Gloomy outlook for China's black soil
- By Guo Jiali
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 12, 2012
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Black soil in NE China [file photo] |
With the rapid industrialization, contaminant of various kinds has continuously damaged the agricultural soil in China.
"China now suffers the most serious condition in soil contamination. The mounting damage from contaminant will probably last for 30 years," Pan Genxing, an expert in soil science and professor in Nanjing Agricultural University, told journalist from Economic Information. He said contaminant and pollutions mainly include heavy metal contaminant, chemical pollution, plastic and electronic waste and agricultural pollution.
"Soil contamination in China sees a complex situation, with both organic and inorganic contaminant, old and new contaminant at the same time." said Zhang Weili, vice chairman of Soil Science Society of China.
Statistics from Ministry of Land and Resources show that over 10 percent of agricultural soil in China has been contaminated with heavy metal pollution.
Hundreds of severe pollution incidents have occurred across China since 2008, includes 30 incidents of heavy metal pollution.
The Liuyang cadmium pollution incident in Hunan Province in 2009 had polluted the surrounding farmlands and forests, resulting in two deaths and 500 more to be detected with excessive cadmium in their bloodstreams. Heavy metal cadmium is an extremely toxic chemical element commonly found in industrial workplaces, particularly where any ore is being processed or smelted.
The amount of grain contaminated by heavy metal is as high as 12 million tons, causing direct economic loss of over 20 billion yuan (over US$317 million), estimated by department of environmental protection.
Over-the-limit amount of heavy metal cadmium has found in 10 percent of rice in the Chinese market, according to a nationwide survey by Pan. He said: "The cadmium-filled rice carries fatal health risks to self-sufficient farmers."
Elements of heavy metal found in farmlands can severely affect children's growth and even cause cancer.
Similarly, pesticide and chemical fertilizers as also pose serious threats to the public's health. As much as 1.3 million tons of pesticide is being used by China's agricultural industry, 2.5 times that of the world average. What's worse: Over 99.9 percent of the total usage of pesticide does nothing but pollute the farming products and the environment, and only 0.1 percent is effective for the elimination of diseases and pests, according to studies by Yunnan Agricultural University.
"The pollution is spreading," Pan said. The toxic chemicals in the soil have been found in agricultural and material processing industries, in urban and rural areas, and in surface and subsurface layers. They have also been detected in areas along river streams from upstream to downstream, and the water and soil contaminant had led to the manufacturing chain of China's food supplies, which could explain the frequency of pollution incidents.
Aggravated soil pollution in China is largely due to human factors. Many places focus too much on economic development and the growth of their GDP indexes, while intentionally or unintentionally neglecting the environment and related health risks.
In addition, some local governments have shielded enterprises from being repercussions of their illegal activities of dumping chemical waste.
"Serious of pollution incidences have exposed both the enterprises' weak consciousness of environmental protection and the lack of governmental oversight," said Feng Zhi, director of Well-off Development Research Center of Jiangsu Province. Feng called for the transformation of economic development pattern and the realization of sustainable development of social economy.
Black soil in NE China faces danger
Black soil is well known for its fertile qualities. China's black soil region in the northeast is the country's most important commercial grain base, which accounts for one-fifth of China's annual grain yield.
However, the layer of black soil called the effective arable layer has thinned out by 50 percent during the last 50 years. One centimeter of black soil layer needs hundreds of years to be formed, but right now it is vanishing at a speed of one centimeter per year.
If effective administrative measurements are not taken in time to curb pollutions, China's biggest grain base will suffer a great loss, for some of the black soil layer will vanish entirely in decades.
"In the old days, I could see black soil after two spades, but there is hardly any black soil after only one spade now," a farmer in Yilan county in Heilongjiang Province said as he grabbed a handful of black soil. "You see, the ‘black soil' is no longer black."
"Black soil layer was as deep as one meter in Heilongjiang Province during the early years after the founding of the PRC in 1949. Nowadays, it's hard to find black soil of half-meter deep. Some areas are even left with only a thin layer due to severe soil erosion," said Director Hu Ruixuan of Soil and Fertilizer Administration in Heilongjiang Province.
The decrease of the effective arable layer has directly resulted in the exhaustion of soil . Under this circumstance, only by making use of more agricultural technology, high-yield crops and a great amount of fertilizer could the grain yield be maintained at a high level.
"Ten year ago, only 30kg fertilizer was used for one mu (0.07 hectare) of rice production. This has now doubled to 60kg, otherwise the yield would be reduced by 50 percent," said Lao Zhang, a farmer in Heigangzi villige in Jilin Province.
Now, the increase of grain fields is making up for the productivity of exhausted black soil regions, which helped to relieve pressure from both farmers and officials committed to protecting the fertility of the soil. Some black soil areas in Northeastern China have already been overdraft in grain production.
The vice chairman of Soil Science Society gave his explanation to the reason the quality of black soil continues to decrease.
"Laws for protecting agricultural land are not completed yet, and farmers still lack initiatives to help protecting soil qualities," Zhang said.
As one of the three major black soil regions in the world, the total area of black soil in Northeastern China is 35.233 million hectors, which are mainly distributed in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The annual grain yield in these areas accounts for one-fifth of all in China, making them important commercial grain bases for corn and non-glutinous rice.
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