Title : Restoring our soil for a new and sustainable agriculture: Anabiosis a possibility
Abstract:
A comprehensive analysis of today's interconnected crises – encompassing issues such as food insecurity, poverty, unemployment, environmental/Land degradation, and climate change – reveals their inseparable nature. Addressing these challenges, requires a comprehensive, an inclusive, a holistic, a systemic and broad-based approach, especially considering the global ever growing population, particularly in Africa, and the dwindling and deteriorating land due to excessive use of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Existing solutions often offer fragmented and surface-level remedies that prove insufficient due to attempts at tackling systemic issues piecemeal. At best, these solutions merely act as temporary fixes, akin to band-aids. In most cases, however, they inadvertently give rise to further complications. Agriculture, however, holds the key to radical and sustainable solutions by embracing a systemic approach. Recent advancements in science and other domains have introduced fresh frameworks for understanding human dynamics and our planet's intricacies. This emerging systemic paradigm offers novel technological orientations rooted in principles like Synergy, Symbiosis, Complementarity, and Supplementary, inspired by the power of biomimicry. Science underscores the critical role of land – a vital resource for food, water, and health – necessitating a comprehensive strategy to address challenges like desertification, land degradation, food security, biodiversity, groundwater stress, and water quality. It becomes imperative that by implementing diverse mitigation strategies, we can transform deteriorating ecosystems into resilient, regenerative, and sustainable agro-food systems, ultimately achieving more and better with less in a sustainable manner. Such a shift not only transforms our food production methods but also catalyzes change in our values and society, highlighting the importance of innovative approaches. This is what the Songhai Center has engaged in for over 35 years by designing a concrete Model with its Integrated Production System ''Zero Waste'' by dancing with nature (Agriculture from primary to tertiary sector, Agroindustry, Technologies, Energy and Services all connected) to address current crises.
