Will the World Starve?
All over the world, farmers are taking more from the soil than they return. NOVA reports on the soil crisis in world agriculture—a plight that has already resulted in massive starvation.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Tonight on NOVA. This isn't just a rainstorm. It's valuable farmland being washed away.
00:13And as it goes, so does next year's harvest. All over the world, uncontrolled soil erosion
00:22degrades the land and poses a serious threat to food production. But farmers everywhere
00:29are fighting back in a desperate effort to keep soil on the fields and food on their
00:35plates. Can the struggle to save the soil be won, or will the world starve?
00:51Major funding for NOVA is provided by this station and other public television stations
00:55nationwide. Additional funding was provided by the Johnson & Johnson family of companies,
01:02supplying health care products worldwide. And by Allied Signal, a technology leader
01:10in aerospace, electronics, automotive products, and engineered materials.
01:38It's harvest time in China. The crop is millet. The survival of these villagers depends on
01:48what they can grow. This is one of the poorest regions of China. Only a generation ago, famine
01:56was widespread and millions died of hunger. But no one will starve this winter. The harvest
02:03has produced enough food to last for at least two years. The granaries are full. In the
02:18highlands of Ethiopia, it's also harvest time. The barley has been gathered in. This is a
02:26good harvest, but it won't be enough. Not long ago, Ethiopia could feed all its people.
02:36But now, much of the land is barren and thousands are starving. Ethiopia's scarred landscape
02:46serves as a warning to the rest of the world. Protect the soil or risk starvation. But poverty
02:55forces many farmers to take more from the earth than they can return. Even the roots
03:00of their crops are dug up for cattle feed. Nothing is left to enrich the soil. And nothing
03:07is left to anchor it. The forest that once grew on this hillside was cut down for fuel.
03:14Now every rainstorm eats away at the land. With erosion stripping its surface, no plant
03:20remains can build up to improve soil structure. A poor soil yields a poor crop, and the cycle
03:29of poverty continues. One acre and nine worldwide is used to grow food. If it were well-managed,
03:39it could provide enough for everyone. But on every continent, valuable farmland is being
03:45ruined by man-made erosion. If unchecked, erosion could reduce world food production
03:5120 percent by the year 2000, while the demand for food will have increased by 50 percent.
03:58To prevent world starvation, a better balance must be struck between man and nature.
04:07The Himalayas, the highest of all mountain ranges. These enormous peaks are still growing.
04:14Four centimeters every ten years. They're forced up by geological movements as the mass
04:20of India thrusts toward Tibet. But even as they grow, ice, frost, and water combine to
04:30cut them down. This is the natural weathering that transforms parent rock into soil. It's
04:37a slow process, taking thousands of years before even a centimeter of soil is produced.
04:47These mountains are so young that their slopes are still steep and inhospitable. It's difficult
04:53to believe that they could ever become farmland. Yet not very far away, just beneath peaks
05:00like Langtang, the people of Nepal have been farming for centuries in Himalayan soil. But
05:08their hold on the earth is precarious. When the rains come in Nepal, they fall in torrents,
05:19like the monsoon starting here. The large raindrops strike hard at any unprotected soil.
05:28Their force breaks it loose and starts the earth on a long journey to the sea. The topsoil,
05:34the wealth of the land, is washed away.
05:50Where the ground is protected by vegetation, the water runs off clear.
05:58But in Nepal, clear water is seldom seen. Erosion threatens the farmer's tenuous grip
06:05on the mountainsides, and every season more and more land disappears.
06:15Enough soil is lost every year from the fields of Nepal to form whole new islands downstream
06:20in the Bay of Bengal. And it's soil that Nepal can't afford to lose.
06:29Where the rivers leave the foothills of the Himalayas, they slow down and spread their
06:33sediment here across the fertile plain known as the Tarai. In the process, the rivers change
06:39course violently. Floods and death follow behind.
06:51After the rains, the earth collapses in huge landslides as the rivers cut away the footings
06:56of the slopes. Here, the village of Gairathak, with 14 houses, was swept away. All but one
07:04of the villagers escaped, but they lost their land, their sole means of survival.
07:11Now Giriraj can only grow a quarter of the food he needs.
07:19Forty years ago, I had 65 rupnis of land in my name. Now, after the two great landslides
07:26here that destroyed my terraces, I only have six rupnis of land.
07:35I have a family of nine to support. I have got my wife and brothers living with me.
