Abstract:
Today, in Ukraine, the territories for commercial use occupy 92 % of the entire area of the country. The plowed area of agricultural land is more than 54 %, despite the fact that in the developed countries of Europe this indicator does not exceed 35 %. The current afforestation of the country's territory is 16 %, which is insufficient to ensure ecological balance (for example, a similar indicator in European countries is 25-30 %).
The highest plowed lands are located in the Southern and Central parts of Ukraine – about 90 %. The problem of plowing is aggravated by the irrational use of agricultural lands, and, as a result, by the insufficient recovery of soil fertility, which in its turn leads to a yearly decrease in humus content. For example, in virgin black soils in the fertile layer there is on average 10 % of humus, and in plowed black soils of Ukraine this indicator is 3.7-4 % on average. In addition, such unjustified intensive use of soils actually leads to significant emissions of CO2 into the air, which in some cases is greater than emissions from industry. According to some scientists, the consequences of such land use lead to the displacement of soil zones, which means the rapid expansion of the Steppe.
One of today’s catastrophic problems is the use of an unlimited amount of pesticides, using which agricultural producers treat the soil to obtain high yields. And due to its unique feature – high buffering capacity, Ukrainian soils absorb significant amounts of these chemicals, which lead to their presence in the soil for hundreds of years. The problem of high levels of heavy metals in soils also remains a priority at the moment. It is most relevant in the territories adjacent to industrial cities, on the fields located along the roads, as well as in zones of ecological disasters. At the moment, there are no properly formed statistics and records of poisonings caused by chemical means of plant protection in Ukraine. The majority of pesticides enter the human body through food, and the situation is worsened by the fact that in Ukraine it is sometimes allowed to use such pesticides that have been long prohibited for use in Europe.
