The Food Systems Summit 2021 convened by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, is described as a peoples summit that provides an update on the progress being made in the Decade of Action, on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and makes a point of the importance of everyone’s participation in transforming the world’s food systems. The Summit seeks to employ bold new actions that will further progress the 17 SDGs, all of which relate to transforming food systems to some degree globally.
The Summit is guided by 5 action tracks that promote collaboration between important key players across all relevant fields and industries including science, business, policy, industry, healthcare and academia, and also includes contributions from important stakeholders such as smallholder farmers, indigenous people, consumers, among many others. The action tracks are:
- Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all.
- Shift sustainable consumption patterns.
- Boost nature-positive production.
- Advocate equitable livelihoods.
- Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress.
Action track 3 is an appealing concept that encourages the protection of nature through sustainable and regenerative practices that promote terrestrial and marine biodiversity and restores degraded and previously misused natural systems, allowing us to envision a not so distant climate-positive future where both people and nature flourish. The majority of current agricultural food production systems are environmentally damaging and have severe impacts on ecosystems globally (Hodson, E., et al., 2020). The IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land concluded that soil health and land productivity are negatively impacted by current food production systems (IPCC, 2019).
Chemical fertiliser use is one such process within agricultural production systems that may have devastating consequences for future generations if nature-positive practices are not implemented. The use of chemical fertiliser on arable land has increased by 60% over the past 50 years which has lead to significant improvements in crop yield and food productivity to date (Havukainen, Uusitalo et al. 2018). However, this has come at the cost of soil degradation, biodiversity loss, eutrophication, and pollution by heavy metals (Havukainen, Uusitalo et al. 2018). Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two main fertilisers used globally. Phosphorus is an essential element for all living organisms but is considered a finite respurce on earth and its exploitation by the agricultural industry is depleting global reserves (Havukainen, Uusitalo et al. 2018). Nitrogen is also an essential limiting element for plants used in the production of amino acids and proteins. Most nitrogen for use in chemical fertilisers is acquired through the Haber-Bosch process which in itself is a high energy-consuming process (Havukainen, Uusitalo et al. 2018). Chemical fertilisers contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and are prone to leaching which results in eutrophication and biodiversity loss in waterways near agricultural land.
Bioinputs and organic fertilisers have been described as nature-based innovations that have the potential to sustainably maintain crop productivity and immunity in a more environmentally friendly way in comparison to traditional chemical fertilisers (Al Abboud, Ghany et al. 2014, García-Fraile, Menéndez et al. 2015).
Image depicts the plant growth promoting and antimicrobial effects of rhizobacteria.
Image source (Gracía-Fraile, Menéndez et al. 2015)
Live or latent microbial inoculants of known beneficial strains of naturally occurring micro-organisms are used for their ability to fix nitrogen, solubilize phosphate, produce growth-enhancing phytohormone, improve environmental stress resistance, reduce instances of disease, and for their cellulolytic properties (Al Abboud, Ghany et al. 2014, García-Fraile, Menéndez, et al. 2015). These processes enhance nutrients in the rhizosphere, improving the crop’s ability to assimilate nutrients (Al Abboud, Ghany et al. 2014). Nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Azospirillum and Azobacter are free-living bacteria species that can be harnessed to provide nitrogen to many crop varieties, most commonly rice (García-Fraile, Menéndez, et al. 2015). The production of phytohormones from various bacterial species can elicit growth promotion in a multitude of crop species. Some species of Bacillus spp., promote plant growth through auxin production, a regulatory hormone in crop development, and positive productivity enhancement has been documented in symbiotic relations between Bacillus and Solanumtuberosum (García-Fraile, Menéndez, et al. 2015). Abiotic stresses such as drought, high salinity, and extreme temperatures are all expected to be exacerbated by climate change which in turn will have devastating effects on global food production (García-Fraile, Menéndez, et al. 2015). Certain strains of Pseudomonas can enhance the growth of crop seedlings such as asparagus under water stress and reduce salt stress by reducing Na uptake and increasing Mg2+, K, and Ca2+ absorption (García-Fraile, Menéndez, et al. 2015).
The use of bioinputs and biofertilisers aligns with one of the many goals of Action Track 3, which is to recognise the importance of soil health in generating ecosystem services (Hodson, Niggli et al. 2020). Biofertilisers enrich soils by increasing micro biodiversity, in a natural manner that reduces the risk of nutrient runoff and the threat of eutrophication.
The increase in environmental awareness globally, thanks to events such as the Food Systems Summit, has led to an increase in demand for microbial biofertilisers. As of yet they are still not as prominent as chemical fertilisers and this may be for a number of reasons, 1) because skepticism still exists over the legitimacy of their crop enhancing capabilities 2) long registration procedures in most countries in order to legally acquire inoculants or 3) because they require more initial labor and time to see results, among others(García-Fraile, Menéndez, et al. 2015). The use of biofertilisers as an alternative fertilisation method in agriculture will need significant backing in the form of funding for research and field trials and scaling out of practices, knowledge and information dissemination to those hoping to avail of such products, and policy coherence to incentivise the use of these practices over conventional fertilisers (Hodson, Niggli et al. 2020). If these are achieved, the potential of biofertilisers as an eco-friendly, cost-effective, and renewable innovation to boost nature’s positive production may be fully realised.
References:
Hodson, E., et al. (2020). “Boost Nature Positive Production at Sufficient Scale.”
IPCC, 2019: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security.
Havukainen, J., et al. (2018). “Carbon footprint evaluation of biofertilizers.” International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 13(08): 1050-1060.
Al Abboud, M., et al. (2014). “Role of biofertilizers in agriculture: a brief review.” Mycopath 11(2).
García-Fraile, P., et al. (2015). “Role of bacterial biofertilizers in agriculture and forestry.” AIMS Bioeng 2(3): 183-205.