07:43I have been maintaining my family with what I can earn teaching in the primary school,
07:49as I can only grow enough food for three months. Apart from that, nobody has helped me. As
07:55a result of this disaster, I have lost everything. If I have to go to a new place, I haven't
08:03even got four pens to my name, and I have nowhere else to go anyway.
08:13Each time the monsoon arrives, scores of people are killed and hundreds of hard-won terraces
08:20are destroyed.
08:32The forested slopes are also threatened. The number of people living on the tiny farms
08:37perched on these hills has doubled in a generation. Wood is the only source of fuel, so they have
08:44cleared the forest more and more. The slopes, left dangerously unprotected, are scarred
08:50by erosion. The damage is extensive.
08:59Eight million people now live among these middle hills of Nepal. As the landscape crumbles
09:05around them, the threat of famine grows.
09:16The farmers of the middle hills have managed to survive in this harsh landscape for hundreds
09:20of years in ancient villages like Kurati. Yet their future survival is in question.
09:28The farms are tiny. Each family must grow all its food on only a third of a hectare,
09:35only three-quarters of an acre.
09:42Chin Bahadur is cutting maize stalks. The cobs have been harvested and a second crop
09:47of millet has been planted.
09:58By feeding the stalks to his buffalo, Chin Bahadur makes good use of his land. His buffalo
10:10provide milk and meat, and power for plowing, and they also convert the stalks into manure.
10:18This is mixed with the animal's bedding and composted, and is then spread on the land,
10:24returning valuable nutrients that the crops removed. Without the buffalo or cattle, his
10:29tiny farm would soon lose its fertility.
10:36The wood from the surrounding forest is also essential for the family's survival. Not only
10:41is fuel for heat, for the nights at an altitude of 6,000 feet are bitterly cold, but also
10:47to cook their food.
10:54Sanmaya must feed her family entirely on the produce of their farm. They are so remote
11:06from the rest of the world that money figures little in their lives.
11:13The main meal of the day consists of rice with potatoes and spices. For now, Chin Bahadur
11:36and his family are not going hungry, but elsewhere there is not always enough.
11:43This year, the average family in Nepal grew only enough food to last for eight months.
11:48Yet, these tiny farms once fed all the people of Nepal year round. What has gone wrong?
12:00Despite the appearance of isolation, Nepal has a rapidly growing population of both humans
12:05and animals. Around each village is a large area of grazing and forest land. Herded away
12:12from the farms, the animals eat grass and leaves. Later, the dung from their pens is
12:17used to fertilize the terraces. To keep the system in balance, there should be just one
12:24cow or buffalo for each person, and they should graze only four times as much forest land
12:29as the family cultivates. But now there are too many mouths to feed, too many animals
12:36for the grazing lands and forest. The grass is overgrazed, the ground is laid bare to
12:41the rain, the goats eat the young trees, and the forest is destroyed. The farmers allow
12:49this to happen because they have no choice. The animals are already half starved, so they
12:54eat whatever they can find. In winter, when there is even less grass, the villagers feed
13:01their animals the branches of broadleaf trees. To stay alive, the farmers are destroying
13:11the forest, threatening the very balance of resources that sustains them. But it is not
13:20only the farmers that are to blame. The magnificent cities like Bhaktapur, with its splendid temples
13:25and palaces, were built with the products of the forests and farms of the Middle Hills.
13:43With land taxes and timber, the countryside was exploited for the benefit of the towns.
13:48This continued for centuries.
13:56Finally, in the 1950s, it became obvious that trees were being cut far faster than they
14:02were growing. The government took control of the forest in an attempt to protect it
14:07and plant new trees. Villagers, their cattle, and their goats were to be kept out by armed
14:12guards and barbed wire fences. But the villagers no longer felt any responsibility for the
14:20forest, so they abused it even more. And the government rangers became the enemies of the
14:25people. The program to restore the forest seemed doomed.
14:31But then a district forestry officer was sent to the village of Chautara to establish a
14:36reforestation program there. In the beginning, he followed the established methods for protecting
14:41a plantation.
14:45When I first arrived in early 1973, there was no tradition of planting trees in this
14:52area. And when I first started this project of planting trees, I got some wire, fence
15:00wire, for planting this area to keep the animals away.
15:05But barbed wire was expensive, and after his very first planting, he couldn't get any
15:10more. He knew it was vital to plant more trees, so he had to find a different way to
15:15keep the animals out. He discussed the problem with the village leaders.
