Back Dr. Walter Lazzarini Filho
President, CETESB - Environmental Sanitation Technology State Company, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Honorable Dean of the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture
Distinguished Faculty and Secretaries
Invited Guests and Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am most honored to have been asked by the Organizing Committee to present
an introductory lecture at this Second International Conference on Kyusei
Nature Farming. It is very appropriate that Brazil was chosen as the host
country for this conference and that our Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture
was selected as the location for your technical discussions. This occasion
also marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of this institution which
has become such an out-standing center for agricultural research, education
and technology transfer in Brazil and, indeed, throughout the South American
Region.
It is well to recognize that agriculture has been practiced
in some parts of the world for more than ten thousand years. However, in Brazil
it has been a recognized enterprise for less than two centuries and, I might
add, has been fraught with many different problems during that time.
First, let me tell you the things about which I do not
intend to speak today.
I will, however, speak about the destruction of our natural
resources, due mainly to agricultural development and which I refer to as the
first index of environment and development. This has led to extensive
degradation of our environment. The best known case is the ongoing destruction
of the Amazon Rain Forest. The rapid rate at which this has occurred is
appalling. In just one decade (1978 to 1988) 22 million hectares of forest were
completely destroyed, equivalent to a rate of 2.2 million hectares per year.
While the annual rate of deforestation slowed slightly in 1989, it was still 18
thousand square kilometers or 1.8 million hectares. The result of this
devastation? We now have 8 million hectares of croplands and pastures that are
in a state of degradation because of improper land use and exploitive farming
practices.
I would also like to mention what has occurred in our
Atlantic Forest Region, a less publicized area compared with the Amazon Basin.
From an originally forested area of 1.3 million square kilometers, we now have
only 150,000 square kilometers left. This means that almost 90 percent of the
area has been deforested. In the state of Sao Paulo, we have deforested more
than 90 percent of the original green cover in only 150 years.
The second index of environment and development relates to
the loss of biodiversity and the extinction of species. We have compiled
considerable information on this subject for the Brazilian report to be
submitted to the United Nations International Conference on Environment and
Development that will be held next year in Rio de Janeiro. It is estimated that
there are some 10 million plant and animal species in the world today and that
we are losing 8000 to 28,000 species per year, or 20 to 75 species per day!
The third index of environment and development relates to
the degradation of our agricultural soils through wind and water erosion. In
Brazil we lose about I billion tons of topsoil per year from improper land use,
and the lack of proper soil and water conservation practices. After completion
of the harvest, we wonder whether we should celebrate our agricultural
production or if we should weep for the depletion of our soil resources. The
reason is obvious. For each kilogram of soybeans produced, we lose 10 kilograms
of topsoil; and for each kilogram of cotton produced we lose about 12 kilograms
of soil.
The fourth index which characterizes the state of our environment
and agricultural development relates to our exploitive farming methods and the
concomitant degradation of our hydrologic resources. A financially poor country
such as ours has often neglected to make adequate provisions for basic
municipal sanitation and sewage treatment and disposal. Consequently, our
rivers have frequently been used for disposal of untreated sewage. This is why
the Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, Mr. Fleury Filho, has set such a high
priority this year in cleaning up the Tiete River by preventing any further
discharge of sewage effluent into this and other rivers of the Tiete Basin.
Unfortunately, agriculture is one of the largest
contributors to the pollution of our lakes and rivers. Major agricultural
industries in the Sao Paulo Region, especially sugarcane processing and alcohol
production, have discharged untreated organic wastes into our rivers and
waterways for years. Other agricultural enterprises such as swine and poultry
operations, slaughterhouses, and flour mills also have disposed of their waste
materials in a similar fashion and have contributed significantly to the water
pollution problem.
