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- Sandy onslaught: they want to return a fifth of the "dead" lands to agricultural turnover
Sandy onslaught: they want to return a fifth of the "dead" lands to agricultural turnover
In 2025, desertification, according to the figures of the Ministry of Agriculture, covers 84 million hectares of agricultural land in 28 regions of Russia, where the moisture coefficient falls below a critical level, threatening crops and food security. Despite the increase in gross revenues due to technology, without a systematic return of degraded land, the export potential of the agro—industrial complex will stall, and climate risks will increase, experts warn. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The scale of the disaster and the first steps
According to the latest data provided to Izvestia by the Federal Research Center for Agroecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the territories where land degradation and desertification occur occupy an area of over 120 million hectares in Russia. Agricultural lands located mostly in the grain belt of the Russian Federation are particularly affected by this. As a result of water erosion, they are disrupted on an area of 42 million hectares, wind damages 26 million hectares. Annually, the area of such lands increases by 400-500 thousand hectares.
Regional authorities are conducting land reclamation and planting forest belts to reverse the negative environmental trend.
— For example, Stavropol was and remains a zone of risky farming, and climate challenges will become more serious over time. Therefore, the restoration of degraded lands is a systematic effort for years to come," Vladimir Vladimirov, Chairman of the State Council Commission on Agriculture, Governor of Stavropol, said in an interview with Izvestia. — We rely on a combination of science and practice: restoration of forest belts, development of land reclamation, protection of soils from blowout and depletion, and the introduction of more sustainable agricultural technologies.
This year alone, according to him, more than 1 billion rubles have been allocated for the development of land reclamation in Stavropol, and 12 projects have been implemented in different territories of the region. Today, the irrigation area here exceeds 110 thousand hectares. All decisions are formed together with scientific centers so that every ruble and every hectare has a real effect, the chairman of the State Council commission notes.
— Land degradation and desertification is an environmental problem. Its increase is caused by atmospheric and soil droughts, dust and sand storms. One of the most effective and at the same time the most accessible methods of combating desertification is the creation of protective forest belts," said Alexey Venglinsky, Deputy Head of the Federal Forestry Agency.
By 2030, the main goal for the Russian Federation is the neutrality of degradation under the UN Convention. Kalmykia, Stavropol Region and Astrakhan region are in the zone of special attention. Integration into the national project will strengthen investments and the dissemination of effective practices.
Vladimir Vladimirov emphasizes the need to include measures to combat desertification and land degradation in the national project "Technological food Security". This will make it possible to combine the efforts of the government, agribusiness and science, attract additional investments and replicate best practices in other southern regions of the country.
Technologies and investments for the return of land
The state program "Earth" subsidizes up to 90% of the costs of phytomelioration and irrigation, but requires the coordination of science, business and regional authorities. Experts emphasize the role of the historical experience of the USSR in agroforestry for modern challenges.
Despite the fact that a significant amount of land has fallen out of agricultural circulation over the past 30 years, gross harvests are showing growth. This was made possible by improving agricultural technologies, improving the quality of seed material and reducing losses when using more productive equipment.
Nevertheless, the return of abandoned lands is a guarantee for further increasing production and developing export potential as part of the implementation of national projects, says the expert of the Popular Front. Analytics", member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Agriculture Sergey Sokolov.
Agroforestry complexes established in the Russian Federation over the past 40 years have increased the afforestation rate of agricultural land from 1.7% to 3.8%, and arable land from 1.2% to 2.5%. According to the Federal Research Center for Agroecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the average yield of agricultural crops, for example, under the protection of forest belts is generally higher than in unprotected fields, for grain crops by 18-23%, technical crops by 20-26%, and forage crops by 20-41%.
The methods of agroforestry developed by the Russian scientific school have demonstrated the greatest effectiveness in solving the most acute environmental problem, the scientists of the Federal Research Center for Agroecology emphasize.
Economics and benefits for the agro-industrial complex
The return of some of the degraded lands promises an increase in yields by 18-41%, new jobs and a strengthening budget. But without additional financing and market incentives, the effect will decrease, according to the experts surveyed.