15:20And in that process, we got to work with the local people, got their cooperation by working
15:26with them. And it was very fortunate that the local people kept their animals away,
15:31and as a result of which fences were no more required.
15:35Tej Mahat was the first forester to involve the local people in a strategy to protect
15:40the forest. And it worked. They began to keep the animals out themselves. And today, Chautara
15:47is the most successfully replanted area in Nepal.
15:53In the new system, villagers are allowed free access to the forest to cut grass for their
15:58cattle. But animals are excluded. People, unlike animals, can easily tell grass from
16:04trees. They cut only the edible undergrowth, but leave the trees alone.
16:14The animals' feed is brought back to the farms. With this method, Sukumaya no longer
16:19has to watch the cattle as they graze. Now she has time to go to school. Feeding in a
16:25stall brings other advantages. Cattle will eat less favored plants, which they reject
16:30in the forest. And all of the dung is left on the farm.
16:37The villagers now share the benefits of the forest with the government, and the guards,
16:41for the first time, have become their friends. Community forestry has taken root. The farmers
16:47and villagers have found a simple yet effective way to protect their forests, and so are protecting
16:53their own futures.
17:00In 1978, Tej Mahat and the forestry department began to get technical and financial aid from
17:05an Australian project. The first task was to build a road to the town, saving a three-day
17:11walk. Don Gilmore comes from the Australian National University. He's a tropical forester.
17:18Like Tej, Don knows that the way to make the project succeed is to understand not just
17:23the needs of the people, but the reality of their isolation from the developed world.
17:30The project with the government now has over a hundred nurseries growing trees. Most are
17:35still several days' walk from the new road. The methods he uses are specifically tailored
17:41to local conditions.
17:44Well, in a normal situation, people would use a certain amount of artificial chemicals,
17:49fertilisers and hormones. In this situation, we absolutely insist that those sorts of inputs
17:54are not provided into the nurseries, because it's important that once the project leaves
17:58this area, that the local people have the ability to maintain the nursery operations
18:03entirely from their own inputs, and that is from using natural composts and not from using
18:08artificial fertilisers. So that's the big difference. In addition, central administration
18:14has great difficulty in organising all the works that are necessary to be carried out
18:18without the support of the local population. During this last planting season, we established
18:22about 200 individual planting sites, and that can't be done without the active support
18:27of the local population, because the forestry department simply doesn't have sufficient
18:31trained technical manpower to carry out the work that is necessary.
18:36The farmers rely on broadleaf trees for animal fodder. Surprisingly, the best way to get
18:41them is to plant pines first.
18:44From an ecological point of view, the pine trees perform a very useful function by providing
18:48a lot of protection to the soil surface immediately within the canopy. Under this tree, you can
18:52see the pine litter is already becoming decomposed and being incorporated into the soil, and
18:58the soil itself is becoming nice and friable and loose, which contrasts very strongly with
19:02the harsh environment immediately outside the canopy of the tree. Underneath this tree,
19:07the environment has been improved to such an extent that a broadleaf tree has already
19:11become voluntarily established.
19:16Don's method allows the broadleaf trees to grow up within the protection of the hardier
19:20pine trees. Eleven years after planting only pines, this has become a mixed forest.
19:33These community leaders have come to discuss the best way to manage the forest now that
19:38it's grown. They will receive three quarters of the wood that it produces, a new source
19:43of income for their villages. Chautara is exceptional in Nepal in that forest here is
19:49being planted faster than it's being cut down. It's become the model for a huge national
19:54project funded by the World Bank.
19:59Saving Nepal's forests is the first step in halting erosion's course and in ensuring
20:04enough food for its growing population. But the situation is still critical. In most areas,
20:12trees are being cut down three times as fast as they're being planted.
20:19Yet the replanting and conservation effort in Chautara has shown that surprisingly simple
20:23strategies tailored to local conditions can help to keep soil where it belongs and where
20:29it's needed. And the farmers themselves, with a personal stake in the success of these
20:35projects, may prove to be the best guardians of the land.
20:43In Nepal, without trees, the agricultural system breaks down. The same is true in many
20:49other countries. In the tropics especially, a shortage of firewood has led to deforestation.
20:55Erosion has followed, and with it, a decline in food production.
21:01Twenty years ago, Africa was nearly self-sufficient in food. Since then, production per head has
21:06fallen by 20%.
21:10The famine in Ethiopia is a tragic example of what happens when deforestation and erosion
21:15aren't checked.
21:20The central highlands of Ethiopia.
