Friday, May 5, 2022 - Bissau, Guinea Bissau
On Thursday, the Founder of the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America, Siphiwe Baleka, met with Lorenço Monteiro Carvalho de Abreu, Director General of Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa Agraria (INPA) and consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Guinea Bissau. Mr. Baleka discussed the #savesoil movement and Guinea Bissau’s participation in it and the upcoming 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP), being held in Côte d'Ivoire from 9 to 20 May, organized by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Leaders from 170 countries will attend, including a high-level opening segment, a Summit of Heads of State, roundtables and interactive dialogue sessions between ministers and other high-ranking officials on May 9-10, 2022.
According to Mr. Baleka,
“The #savesoil movement is probably the most important global movement happening at this moment. All over the world, global leaders in all spheres of work as well as tens of millions of people are involved in this 100 day project. Over seventy governments have signed agreements. I was concerned that no one in Guinea Bissau - neither the leaders, the NGOs, the media nor the people on social media we’re talking about it. So I decided to take responsibility and started posting about it on social media to all the Guinea Bissau Facebook groups, writing letters to the media, and now I’m meeting with people involved in agriculture and policy-making. Really, it’s everyone’s responsibility, I just took the lead to set the example.”
On Friday, May 6th, Mr. Baleka met with Mario Alfredo Mendonca, Director of Commerce and Promotion for the Cashew-LIFT Project. On January 29, 2020 the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, Tulinabo Salama Mushingi attended the launch of the USDA’s Food for Progress regional cashew value chain project, also called the Linking Infrastructure, Finance, and Farms to Cashews (LIFFT-Cashew). The program implementing a $38 million, six-year project in The Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau will enhance the regional cashew value chain to improve the trade of processed cashews in local and international markets. “Sixty-three percent of the funds for Guinea Bissau are earmarked for road construction,” Mr. Mendonca emphasized.
Besides learning some of the details of how the Cashew- Lift project works, Mr. Baleka also discussed the potential of certifying the soil content in f the land farmed by the cooperatives and becoming early adopters of a marketing program that would include “organic soil content” on product landing.
“With such labelling, and provided that the organic soil content reaches a minimum 3%, Guinea Bissau farmers could enjoy premium pricing from an increasingly ‘soil conscious’ international market,” said Baleka.
”To do this, it will be necessary to develop a comprehensive soil testing program specifically designed to help Guinea Bissau reach the 3% minimum that is being accepted as the critical standard globally”.
Save Soil is a global movement bringing together people and leaders to restore Soil Health by instituting national policies worldwide toward increasing the organic content in cultivable Soil.
Why 3.5 billion people?
In democracies, governments craft policies based on what the majority of people want. 3.5 billion people is 60% of the world’s voting population.
For any soil to be agriculturally potent, it must have a minimum organic content of 3 to 6%
How much damage has already happened to soil?
● 62% of India’s soil has an organic content of less than 0.5%.
● The US has lost 50% of its topsoil.
● In Europe, 75% of the soil has an organic content of less than 2%
● Two thirds of Africa is well on track to losing its arable lands by 2030
● Worldwide: 52% of agricultural soils are already degraded - ELD initiative, 2015
● By 2050, 90% of Earth's soil could be degraded - UNCCD, 2020
Soil organic content:
United States 1.4%
Europe 1.2%
Indian 0.6%
Africa 0.3%
Guinea Bissau -?????
When we grow one ton of crop, it means that we have removed one ton of topsoil. What are the means to put it back? We were putting it back naturally when there were animals and trees on the farm because green litter from the trees and animal waste are the only ways to put back organic content into soil.
87% of the planet's life, including you, me, and a multitude of microbes, worms, birds, animals, and trees are living on approximately 39 inches of topsoil. That is the average topsoil that you have on the planet. But the level of degradation that has happened in the last 70 years is scary. The amount of biomass in the soil has come down by around 80% in the last 50 years.
What is keeping you alive is microbial life on all levels.
The human body contains trillions of microorganisms — outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about 1 to 3 percent of the body's mass (in a 200-pound adult, that's 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play a vital role in human health.
