This article is not about numbers, and not about mathematics. This article is about our land with you, about our soil, which gives us food. In fact, this article is about how to make sure we have food in the future.

It so happened for centuries that people, in order to grow something on the ground, got used to plowing it. And this is not done because it is more convenient for the plants or the soil on which they grow. This is done for the simple reason that it is more convenient for people - by plowing the land, people save time and make it easier for themselves to plant seeds. Our ancestors came to this a long time ago - they made this process easier and faster in order to grow more crops for food.

But here's the dilemma - there used to be a lot fewer people, and a lot more space available where this could be done. Now, the number of people has grown to heavenly levels and continues to grow. Naturally, more people need more food, which means more area to grow food. And people went according to the simplest option - to expand agricultural areas in any possible way. For this, people began to change natural landscapes, cut down forests in order to clear areas for agricultural production.

Everything would be fine, but the number of people does not stop growing, but the Earth does not increase in size. There are fewer and fewer available areas and good land.

Fig.1. The number of the world's population over the past four millennia, presented in a logarithmic scale [1]

And now humanity has come to understand that it is necessary to think not how to get more land, but how to use the existing land in the most rational way. Until now, people have thought only about convenience, about how to save time and effort for the production of products. Now the moment has come when the main question becomes "how to get the required amount of products in general in conditions of a limited amount of soil and water resources?" Land is capital, natural capital for food production. And here the most important factor becomes the aspect of how effective our capital is. And everyone seems to understand - the healthier the soil, the more fertile it is, the more it will yield.

And now a new trend has appeared, a good trend - how to make the soil remain fertile for as long as possible and give a consistently high yield. Of course, they began to study the reasons why the land, which was intensively exploited for many years, eventually becomes "empty". This work began in the 19th century.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that it is necessary not to change the natural ecological processes in the soil, but to try to "copy" them, to repeat them. All the operations that a person has done and continues to do now for the production and cultivation of crops - plowing, over-irrigation, compaction with machinery, etc. - are all extremely harmful to the soil. The question arose about an alternative.

Fortunately, human thought has advanced very much, and a way has been found not to disturb the earth, and to grow crops without touching the earth, or touching it the very minimum number of times. This solution was the technology of "zero" sowing.

What is this technology? A special seeder cuts the soil like a knife, making a thin incision into which the seed is lowered. Everything. You don't need to do anything else. There is no need to plow, harrow, carry out numerous treatments in the aisle of the planted crops. You just need to plant a crop and harvest.

Fig.2. This is how an incision is made by a seeder, and seeds are introduced into this incision. Notice that there is a dense layer of plant residues on the surface that does not interfere with the process.

Fig. 3. This is how the sowing process takes place using this technology

This technology has a lot of pluses, and, which is important, pluses, both ecological and economic. Here are just a few of them:

• the number of tillage operations is reduced, which means less equipment is used, less fuel is required, and less labor costs. Cost savings range from 40 to 90% for different crops, which naturally makes the products cheaper and therefore more competitive in the market.
• Each farmer gains a lot of time due to the refusal of numerous land cultivations. This time is added for the growth of crops. This means more chances that crops will ripen. Means more opportunities for growing secondary crops. Again economic benefit
• Plant residues that remain on the field “cover” the soil as if with a “blanket”. So the soil is always protected from the wind, from the scorching sun, which dries up the soil, removes all moisture and changes its structure. With the help of such a blanket, we save huge losses of the fertile soil layer from wind and water erosion.
• Plant residues on the surface save a huge amount of water - moisture does not evaporate and remains in the soil, which is very important in our hot climate. On 1 hectare, in the presence of plant residues on the surface, up to 2000 m3 is saved.
• The absence of evaporation prevents secondary soil salinization, thereby preserving fertility.
• Plant residues rot and fall into the soil. This is a natural organic matter that becomes a material for the formation of humus in the soil. So we saturate the soil with humus, making it more fertile.
• More comfortable temperature conditions and more moisture create comfortable conditions for the existence and work of soil microorganisms, which, in fact, do all the work to create soil fertility.
• And many many others.
• И вот тут происходит сдвиг парадигмы. Вроде бы, вот сколько преимуществ у этой технологии, сколько выгод, а технология не идёт у нас в стране. Эту работу у нас ведут Организация ООН по продовольствию и сельскому хозяйству (ФАО) и Программа Малых Грантов Глобального Экологического Фонда (ПМГ ГЭФ). Фермеры, которые привыкли на протяжении столетий пахать землю, просто не могут никак принять тот факт, что этого делать не нужно. Для них это очень тяжело чисто психологически. И не только для фермеров – для учёных тоже, может быть для них даже сильнее. Потому что учёный всю свою жизнь защищал постулат, что пахать нужно, а тут от этого постулата нужно отказаться. Конечно, такие учёные и такие фермеры, которые привыкли не меняться, не могут выйти из зоны комфорта, становятся первыми оппонентами нововведения.

And you need to change. This is stated in all information messages from the country's leadership. The President says that our agriculture needs structural changes, we need new technologies, we need to look differently at the conservation and sustainable use of our people's natural resources - our soil and water. So, changes await our agricultural sector. But it's better to change sooner rather than later.

How to do it? FAO and the GEF SGP are actively working in this direction. Several joint projects are currently being carried out with farmers in Karakalpakstan and the Fergana region. Projects are starting in Jizzakh, Tashkent and Syrdarya regions. A project is on the way in Bukhara and Andijan regions.

And here's another good news. How to make the farmer more comfortable and understandable in the process of mastering the new technology? We need to look at another farmer who has already walked this path. It's easier and calmer that way.

For these purposes, FAO and the GEF SGP are organizing a series of master classes at which a farmer from Ukraine, who has been using this technology for more than 10 years, will tell our farmers about all its intricacies.

Simply, as they say “on the fingers”, Mikhail Draganchuk will tell his colleagues, farmers of Uzbekistan about all the nuances of this technology: how to sow, what crops, how to deal with weeds, how to manage plant residues and much more.

The organizers invite all interested farmers to take part in this training master class. This knowledge is invaluable. And our farmers get them for free.

On December 8, farmers of the Fergana Valley will be able to take part in a master class, which will be held in Namangan, in the building of the Namangan Engineering and Technological Institute (Namangan, Kasansay street 7)
On December 9, a master class will be held for farmers of Karakalpakstan and the Khorezm region in the city of Nukus, in the building of the Nuku State University.
On December 11, a master class will be held for farmers in Samarkand, Jizzakh, Kashkadarya and other related regions in Samarkand, at the Samarkand Agricultural Institute.
December 13, for farmers of Tashkent and Syrdarya regions, a master class will be held in Tashkent, at the Agrarian University

For details, call the organizers +998 71 120 34 62, 120 34 50 (additional # 205)

DOWNLOAD MASTER CLASS PROGRAM

[1] McEvedy, C., and R.Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Facts on File, New York, Пётр Турчин, 2009, Долгосрочные колебания численности населения в исторических обществах

[2] Постановление Президента РУз #ПП-3170 от 03.08.2017