21:25A few generations ago, this tiny village was surrounded by forest. At that time, 40% of
21:31the country was green with trees.
21:35Now, the land lies unprotected, and when the fierce tropical rainstorms come in summer,
21:40they tear away not just the topsoil, but the whole landscape.
21:47Arable land is losing six millimeters of soil each year, two and a half times as much as
21:53in Nepal.
21:56When the land gets to this state, it's useless, and erosion rapidly swallows up still more
22:01farms.
22:04Here, soil loss, not drought, is the main cause of famine.
22:12Food production depends on topsoil, the thin, fertile layer of brown earth containing the
22:17rotted remains of plants and teeming with microscopic life. Below is the red subsoil,
22:23less fertile and lacking the vegetable matter that stores water between rains. Below that,
22:28the lighter colored soil has been formed from the rock which lies at the bottom. Erosion
22:33can strip it all away.
22:38Gullies are the most destructive form of erosion, and they're worst in tropical countries where
22:43heavy rainstorms fall on land which is dry.
22:48Gullies can grow with dramatic speed as water cuts down to the bedrock.
22:54This gully is over 20 meters deep, cut by streams running off the hillside. It was carved
23:00in about 50 years. Once it was roofed by productive land, and forest grew on top.
23:12But gullies can be treated. This one has been seeded with strong grasses to check the speed
23:17of the water, and planted with trees to bind the soil. Grazing animals have been kept out,
23:24and the gully has stabilized.
23:28Because gullies get started when water runs off hillsides, they must also be treated.
23:33Here, both topsoil and subsoil have been washed away, leaving only rock. But by putting a
23:39stop to grazing, grass and trees have returned, and soil has begun to form. The sick land
23:46can begin to recover.
23:52Ethiopia's erosion was caused by farming practices, and yet the farmers are only partly to blame.
23:58Until recently, families didn't own their own land, but lived under a feudal system
24:03where they worked for a local landlord.
24:06Ayalech Adare had to supply the landlord with firewood. Tilahun Makuria, her husband, used
24:17to pay three quarters of his harvest as tax, and a further tenth to the church. The landlords
24:23made no effort to improve the land, and the farmers were too poor to improve it themselves.
24:29Now they reap the consequences of that neglect.
24:34Droughts are common here, but they have not always brought famine. But now, because of
24:38the poor soil, the families' harvests have declined, and with no reserves of food, they
24:43become more and more vulnerable to the weather.
24:48Ayalech and Tilahun farm on the bleak central highlands. The wall protects their sheep from
24:53foxes and hyenas.
24:58As the population of Ethiopia has grown, the number of domestic animals has also increased.
25:04The families need the income they provide, but the amount of land for each family has
25:09gotten smaller. This has led to serious overgrazing and erosion.
25:17As the soil is washed away, the farms become more and more stony and unworkable.
25:23With so few trees, animal dung is the only source of fuel. To Ayalech and Tilahun, it's
25:30also an important source of income. Compared with other Ethiopian farmers, they are well
25:36off. But still, the harvest is so poor that they must use the dung that would otherwise
25:42replenish the soil.
25:45Every day, Ayalech collects the dung left by her animals.
25:55It's mixed with water and straw and made into cakes to burn.
26:03If firewood were plentiful, Ayalech would be spared this time-consuming task.
26:15When the cakes are dried, they burn well, with no smell. They use some for their own
26:21cooking, but most are sold to people in the town.
26:25In Shoa province, all animal dung is used for fuel. But the right place to put it is
26:30back on the land, where it would restore fertility.
26:36The dung is used to make food for the animals.
26:41The dung is used to make food for the animals.
26:46The dung is used to make food for the animals.
26:50But the right place to put it is back on the land, where it would restore fertility and
26:54reduce erosion.
27:07The local market is at Debre Berhan.
27:12Thousands of donkey loads of fuel arrive here every week.
27:16Selling fuel accounts for three quarters of the total trade.
27:27A load of dung sells for about 75 cents. Firewood costs four times as much.
27:33So most people burn dung. But the more they burn, the more the fertility of their fields
27:38will decline. If they were able to put it on the land, their harvest would increase
27:43by 20 percent. The farmers themselves are aware of their dilemma.
27:51It's because of the shortage of firewood. As there is so little firewood, we have to
27:55make the cakes of dung and straw to cook with, and also for money to buy everything else.
28:01Our livelihood depends on it.
28:14The family shares their one mud hut with their dog and a few chickens.