The State Council expects that the implementation of measures to combat desertification will make it possible to return a fifth of the degraded lands to agricultural use, Vladimir Vladimirov said.
The possibility of returning a significant part of degraded lands to agricultural use is an important signal of attention to the problem of desertification and soil degradation," said Nadezhda Orlova, Director of the HSE Institute for Agricultural Research.
— However, the real scale of such a return will depend on many factors: the degree of fertility loss, climatic conditions, the availability of technology, and above all, sustainable financing and coordination of efforts at all levels of government, the expert emphasized.
Olga Sorokina, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Land Management at the Department of Agroecological Soil Assessment and Agrolandscape Design at the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute, notes that international experience (USSR, Africa, China) shows that initiatives to restore desolate lands of a significant area, on average, require 10 to 30 years to achieve sustainable economic and environmental results.
— At the same time, it is not necessary to identify the tasks of restoring desolate lands and their involvement in active agricultural turnover. Combating land desertification has a more global and ambitious goal — to achieve the neutrality of land degradation by 2030 through the implementation of national programs to prevent degradation processes and restore desolate lands, including the subsequent involvement of previously abandoned arable and pasture lands in active agricultural turnover, the expert said.
Valentin Krasnoshchekov, Head of the Department of Environmental Management and Environmental Protection at the Presidential Academy, emphasizes that an integrated approach is currently needed, including reducing anthropogenic pressure, increasing biological diversity and increasing the ecological sustainability of landscapes.
— The sources of financing for this process should be budgetary investments and financial resources of the business. The investments provided by the programs are not enough to solve this problem," he concludes.
Risks and obstacles to implementation
A shortage of special equipment, cash gaps for farmers and logistics in remote areas are hindering the program to combat desertification. Climatic aridization (reduction of soil moisture) and water scarcity increase threats, requiring comprehensive measures. In this context, the solvency of agricultural producers remains an important constraint.
— Although from 30 to 50% of the related costs are subsidized by the regional ministries of agriculture, the compensation mechanism itself has disadvantages. Firstly, the refund procedure often takes up to a year, creating cash gaps for farms. Secondly, if the work is done on its own, it is extremely difficult to calculate and document the target costs," continues Sergey Sokolov.
On the whole, it is quite possible to return the lands that have fallen out of circulation, but in the existing realities this is a very long process, especially in terms of open sands.
"If we talk, for example, about the Republic of Kalmykia, the restoration of sustainable vegetation cover in areas subject to desertification (according to various estimates, it is at least 2 million hectares), with existing technologies, will take at least 30 years," says Andrey Ontaev, a researcher from B.B. Gorodovikov Kalmyk State University.
Head of the Scientific Coordination Center for Combating Desertification and Drought named after N.F. German Kust, from the Glazov Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, notes that not every territory classified as degraded land can and should be put into agricultural circulation.
— To implement this program, it is necessary to investigate the feasibility of returning each of the degraded land plots to circulation based on their natural characteristics, the socio-economic effectiveness of investments in land restoration, the cost of maintaining their agroecological and agroecological potential, possible environmental risks and consequences for both the lands themselves and the surrounding landscapes and the natural environment as a whole, — he noted.
The expert recalls the sad experience of the twentieth century: the experience of developing virgin lands clearly shows what the involvement of lands unsuitable for this due to their natural properties leads to.
Oksana Klimanova, Professor of the Department of Physical Geography of the World and Geoecology at the Moscow State University Faculty of Geography, also adds that climate change and its consequences may be one of the possible obstacles.
"In a number of publications and forecasts of their possible consequences, it has been noted that it is the main agricultural regions of Russia in the center and south of the steppe zone that will be most vulnerable in terms of increasing precipitation deficit," she says. — And it, in turn, entails a shortage of water. I would like to note that land restoration should be considered in close conjunction with the conservation of biodiversity and the fight against climate change, since it is the synergy of activities in these three areas that seems to be the most appropriate and sought-after strategy to combat desertification.
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