country and that contribute to climate change continue to be carried out.
Viridiana Lázaro, Greenpeace Mexico specialist, recognized that engaging in new technologies for the environment is not a simple process, but warned that the time to act is now, and the authority should be investing resources for this transition.
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“From Greenpeace we make an urgent call to the federal authorities so that we move towards agroecology, towards organic agriculture that does not harm the environment and that takes care of people’s health, that is the most important thing,” he launched.
Environmental impact
Viridiana Lázaro, specialist in agriculture and climate change at Greenpeace Mexico, indicated for EL DEBATE that one of the main concerns is the damage to the environment and the social impacts that industrialized agriculture has today.
Industrialized agriculture, he indicated, is mainly characterized by the use of synthetic inputs, synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides, herbicides, which cause damage to biodiversity, fauna, flora, not only on the land where they are used, but also on the surrounding flora and fauna, as well as affecting the soil, which will cause erosion and, long term, cause those lands to no longer be productive.
Specifically, Viridiana Lázaro indicated that these chemical fertilizers mainly cause damage to the microfauna of the soil, thus, the soils no longer have enough microorganisms that allow them to remain fertile. As he explained, soils have the capacity to store carbon, but when they erode, that stored carbon is released, causing an increase in carbon in the atmosphere, which constitutes climate change.
“This is going to be an endless cycle because precisely having these industrialized agricultural practices, which include the use of all these agrochemicals, which include monocultures, even the use of transgenics, is going to cause very serious environmental damage and impact. , besides that it also causes damage to the surrounding communities, to the health of the people”, he commented.
On a large scale, the specialist pointed out that industrial agriculture and livestock have serious implications for the environment. Currently, in Mexico, he maintained that 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from this sector and worldwide, according to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change, 24 percent of total global emissions come from this agricultural sector, including livestock.
“Livestock and industrialized agriculture are an important factor for the worsening of climate change and, at the same time, agriculture and livestock are one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change, which is very serious,” he said.
The foregoing, since he recalled that with climate change longer droughts, floods and other natural events are being observed that are damaging crops and that are currently seriously affecting production. He warned that if these events become more persistent or more severe, the damage and loss of crops in the future will be much worse.
Glyphosate ban
Given this scenario, what has the authority done? Greenpeace maintained that a great step was taken on December 31, 2020, when the Mexican Government published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) the decree that marks the progressive glyphosate ban and the ban on transgenic corn by 2024.
Viridiana Lázaro indicated that this legal advance is very important because it is directed towards agroecology, which precisely seeks to eliminate all these synthetic chemical inputs, all agrochemicals, pesticides, to move towards an agriculture that considers the cycles of nature, that takes care of people, who also use the polyculture method, crop rotation, among others that help regenerate the soil and that, instead of releasing greenhouse gases, help capture these gases from the atmosphere.
“The presidential decree is a great step, but it is not the only one necessary to get there, towards where we propose. It is necessary to carry out a series of actions that help strengthen peasant production, mainly small and medium-scale production, that reminds us that the food we consume comes mainly from small and medium-scale production. It is very important to strengthen these small and medium-scale production units and help them in the transition,” he said.
Precisely, he pointed out that now the country is at a point where its agricultural soils are highly degraded due to the years in which agrochemicals and substances have been used that, he indicated, are impoverishing the soil and contaminating it. “The transition is not easy, investment is needed to be able to restore the soil, government support is needed to guide these small and medium-scale producers to move towards this agroecological agriculture.”
Success story in Sinaloa
Beyond the justification that thanks to the use of fertilizers a food crisis is avoided, Viridiana Lázaro pointed out that in Sinaloa there are already evidence that sustainable agriculture can be a success. This is a pilot project promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with the planting of corn without glyphosate.
Greenpeace documented that in 2020, in 510 thousand hectares of Sinaloa, corn was planted substituting glyphosate for natural practices. Yields were higher than 12 tons per hectare of white corn in 90 percent of the maize area of the entity. During the White Corn Harvest event with Agroecological Transition and without Glyphosate, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, which took place in the Canán ejido, in the municipality of Culiacán, Sinaloa, producers reported a yield of 14.28 tons per hectare without use of agrochemicals, with a cost per ton of 2,800 pesos, that is, 584 pesos less than a “control” farm cultivated with agrochemicals, where the yield was 14.7 tons per hectare.
“Yes, it is possible to move towards ecological agriculture, but you do not have to think only about how to substitute one input for another, but rather you have to support, regenerate the ecosystem, the agroecosystem, and transform the entire model that was being carried out to to be able to do it in a holistic way and that they can have these good results that they had in Sinaloa, that the producers report a good yield without the use of agrochemicals”, he mentioned.
In addition to Sinaloa, he indicated that various producers in the country are practicing agroecology on their own because they really believe in its benefits.
In mitigating the impacts of climate change from Mexico, Viridiana Lázaro indicated that time is pressing and action needed already forcefully and with a view to improving current production.
“We have been talking about agroecology for many years, and yet, we can hardly see these small changes in the Government, for example, with the presidential decree, that Semarnat already has an agroecology directorate, however, the processes that we are seeing they are very slow and action is needed now.”
Otherwise, he indicated, the impacts of the environment on humanity will increasingly be much more catastrophic, much more serious and, above all, in a sector as vulnerable and as necessary as food production.
Control of uses
But why produce without glyphosate? The Greenpeace specialist pointed out that some pesticides, such as glyphosate, have been considered by international authorities as a probable carcinogen. He indicated that these agrochemicals infiltrate the soil, and what does not remain in the soil will permeate to the aquifers and result in widespread contamination that can even reach populations.
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In addition, as consumers, he indicated that these agrochemicals are acquired indirectly, because in the case of glyphosate, which is a systematic herbicide, this means that it will not only remain on the leaves of the plants, and by washing them it will be eliminated. these glyphosate residues, but glyphosate penetrates the plant system entering the stems, leaves, the entire plant system and tissues, “therefore, it is not possible that they are eliminated by washing all the foods Therefore, it will have an impact on the health of consumers,” he added.
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