Changchun, February 22 (CNS) -- Why is saline-alkali land management giving birth to new hope for global food security?
Interview with Ma Wei, associate researcher of Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
China News Service reporter Guo Jia.
Soil salinization is an internationally recognized problem, and about 7% of the world's soil is affected by salinization. In the context of maintaining global food security, strengthening the improvement and utilization of saline-alkali land and turning saline-alkali land into a "new granary" are the questions that must be answered in front of many countries. Recently, Ma Wei, an associate researcher at the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question", analyzing China's contribution to global saline-alkali land governance as the world's third largest saline-alkali land area, and introducing the strategies of various countries to jointly promote saline-alkali land governance.
The transcript of the interview is summarized below
China News Service: How is saline-alkali land formed and how is it distributed around the world?
Ma Wei: Saline-alkali land summarizes the various soil types of saline soil and saline soil, alkaline soil and alkaline soil in the classification of soil genesis. It is widely distributed in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania. According to incomplete statistics from UNESCO and FAO, the total area of saline land in the world is 95.4 billion hectares, or about 7% of the Earth's land surface. Due to the different geographical location and climatic conditions, the distribution of saline-alkali land in different countries and regions varies greatly, among which 21 countries and regions have more saline-alkali land area than 1 10 of the national land area, and Australia has the largest saline-alkali land area.
There are many reasons for the formation of saline-alkali land, mainly affected by natural factors such as climate, topography and landform, hydrogeology, etc., but about 30% of the irrigated land is still affected by artificial secondary salinization, especially in developing countries, due to the growing population, the area of cultivated land is decreasing, and a large number of forests, grasslands, wetlands, etc. are reclaimed as cultivated land, destroying the original vegetation and soil structure, resulting in soil salinization.
On May 6, 2022, white cranes forage in the wetlands of Zhentai County. Zhentai County was once known as "Hanhai" because of frequent droughts, wind-blown sandstorms and many saline-alkali lands. Photo by Pan Shengyu.
China News Service: What are China's basic experiences in managing saline-alkali land? Please tell us about your experience working in the western part of Jilin Province.
Ma Wei: Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has organized large-scale comprehensive management of saline-alkali land and the development of reserve cultivated land, and has formed more than 40 practical technologies in eight major systems, including soil salt drainage technology and soil bio-organic salt control and soil improvement technology. In terms of varieties, more than 50 varieties of saline-alkali tolerant crops have been promoted in China. These scientific and technological achievements have achieved good results in practical promotion and application. From 2020 to 2022, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs guided eight provinces to carry out pilot projects on saline-alkali cultivated land, with a total area of 2.4 million mu in three years.
There are two main technical routes for the management of saline-alkali land in China: "suitable for planting according to the land" and "suitable for the right place for planting". The former is an engineering technology with soil modification as the core, that is, through physical and chemical means such as increasing irrigation and drainage facilities or applying soil amendments, the soil salinity is reduced to the extent that it does not affect crop production; The latter is a biological breeding technology with the selection of saline-alkali tolerant crops as the core, that is, the selection of saline-alkali tolerant crop varieties and direct planting without soil improvement. China's practical experience shows that in order to transform saline-alkali land into fertile soil, it is necessary to combine the two.
On November 25, 2021, in Xianghe Ecological Park, Xuwei New District, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, staff were managing and caring for three-dimensional tomato seedlings in a greenhouse. Xianghe Ecological Park, Xuwei New District, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province was originally a large area of saline-alkali land. Photo by Geng Yuhe.
As one of the five major types of soda saline-alkali land in China, the soda saline-alkali land in Northeast China is mainly distributed in Baicheng and Songyuan in western Jilin, as well as Qiqihar and Daqing in Heilongjiang, and is one of the three major soda saline-alkali lands in the world. The soil saline-alkali composition in this area is dominated by sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, with high pH value, high salt content, high sodium ion content, low organic matter content and low soil permeability, which is the most difficult type of saline-alkali land management in China.
Regardless of the technical route or the type of improvement measures, adapting to local conditions is key, and this experience is applicable around the world. The place where I work is in the White Town. Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences has proved through repeated experiments and practice that planting rice is one of the effective measures to improve soda saline-alkali land, and in 1989, it put forward an effective technical route for improving saline-alkali land with rice, waterlogging with rice, and getting rich with rice.
On July 8, 2022, in the experimental station set up by the Jilin Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Zhentai County, Baicheng City, the growth of new saline-alkali tolerant rice varieties was gratifying. Photo by Ma Wei.