28:33The national dish of Ethiopia, injera, is made from a fermented pancake mixture.
28:44Injera, with only a few spices, makes up the main meal of the day.
29:01In 1985, this family grew enough food for only ten months, even though it was a fairly
29:06good year. By constantly removing the fertility of the soil, they're trapped into declining
29:12harvests and a downward spiral of poverty. Another drought could force them to sell
29:18everything they own to buy food. They would have to leave the land and join the ranks
29:22of homeless refugees.
29:26But in Ethiopia, as in all countries, the welfare of families and the land also depends
29:31on politics.
29:34The socialist revolution of 1973 was triggered by a famine. Chairman Mengistu Hailemariam
29:40replaced Emperor Haile Selassie with a Marxist military regime. The new government dispossessed
29:46the landlords and divided the country's farmland among peasant associations.
29:53Its communist policies have received little support from Western governments, yet they
29:57have begun to address the damage done to the land for generations.
30:02The farmers are allocated land by the peasant associations, and for the first time they
30:13are being organized to do communal work to conserve the soil they farm.
30:21Here on some of the better land, they're digging ditches along the contours and raising terraces
30:26that will stop the soil from washing downhill.
30:32One problem with this kind of conservation work is that it takes 10% of the land out
30:37of production, so at first the total harvests are smaller.
30:44But when it rains, the water no longer runs on, carrying the precious topsoil away. Trapped
30:50in the ditches, more water seeps into the ground, and soil moisture directly affects
30:55the size of the harvest.
30:58After only one year, the farmers do see a benefit. On the edge of the terraces where
31:04water and soil have collected is a strip where the crop of barley has grown better. The harvest
31:10can be four times as big as before.
31:15Another way that soil conservation has been encouraged is in food payments sponsored by
31:20the World Food Program of the United Nations.
31:24For working on the terraces, each farmer receives six and a half pounds of grain and four ounces
31:32of oil a day, surpluses donated mostly by the U.S. and Europe.
31:41During the famine, these food payments allowed thousands of families to stay on the land
31:46and at the same time to improve it.
31:54The food payments and the new terraces can help to prevent further loss of Ethiopian
32:01soil, but they are only a partial solution.
32:08Poverty is the main cause of land degradation in Ethiopia. To reverse it, there must be
32:13a huge investment in agriculture, but much of the government's budget is spent on fighting
32:18the war with Eritrea.
32:21Now this really means that the rate at which soil conservation activities are being constructed
32:27is less than the rate of erosion itself. So we still have not caught up with the rate
32:32of erosion, which is just extraordinary, something like 2,000 million tons per year. And we have
32:39not caught up with that rate yet. And the program will need to expand in various ways
32:46to do more. So all that you have seen, although it's tremendously impressive, is still only
32:52a drop in the bucket.
32:54The program of soil and water conservation started, unfortunately, in lands which have
32:59been degraded. One should have really started the other way around to maintain the productivity
33:05in those areas which are presently considered to be productive and producing surplus food.
33:12But because of the perception of the farmers, perception of the politicians and other administrators,
33:19it's very difficult in a state like ours to start conservation work where you don't have
33:25the problem. Incidentally, in this country, the highest soil loss is taking place in these
33:32productive areas. And therefore, unless actions are taken immediately, the chances of these
33:39lands becoming as unproductive and as bad as the other parts which you have seen is
33:44very close.
33:46A long-term solution to the crisis depends not only on money, but on recognizing the
33:51roots of the problem. This peasant association, Lagambo and the Harage Highlands, is fortunate
33:58in having help from the University of Alamaya. It shows what can be done if the land is used
34:03in the right way.
34:06Here on the best land, sweet potatoes have been planted on the crest of ridges which
34:12form a grid and collect rainfall. The method called tide ridging also prevents the loss
34:18of topsoil and eliminates the need to enrich the less fertile subsoil with chemical fertilizers.
34:24The advantage of tide ridge is when we have rain, there will not be any runoff and the
34:32water stays here as it infiltrates down to the ground. And also, there will not be any
34:38runoff from this area. So both, it holds water. Secondly, the runoff will be reduced and surface
34:45soil will not be lost.
34:47It is very important because fertilizer is expensive. It requires foreign exchange. And
34:55because of that reason, we are looking for alternatives of fertilizer application so
35:01that the small farmers can be getting a yield increase per hectare basis without having
35:09a lot of money put in and also without the addition of fertilizer.
