The ethos of one of Unisa’s centres lies in its name: Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
After reading this title, the question that comes to mind is: “What are sustainable agricultural practices?” According to Dr Tertia van Eeden, Manager of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, sustainability integrates three main goals: environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity.
Within Unisa’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and its centre, there are three focal points: community, agriculture and the environment. CAES has adopted these focus areas and seeks to facilitate the operationalising thereof, particularly regarding the resources and needs of each focus area. As indicated by the Dean of CAES, Prof Maggi Linington: “We believe that these three points are interconnected and balanced against each other in a triangle and that the factor that keeps the triangle in balance is sustainability with the external result of sustainable livelihoods, a sustainable environment and sustainable agriculture. This ethos permeates the tuition, research and our community engagement activities here at Unisa.
Figure 1: Diagrammatical representation of the College and Centre ethos (provided by Prof MJ Linington, Executive Dean: CAES, 2008)
The nett result of this is that environmental awareness is central to our research, our community engagements and to what we teach. This ethos is reflected in our community engagement initiatives such as Community Asset Mapping for Change (CAMP), household food security, managing nutrition in adverse conditions, and our research on fog water harvesting and water safety practices. The collective outcome of the aforementioned culminates in transferring knowledge and skills on sustainable practices to communities such as small scale farmers, growers, workers, consumers and policymakers, to name a few.
Prominent aspects of sustainability practices are the focus on curtailing and reversing many worrying practices, including topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions of farm workers, increasing costs of agricultural production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities.
Through the college and centre’s research, training and community engagement initiatives, and in partnering with government, industry, NGOs and communities, we strive to address environmental and social concerns, and further to look at innovative and economically viable opportunities through collaboration agreements to assist in securing food for (South) Africa.
Agriculture is an applied science and therefore lends itself towards sustainable agricultural production principles and practices. Several general principles for sustainable agricultural production such as the following can thus be applied to help farmers in achieving the key goals of weed control, pest control, disease control, erosion control and high soil quality:
- Selecting species and varieties that are well suited to the site and to conditions on the farm
- Using natural pest predators
- Applying bio-intensive integrated pest management
- Diversifying crops (including livestock) and cultural practices to enhance the biological and economic stability of the farm
- Managing the soil to enhance and protect soil quality
- Using appropriate cover crops that reduce the need for chemical inputs like herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers
- Using inputs efficiently and humanely
- Considering farmers’ goals and lifestyle choices
One could pose the question: “Does sustainable agriculture equal organic farming?” Both practices are aimed at using more ecologically sensible practices but they are judged by a distinct set of standards. As mentioned above, there are principles and practices that are required for sustainable farming and these should be in place to move towards achieving that goal. However, if you’re looking for a farm that practises sustainable methods, then you should use certain pointers such as the waste elimination, ecological and financial diversity as your criteria for organic farming.
We should further understand that products that are certified as organic don’t guarantee that sustainable agriculture practices are applied. In broad terms, an organic label only means that food was grown without the use of synthetic chemicals. It is important to know that organic farming can still damage the environment and threaten public health. An organic farmer, especially when farming on a large scale, can still ruin ecology systems, deplete soil of nutrients and organic matter, create pollution and spend exorbitant amounts of fossil fuels, all under an organic label.
Issues such as sustainable agriculture, pollution, climate change and serving the planet are prominent in everyone’s minds and hearts, but not always in our actions. We at the college and centre, therefore, seek to equip individuals and communities to become custodians of agriculture and environmental matters. Farming is hard work, particularly if you’re aiming for a sustainable operation. The reward for us all is the knowledge that land must be left in better shape than it was found, and that this improvement will contribute to food security for future generations.
Article submitted by Dr Tertia van Eeden, Manager: Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Unisa
Contact e-mail: veedets@unisa.ac.za