The fifth index, which relates agricultural development to
degradation of our natural resource base and environmental pollution, stems
from the indiscriminate and excessive use of pesticides despite all of the
warnings over the last several decades. The lack of adequate planning in the
proper use of pesticides by our farmers and, until recently, the lack of
legislation to control the marketing of these products have made Brazil the
third largest consumer of pesticides in the world. Brazil spends approximately
one billion dollars (USD) a year in purchasing pesticides. Thus, because of their
indiscriminate use, the contamination of fruits and vegetables with pesticides
is very common in Brazil. Runoff of pesticides from agricultural lands is
responsible for numerous fishkills in our waterways. Studies of CETESB showed
that 37 of 134 fishkills from l980 to 1982 were due to pesticides. Residues of
chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides have been detected regularly in the milk of
Brazilian women who were breast-feeding their babies.
A 1989 study by the National Research Council of the United
States on Alternative Agriculture concluded that to a large extent pesticides
are used to enhance the cosmetic standards of fruits and vegetables. Often they
are applied so that produce will have a better appearance of quality in the
marketplace. They certainly do not contribute to the flavor or nutritional
quality of foods. The result of such effort to achieve such blemish-free
perfection is increased cost to the farmer, increased pesticide residues in
foods, adverse effects on human and animal health, and increased risk of
exposure to farm workers during application.
After this characterization of agricultural development in
Brazil and the associated degradation of our natural resource base, pollution
of the environment, adverse effects on food safety and quality, and risk to
human and animal health, it is clear that we must seek alternatives to our
exploitive and destructive methods of farming. I am delighted that this Second
International Conference on Kyusei Nature Fanning is being held here at Luiz de
Queiroz College of Agriculture because it will discuss the very subject which
can help Brazil to resolve the agricultural, environmental, and social problems
that I have enumerated.
I am convinced that it is time to consider the adoption of
alternative agriculture as a solution to our dilemma. The U.S. National
Research Council defines alternative agriculture as a food and fiber production
system that applies management skills and technological options to reduce
costs, conserve energy, improve efficiency, reduce the need for chemical
fertilizers and pesticides, and maintain crop yield and quality. Specific
practices include crop rotations, integrated pest management, integrated
crop/livestock systems, nitrogen fixing legumes, and recycling of on-farm
wastes as soil conditioners and biofertilizers. Alternative agriculture also
aims to reduce the need for off-farm, purchased inputs; enhance soil
productivity; conserve the soil and water resource base; increase the
biological and genetic potential of plants and animals; and improve the quality
of life of farm families and rural farm workers.
What we are lacking most in Brazil is an agricultural policy
that would encourage farmers to adopt alternative production systems such as
nature farming in lieu of chemical-based conventional systems that are causing
so many environmental and social problems. Such policy should not be restricted
to a stimulus of agricultural reform packages, but it should focus on long-term
planning over several decades. There must be a new coalition of consumers,
environmentalists, agribusiness leaders, university administrators and
professors, government officials, and farmers if we are to establish a
meaningful and effective program in nature farming as an alternative and
sustainable agricultural production system.
This means that we must make a substantial investment in
research, teaching, extension and the training and development of professional
workers with the necessary expertise to ensure the success of this program. The
stakes are high and we must act now if our agriculture is to provide adequate,
healthy and nutritious food for our people in the decades ahead.
In closing, we must never lose sight of the fact that
agriculture and the environment are inseparable; they are mutually dependent
and interrelated. It seems that serious problems always occur when we try to
deal with each one separately while excluding the other. Thus, our challenge
and responsibility not only in Brazil but, indeed, worldwide are to ensure the
co-existence of sound agricultural production and development, and
environmental protection and preservation, for the future of all mankind. I
would challenge the participants at this conference to provide us with new
guidelines and approaches on how best to accomplish this goal.
Finally, I would like to thank the Organizing Committee and
especially the Mokichi Okada Foundation, and the Luiz de Queiroz College of
Agriculture, for bringing us this Second International Conference on Kyusei
Nature Farming.
I wish you much success in your conference and your
deliberations. I look forward to receiving your suggestions, ideas and
recommendations.
Thank you very much.