35:16These eucalyptus trees planted on tide ridging are only five years old and they were grown
35:21on marginal land. Deliberately setting aside acreage for a plantation like this is a critical
35:29step towards ecological stability for the peasant association.
35:36Thanks to these methods, the farmer's income here is now six times higher than it was five
35:41years ago. But this association at Lagambo is not typical. The government has yet to
35:49use the system it has created to its full advantage.
35:54The lion's share of government investment in agriculture goes to large state farms like
35:59this cotton farm at Arba Minch. They receive almost all of the chemical fertilizer the
36:04government can afford to import. While cash crops like cotton help Ethiopia's balance
36:10of trade, they don't help the country's long-term food problem because they take land and resources
36:15away from the peasant farmers who must grow 90% of the country's food.
36:22Compounding the problem is an inequitable market system. In Addis Ababa, some grain
36:27is sold at a free market price. But the government, to ensure its own survival, needs to keep
36:33the population of the cities happy by keeping food plentiful and prices low.
36:39So the peasant farmers are forced to sell much of their harvest to the government at
36:43well below market value to feed the army, the civil servants, and the towns.
36:50With such poor returns on their harvest, the farmers have little incentive to produce more,
36:54even if they could.
37:00A favorite grain called teff is now almost unobtainable.
37:05Here in Addis it may cost as much as 250 birr for a quintal, for 100 kilograms of teff,
37:13whereas the market price that the government pays to buy it is 50. Now that's an extraordinary
37:20difference. The Ethiopian farmer doesn't know if he can get an adequate price that will
37:26give him an incentive to increase production, so that without a radical change in government's
37:32sales policy, in government buying policy, in government marketing policy, it's very,
37:37very difficult to see how the Ethiopian farmer is going to make a drastic increase in his
37:43production, which is called for by the increase in population that is foreseen over the next
37:4910, 20 years.
37:53So the future remains uncertain for Ayeletch and her family. Hunger is still widespread
37:59in Ethiopia, but steps are finally being taken to reclaim the soil, and with the right kind
38:04of help from the government, Ethiopia might have a chance to recover from its devastation.
38:12Farmers everywhere must find a way to maintain their fragile relationship with the land or
38:17suffer the consequences of erosion. Although the rate of erosion is difficult to measure,
38:22it is estimated that nearly 23 billion tons of soil are lost each year. Today, half of
38:28all countries are experiencing soil loss at unacceptable levels.
38:34The worst erosion problem in the world is in northern China, on the upper reaches of
38:38the Yellow River. Controlling it is one of the greatest challenges China has ever faced.
38:45Of all the great rivers in the world, the Yellow River carries the most sediment. That's
38:51why it's yellow. The river is also dangerous. It's called China's sorrow because it so often
38:57brought floods and death to the countryside.
39:02In the great flood of 1887, the river spilled out over the whole North China Plain. 3,000
39:08villages were flooded and 7 million people were drowned.
39:15The problem begins on the huge Loess Plateau, about the size of Colorado. It was formed
39:23of fine soil blown here by the wind when the glaciers of the Ice Age retreated.
39:30The plateau was once a level plain covered with forest and grassland. But since man began
39:35to farm it, 2,000 years of catastrophic erosion have turned it into a network of huge gullies.
39:42More than half an inch of soil is lost every year.
39:54For centuries, the villagers have struggled to grow crops on every scrap of land within
39:58reach. In places, they even use ropes because the fields are so steep.
40:03But the harvests are poor, and when the rains come, a family's livelihood can disappear
40:13in one storm.
40:33This video was made in Cooperation with the National Land and Geospatial Institute.
40:39Learn more at https://www.nasa.gov
41:04The soil that washes from the Loess Plateau ends up here in the Yellow River. Every year,
41:111.6 billion tons of sediment are washed away in the summer floods, enough to cover greater
41:17New York knee-deep in mud. As the river slows, some of the sediment settles to the bottom.
41:23This causes the riverbed to rise as much as two and a half inches every year.
41:29The water has risen higher and higher above the land until it flows like a giant and menacing
41:34aqueduct, held back only by dikes that must be raised every few years.
41:40In 1985, the dike at Huayan Co. had to be repaired.
41:44The dikes themselves are built of silk, so brushwood is first tied down to prevent the
42:00river from washing it away.
42:07They are struggling not so much against the river as against the damage that's been done
42:11to the land upstream.
42:22It's been a relentless battle, and one that they have often been in danger of losing.