HMP researchers also reported that this plethora of microbes contribute more genes responsible for human survival than humans contribute. Where the human genome carries some 22,000 protein-coding genes, researchers estimate that the human microbiome contributes some 8 million unique protein-coding genes or 360 times more bacterial genes than human genes.
This bacterial genomic contribution is critical for human survival. Genes carried by bacteria in the gastro-intestinal tract, for example, allow humans to digest foods and absorb nutrients that otherwise would be unavailable.
Humans don't have all the enzymes we need to digest our own diet,” said Lita Proctor, Ph.D., NHGRI's HMP program manager. “Microbes in the gut break down many of the proteins, lipids and carbohydrates in our diet into nutrients that we can then absorb. Moreover, the microbes produce beneficial compounds, like vitamins and anti-inflammatories that our genome cannot produce.” Anti-inflammatories are compounds that regulate some of the immune system's response to disease, such as swelling.
Globally around 24 billion tons of fertile soil and 27,000 bio-species are lost each year
There are no trees. There is not enough organic activity in the soil to absorb the water. If the water had percolated down, the wells, ponds, and rivers would have water. Since rainwater is not retained, a drought is bound to happen after some time.
If it is in the right condition, soil can hold 800% more water than all the rivers put together. But as the organic value in the soil goes down, its ability to hold water also goes down.
India has about 160 million hectares of arable land, but nearly forty percent of this soil is labeled as distressed soil. That means in another twenty-five to thirty years’ time, we may not be able to grow the food that we need in this nation. When there is no water and food, the level of civil strife that will happen will demolish the nation in many different ways. People from those rural areas where water completely runs out are going to migrate in large numbers into urban centers. This is not far away. With no infrastructure, they will sit on the streets, but for how long? When there is no food and water, they will break into homes. I am not some kind of a doomsayer, but in the next eight to ten years, you will see these situations unless we do something drastic right now.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA BISSAU
Globally around 24 billion tons of fertile soil and 27,000 bio-species are lost each year.
Scientists are saying that by 2045, the planet will have 40% less food for 9.2 billion people and that there are only 40 to 60 harvests left before a critical global food shortage.
For any soil to be agriculturally potent, it must have a minimum organic content of 3 to 6%. The average soil organic content of the United States is 1.4%, for Europe 1.2%, for India 0.6% and for Africa 0.3%. I am unable to find any data on the organic content of Guinea Bissau’s soil.
Due to the severity of soil extinction and the food crisis which will be devastating to the entire world, a global #savesoil campaign was launched. On March 21, Indian mystic Sadhguru embarked from London to India on a 100 day campaign, traveling more than 30,000 km to 26 countries by motorcycle in order to spread awareness and to mobilise 3 billion people to use their voice and give democratically elected leaders and governments a mandate to institute national policies toward increasing the organic content in cultivable soil. After just 28 days, 72 nations have signed policy agreements.
I am now using my voice as a citizen of Guinea Bissau to make sure that Guinea Bissau participates in the global #savesoil campaign since the people of Guinea Bissau are among those who will suffer the most if nothing is done and will benefit the most if the correct actions and policies are taken now.
Towards this end, the 15th session of Conference of Parties (COP), is convening in the Ivory Coast from May 9-20, organised by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Leaders from 170 countries will be attending, including a high-level opening segment, a Heads of States Summit, round tables and interactive dialogue sessions among ministers and other high-ranking officials on 9 and 10 May 2022.
I am now asking the responsible leaders of Guinea Bissau to do the following:
Identify the delegation that will be representing Guinea Bissau at the 15th COP in the Ivory Coast;
Inform the population of the status of Guinea Bissau’s soil and especially its current organic content;
Explain how people can get their soil tested for organic content.
Make widely available the plan to increase the organic content of the soil to a minimum of 3%;
Provide the current expenditure on soil conservation as well as the cost needed to achieve the minimum 3%;
Create a Guinea Bissau Soil Content Task Force.
Respectfully, Siphiwe Baleka,
PLEASE SUPPORT MY WORK HERE IN GUINEA BISSAU
#savesoilguineabissau
#protegiterraguineabissau
#savesoil
#protegiterra
@sadhguru
@consciousplanetmovement
