GOOD Morning to you all again, I hope you had a good week. Only you can decide, no one else. What a wonderful world we live in, when I look around and see the wonders of God's creation I say to myself- who am I, I am nothing, I thank the Lord for giving me the privilege of living in his wonderful creation, thank you Lord. Look around friends and open your eyes, then maybe you will feel the same as I do, I hope so!
To a friend
You are always on my mind you know its been a long long time and I've tried to find away to make you understand the way I feel about you because your so kind Lord I ask you to always be at my side make it part of you to be part of me follow me everywhere and all the way take my hand and say you are free I want to build my life around you so you can show me the right way places that are safe to see and places into which I must not stray To have you here beside me and never feel alone when we are always together we will always be at home Just follow me wherever I go and make my path straight and clear steer me away from temptation and sin and teach me how against Satan to show no fear
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Our topic – Saving our soil from total deterioration in the bible it says, I quote – for the wages of sin is death! So when man sins against the earth doe's that fall into the same category, I think it must, after all it creates death and destruction. This seems to me to be the universal law of God and relates to all of Gods creation. If we look around us we can see the land degradation by the destruction of forest, the loss of our topsoil, pollution of streams and rivers and even the air we breath. This is not the ramblings of an old man my friends, we are facing destruction and even death if we continue to destroy the natural resources that support life on the earth.
Before deforestration and soil erosion in the Philippines became so critical that they could no longer be ignored, some people laughed at the man who received the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1985 for International understanding, they said we're never going to run-out of trees, these same people are now saying – plant more, plant more, we need more trees, people trying to help can never win, when I arrived here first, I had no idea what the problems were. That was in 1988, on the surface farming looked pretty good, but I soon discovered that the problem was the surface, it was washing away. Loggers were hauling trees out of the once –lush mountains leaving behind naked hillsides. Plus this, the tribal people and migrants were using kaingin methods to clear and farm the uplands, and the top soil was fast disappearing, the result –low production, hunger and hopelessness, the problem is that it is still here in certain areas.
Erosion is not an invisible disease lurking and stalking the land is search of soil to destroy, but is in fact a foreseeable ecological response inappropriate land use and management techniques. As such, soil conservation is not a negative activity, involving huge expenses and small returns, soil conservation is a positive action, even in the short term, it results in an increase in agricultural production and in the long term it ensures the continued productivity of the most important natural resources. The causes of soil erosion are well-known, so are the techniques with which to combat it. To me, soil conservation is an important science. Do you recall the devastating effects of wind erosion which happened in the United Sates in 1930s, since then, an array of techniques have become available to control erosion, these have been steadily developed and expanded. Here in the Philippines, one of the most advanced erosion controls is the sloping agricultural land technology or salt, this was developed by the MBRLC. I read about this way back in 2004,and as far as I know, it is still going strong. The idea behind salt is that it greatly reduces the risk of drought, landslides, floods, the silting over low-lying land and wind erosion, all of which are linked to the radical transformation of the natural environment and the destruction of the mountain forests. It also replaces ugly eroded and denuded slopes with the luxuriant beauty of abundant vegetation, this was stated by the then MBRLC Director Steve Musen. Well friends, I hope you have gotten something useful out of my column this week, I write to help you my farming friends.
Take care, see you next week.. |