42:31In the last 2,000 years of China's long history, these dikes have been breached 1,500 times.
42:42The riverbed has risen nearly seven feet in just 40 years, and it now rushes 30 feet above
42:48the surrounding farmland.
42:51Only the dike in the distance protects the farms below.
42:58For 500 miles, the river flows above rich, level farming land, the rice bowl of China.
43:04If it were to flood again, not only would it drown millions, but it would also destroy
43:09much of China's rice crop and bring famine on a massive scale.
43:16The Chinese had always dreamed of taming the Yellow River, and in 1957, with the help of
43:22the Soviet Union, they began to build a huge dam and hydroelectric plant at Shenmen Sha.
43:28But today, the floodwaters pour straight through the sluice gates.
43:32The turbines are silent for five months of the year.
43:35They generate only a fifth of the electricity intended.
43:40The dam was built to control and store the summer floods.
43:44Now the reservoir is half empty.
43:47As soon as it was completed, it began to fill up with mud.
43:50Every year, the storage capacity got smaller.
43:55Now the Chinese have to open the sluice gates in the flood season to allow the river to
43:59scour the mud away.
44:02In a flood emergency, the gates could still be closed, but all this power is wasted,
44:08and the river will remain untamed as long as it carries this enormous burden of silt.
44:31The only cure will be to stop the soil erosion where it begins, back on the Loess Plateau.
44:45These peasant farmers are building a different kind of dam.
44:49This one is deliberately designed to trap silt.
44:52For nearly 40 years, Czech dams have been built in the gullies of the plateau.
44:57It took only three weeks to build this dam, 20 feet high,
45:01using technology no more complex than shovels and wheelbarrows.
45:21The dam turns the process of erosion to the farmer's advantage.
45:42The silt washed off the hillsides is captured behind the dam as the water drains off through a pipe.
45:47The soil, which would have been lost down the river,
45:50then becomes valuable level land where nothing could grow before.
45:56After just one season, the farmers are rewarded for their hard work,
46:00and the new land is divided among them.
46:03Czech dams are a good long-term strategy for reducing erosion,
46:07and because farmers can gain new land, there is an incentive to continue building them.
46:12But such simple techniques will not be enough.
46:15Here, as in Ethiopia, soil loss has been the consequence of poor farming practices,
46:20which in turn grew out of political decisions.
46:28Erosion got worse under Mao because of his obsession with making the Chinese self-sufficient in grain.
46:34It was prohibited to plant trees or grass.
46:37Forests were cleared, and even the steepest slopes were sown with grain.
46:41Yet food production actually declined because erosion became so bad.
46:48Things have changed dramatically since Mao's death.
46:51Apple trees now protect the terraces and bring a valuable cash crop.
46:55They are tangible results of the government's new policy of giving the farmers incentives to diversify their farming.
47:02Between 1959 and 1961, 16 million Chinese starved to death.
47:08Even now, China must support a fifth of the world's population on only a fifteenth of the world's arable land.
47:15This is one of the poorest areas of China, and there is a desperate need to improve the standard of living.
47:24The Loess Plateau has very little rainfall and a harsh climate.
47:27In winter, the temperatures fall well below freezing.
47:30The people carve their houses into the Loess soil like tunnels and face them with stone.
47:37But here at Chiajiagou, one fundamental change in the Chinese government's policy
47:42has brought a sudden increase in food supplies and prosperity.
47:50Like all Chinese farmers, Gao Zhengling founded the Chinese Farmers' Union.
47:54Like all Chinese farmers, Gao Zhengling formerly had to work for a production brigade.
48:00The work was communal, and the produce shared.
48:03But the system was abolished in 1979.
48:06Now, Gao Zhengling has allocated his own quota of land to farm for 15 years.
48:12He'll have to give only a small amount of this year's sorghum crop to the local government.
48:18The rest he can keep or sell.
48:25The advantage of the new system is that each family has the freedom to use the land in the way that they think best.
48:32They now grow a variety of crops, and many also choose to keep animals.
48:47The local market at the little country town of Mize now takes place every five days.
48:52Open trading was illegal under Mao.
48:55Now it is encouraged.
48:57As crop yields have increased, many people can earn a living by trading,
49:01and the pressure on the land is eased.
49:04It is no longer the only source of income.
49:07Now the only fuel sold is coal.
49:10It is plentiful in the area,
49:12but before it was not mined because nobody could afford to buy it.