The reason why such a technical route was chosen is mainly because the western part of Jilin is full of swamps and lakes, and the Huolin River, Taoer River, Lalin River, Yitong River and other rivers converge here in a centripetal manner. It is in this context that we have summed up eight words in practice - determining the land with water and diverting water for irrigation, and it is these eight words that have laid the foundation for the success of this set of technical routes.
In recent years, we have placed more emphasis on the integration of various technologies and measures in the management of saline-alkali land to form "good land, good seeds, and good methods" to achieve the best results.
Since 2007, with the implementation of major land consolidation projects in western Jilin, scientific research institutions and improvement enterprises inside and outside Jilin Province have carried out systematic research and development in the breeding of saline-alkali tolerant varieties, soil improvement technology, and resistance cultivation. In 2015, the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences jointly developed the technical model of "using rice to treat alkali to change soil and increase grain", which won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
The paddy fields of Zhentai County, Jilin Province welcome a bumper harvest. Photo by Pan Shengyu.
China News Service: Is it possible for a large area of saline-alkali land in the world to be turned into fertile land?
Ma Wei: It's completely achievable. In order to cope with the impact of the increasing number of saline-alkali lands on agricultural production, land value and water resources, many countries in the world are taking active actions and pioneering many practices and measures for the development and management of saline-alkali land.
For example, Australia has slowed soil salinization and sodiumization through soil and agronomic management practices, while focusing on the assessment, selection and breeding of crops that are tolerant to salinity, sodium and ionic toxicity; In India, gypsum is used for alkaline soil improvement and rice-fish farming to solve the dual problems of poor drainage and salinization of coastal degraded soils. The Netherlands, Israel, etc. to carry out comprehensive treatment of soil salt control and salt reduction technology; Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries focus on the selection and breeding of new plant varieties that are suitable for severe salinity; Egypt analyzes microorganisms in saline-alkali land and uses microbial resources to improve soil quality.
Practice shows that no matter which method is used, the rational development and management of saline-alkali land can not only increase the amount of cultivated land, but also greatly improve the ecological environment and maintain the stability of the ecosystem. Taking the soda saline-alkali land in Northeast China as an example, after several generations of development and management, it has now become an important cultivated land reserve resource development zone in China, and also an important contribution area to Jilin's "100 billion catties of grain" production capacity construction project. For example, in 2023, the rice planting area of Zhentai County will reach 1.55 million mu, which is the largest county in Jilin paddy fields, with a total rice output of 20500 million catties, ranking first in the province's rice output for five consecutive years.
The paddy fields of Zhentai County, Jilin Province welcome a bumper harvest. Photo by Pan Shengyu.
China News Service: What role do you think China should play in promoting the management of saline-alkali land? How can countries around the world strengthen international cooperation?
Ma Wei: Frankly speaking, China has fed nearly 20% of the world's population with 9% of the world's arable land and 6% of the world's freshwater resources.
In terms of saline-alkali land management, no country in the world can be called the best, and all countries are constantly exploring and trying, but because of various reasons such as geography, climate, politics and economy, each country has its own unique advantages and challenges. For example, China has introduced specific rice seed resources from Italy, Japan, South Korea, the United States and other countries, excavated saline-alkali tolerance genes, and created new saline-alkali tolerant germplasm.
On May 20, 2022, the staff planted rice in the experimental field in Tianjin, and the rice planted was a new type of high-pole and high-yield "giant rice" with super salt and alkali tolerance. Photo by Tong Yu.
In recent years, China has provided a lot of advanced agricultural technologies and experiences to the Belt and Road countries and developing countries, including those in saline-alkali land management, and the application of these technologies and experiences has been good. I think it is also very important to actively build an international exchange platform, and in addition to the general international exchange meetings, we can also explore closer cooperation, such as establishing joint laboratories and making full use of our respective strengths to jointly tackle technical problems. (ENDS).
Interviewee Profile:
Ma Wei, associate researcher of the Rice Research Institute of Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences and science and technology commissioner of Jilin Province, has been committed to the research of rice stress physiology and stress cultivation technology for many years, and has adhered to the saline-alkali barren beach in western Jilin for ten consecutive years, and was awarded the honorary titles of "The Most Beautiful Science and Technology Worker in Jilin Province" and "Jilin Good Man and the Most Beautiful Worker" in 2022. He has published 38 scientific and technological articles, and edited the "Practical Guidance Manual for Rice Production in Jilin Province".