What is the issue?
- The pressures of constantly increasing agricultural production have in turn resulted in a persistent decline in soil fertility.
- This could possibly be a major challenge that Indian agriculture is currently facing.
What are the concerns with soil health?
- Soil degradation and loss of fertility is affecting the productive capacity of the soil.
- The current status of nutrient-use efficiency remains quite low for most nutrients.
- The demand for food grain is expected to increase, but with the current soil health status, meeting the targets would be a huge challenge.
What are the causes?
- Inappropriate agricultural practices include,
- Overuse of chemical fertilisers and pesticides on soil.
- Excessive tillage.
- Moving away from age-old organic soil revival practices.
- Unscientific rotation of crops.
- Poor irrigation and water management practices.
- Factors such as deforestation, ill management of industrial wastes, overgrazing by cattle, and urban expansion, are also the notable causes.
- Organic matter plays a key role in maintaining soil fertility by holding nutrients to the soil. Decline in soil organic matter causes limited soil life and poor soil structure.
- Soil organic carbon plays a key role in maintaining soil fertility, increasing water-holding capacity and even suppressing crop diseases. Inappropriate practices are resulting in low Soil Organic Carbon.
- Deterioration in chemical, physical and biological health of the soils are to blame for low nutrient use efficiency.
- Natural factors such as floods, volcanoes and earthquakes also contribute to shortfalls in soil health.
What is to be done?
- Farmers and policymakers are largely responsible for ensuring safe agricultural methods.
- However, the agrochemical industry too must react by investing and producing organic biological products that help rejuvenate soil health.
- Making agriculture more sustainable by having a right balance between use of agrochemicals and age-old practices of soil regeneration.
- It is the need of the hour to educate farmers on sustainable practices.
Source: BusinessLine
