ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION IN AGROECOSYSTEMS OF UKRAINE

A.N. Golovko, G.A. Bogdanov, P.I. Kovalenko, B.S. Prister, V.V. Medvedev - Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Abstract

The authors emphasize in the report that ecologization of agricultural production is the only acceptable strategy of its development now as well as in the long-range outlook. The reason is that environmental problems, as a consequence of both man's impact and strengthening technogenesis, are increasingly turning into a limiting factor for the economic development. At the same time, the agrosphere is the least protected and most fragile, particularly in a case of man-caused accidents and disasters.

Since the soil cover plays a key role in the processes of transforming man-caused pollution, national soil protection aspects are considered here along with issues of minimization of the radiation technogenesis' consequences on the example of the Chernobyl disaster, which is named both communal and agricultural.

Ukraine occupies an area of over 600,000.km2 (60 Ml hectare), which is located in several natural climatic zones (Forest, Forest-Steppe, Steppe, mountain zones of the the Carpathians and Crimea). Ukraine's land resources total over 37 Ml hectare of agricultural lands, including over 30 Ml hectare of cropland. A significant part of the world's black soils is concentrated here. Agrochemical assays evidence that fertile soils prevail in the land resources pattern.

The amounts of applied mineral fertilizers and pesticides have greatly decreased in the country over the recent years; there formed zones of ecologically clean agricultural production. At the same time, the overall system of environmental safety management is still unstable. Therefore an optimum type of soil use has been forming in Ukraine over the recent years. This type implies prevailing of the adaptive approach, which exploits the territory's potential as much as possible with moderate introduction of technical, chemical, or land-reclamation practices. In general, the potential of Ukrainian soils is very strong and, provided the farming requirements are properly observed, the yields of key crops can be as high as in developed countries of Europe.

With the purpose of practical realization of this potential, researchers of the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences have developed a National Program of Soil Fertility Protection and a technique of its monitoring, as well as a concept model of biological farming.

The reports present proposals of the Ukrainian party regarding the concept of all-European cooperation in ecological management of soil resources, which may result, in particular, in the creation of a map "Soils of Europe" with a reference book thereto and a network for monitoring the soil cover conditions.

The report briefly considers environmental, medical and social-economic aspects of the Chernobyl disaster and comprehensively assesses its consequences.

The paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical studies of physical and chemical properties of fall-outs, biological accessibility of radionuclids in different soils types, their accumulation in crop produce and grassland vegetation, assessment of counter-measures ensuring decreased radioactive pollution of crop and animal produce.

The lessons of Chernobyl must become a guarantee of future radiation safety of the population for the avoidance of mistakes and miscalculations when searching ways for minimizing emergency consequences.