49:18Sheep are being introduced, and a trade in wool is beginning.
49:22But most farmers don't want to trade in wool.
49:25They want to trade in sheep.
49:27They want to trade in sheep.
49:29They want to trade in sheep.
49:31They want to trade in sheep.
49:32Sheep are being introduced, and a trade in wool is beginning.
49:35But most farmers prefer to buy cattle.
49:38They know that as well as providing milk and meat, the dung will improve the land.
49:46Like Chin Bahadur in Nepal, Gao feeds his cow on chopped maize stalks.
49:51He no longer has to burn them for fuel.
49:54His new calf gets a more nutritious feed of vegetable peelings, bran, and even maize.
50:00This would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
50:08Gao's tunnel house has windows made of paper.
50:11Glass is too expensive.
50:13But thanks to this new diversity of crops,
50:16his wife, Ai Shilian, continues to feed the cattle.
50:19But thanks to this new diversity of crops,
50:22his wife, Ai Shilian, can cook more varied meals, improving her family's nutrition.
50:31Here, the key to unwinding the downward spiral of poverty leading to land degradation
50:37was in allowing a market system to develop.
50:39Now the farmers get better prices for their crops.
50:43Already they have more food.
50:45The family's granary is still full from last year.
50:47And instead of stripping the forest, they can afford to buy coal to burn.
51:06Take my family.
51:08Our standard of living is much better than before, far better than before.
51:13Now we can get enough food to eat.
51:15And extra food besides that we can sell.
51:19The economy of our village has diversified in many ways.
51:24So our standard of living is improving.
51:27For example, they let us rear animals, cows or sheep, which gives us money to spend.
51:35Besides that, some of us can grow crops with scientific advice.
51:40Then we can turn the grain into food, like noodles.
51:43To make more spending money.
51:46Now, crops from our land will grow enough food for more than two years.
51:53Our lives depend on this.
51:56Now the villagers are beginning to terrace the land.
52:00Before nobody built terraces.
52:03So now our standard of living is getting better and better, day by day.
52:08Not all the villages are as well off as Chia-Jia-Go.
52:12But everywhere in the region, stonemasons are at work building new houses for the farmers.
52:19It's a clear sign that the village is getting better and better, day by day.
52:38It's a sign of increasing prosperity.
53:08A new harmony is being achieved between what a family consumes and what their land can provide.
53:14If this can be sustained, the standard of living will continue to rise.
53:18And for the first time, erosion in this part of China may come under control.
53:31But China still has a huge problem in that there are so many young people who have not yet had children.
53:36And the increasing population will have to be fed.
53:40Despite a strict birth control policy set by the government, the Gao family has five children.
53:46Not uncommon in the countryside where they are needed to help on the farm.
53:51Arable land is in short supply.
53:54So as long as the population expands, crop yields will have to go on increasing.
53:59The balance could easily topple in favor of erosion once again.
54:07Still, China's recent success in the face of population pressure and land scarcity
54:13is a compelling message for the rest of the world.
54:19The welfare of the land is directly tied to the welfare of those who work it.
54:27To relieve pressure on the land and make it more productive, the cycle of poverty must be broken.
54:37But this can happen only if government policies encourage sound farming and economic practices.
54:47When farmers can look beyond their immediate survival, they will become the best guardians of the land.
54:54And there may even be food to spare.
55:06This is the story of a farmer.
55:09A farmer.
55:11A farmer.
55:13A farmer.
55:15A farmer.
55:17A farmer.
55:19A farmer.
55:21A farmer.
55:23A farmer.
55:25A farmer.
55:27A farmer.
55:29A farmer.
55:31A farmer.
55:33A farmer.
55:34A farmer.
55:36A farmer.
55:38A farmer.
55:40A farmer.
55:42A farmer.
55:44A farmer.
55:46A farmer.
55:48A farmer.
55:50A farmer.
55:52A farmer.
55:54A farmer.
55:56A farmer.
55:58A farmer.
56:00For a transcript of this program, send $4 to NOVA, Box 322, Boston, Massachusetts, 02134.
56:07Please be sure to include the show title.
56:10To purchase film or video copies of this program for educational use, call toll-free 1-800-621-2131.
56:18In Illinois or Alaska, call Collect, 312-940-1260.
56:24Major funding for NOVA is provided by this station and other public television stations nationwide.
56:31And by Allied Signal, a technology leader in aerospace, electronics, automotive products, and engineered materials.
56:43And the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, supplying health care products worldwide.