For the sake of the Good Earth

The Tribune , Thursday, February 05, 2015
Correspondent : Rita Sharma
In India, mounting demographic pressures are leading to soil degradation. About 17 per cent of the global human and 11 per cent of livestock population is being sustained on a mere 2 per cent of the world's land and 4 per cent of its freshwater resources.

The year 2015 has been designated as the International Year of the Soils by the United Nations. Recently, December 5 was commemorated as World Soil Day to acknowledge the wondrous nature of the earth's life-sustaining topmost layer.

Diminishing soil health is a matter of concern. Across the world, soils are being eroded and degraded at unprecedented rates. No longer can this precious resource be ignored and relegated to the backburner as only a farmers' issue. In cities and towns soil is treated as something to be concealed and buried, paved over and asphalted. Sadly, the word soil in English has negative connotations, such as soiled, dirty, muddy, muddled, earthy, etc. This mindset needs to change.

Soils form the basis for food and livestock systems, fuel, fodder and fibre production. They help clean up our water resources and capture atmospheric carbon dioxide, while providing other ecosystem services. By 2030, when the world population will be about 8.3 billion and India's 1.5 billion, FAO estimates that farmers will have to produce about 30 per cent more grain than today. This will be an uphill task as soil fertility in several regions is dwindling due to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Soil health threatened

In India mounting demographic pressures are leading to soil degradation. This threatens food, livelihoods and environmental security. The problem is compounded because of diversion of prime agricultural land into urban and industrial uses. Soil “sealing” from the asphalt and concrete of suburban sprawl destroys soil life, as does heavy machinery and pollution. It is estimated that 121 million hectares in India (36 per cent of total geographical area) is suffering from some form of land degradation. Unsustainable farming techniques, deforestation, changes in weather patterns, wind and water erosion is stripping topsoil at a rate upto 30 times faster than its creation. Deficiencies of major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and micro-nutrients (zinc, copper, iron, manganese, boron) in our soils have risen.

Many agriculture practices adversely affect soil quality through erosion, compaction, acidification and salinisation, and reduce biological activity as a result of pesticide and herbicide applications, excessive use of chemical fertilisers, and loss of organic matter. Slash-and-burn, and crop-residue burning practices release carbon in the form of carbon dioxide, exacerbating climate change. Indian soils have some of the lowest levels of Soil Organic Matter (SOM) in Asia. Whereas 3 to 6 per cent is a normal range, 70 per cent of soils in this country have less than 1 per cent. Soils are healthy and alive when they contain an adequate amount of SOM such as living, dead and decomposing plant material, and soil life like earthworms, insects, ants, termites, fungi, nematodes and microscopic organisms. Soils contain almost one-third of all living organisms and constitute a unique ecosystem in themselves. They are the foundation of biodiversity, both above and below the ground.

Corrective steps

Sustainable agricultural practices include zero/ minimum tillage to reduce soil erosion, alternate wetting and drying in rice production, diversified rotations (including varieties of leguminous crops and species with different temperature requirements), improved nutrient and water use efficiency, breeding seeds with resistance to pests and disease, and greater resilience to droughts and floods.

Agroforestry, i.e, planting suitable tree species on field boundaries or inter-cropping trees with crops, enables greater complementarity of tree-and-plant architecture, which improves nutrient recycling, carbon sequestration and compost formation. Systems of Rice Intensification (SRI) improves plant performance due to a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms in, on and around the plants. The larger and healthier root systems in SRI are better able to draw nutrients from the soil.

Central and state governments have initiated several measures for soil health. The Integrated Watershed Management Programme supported by the Neeranchal Watershed Programme has as its central activity location specific bio-engineering measures for controlling soil erosion, and enhancing water conservation and vegetative cover. The MG National Rural Employment Generation Scheme has a significant component for soil conservation works. The Integrated Nutrient Management Programme relies on conjunctive use of both inorganic and organic sources of plant nutrients like farmyard manure, compost, bio-fertilisers and green manuring. The National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility lays emphasis on soil-test based fertiliser application.

The network of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) has been expanding since the mid-1950s, but they are inadequate for 120 million landholdings. Presently, 1058 STLs (898 static and 160 mobile) are in place with an annual analysing capacity of a mere 10 million samples. Their ground- level impact on facilitating balanced nutrient application has been far from satisfactory. The low demand for soil testing is confined to macronutrients.

Landcare movement

If soil degradation is to be stemmed and eventually reversed, the approach to soil health improvement cannot be piecemeal. Presently, the programmes impacting soil health are located in at least 10 different departments, with scarcely any coordinating mechanism for a holistic approach. For abiding solutions, a nationwide landcare movement should be started in 2015. The Union Finance Minister in his maiden budget had announced a scheme to provide to every farmer a soil health card in a mission mode. Rs 100 core has been earmarked for this purpose, with an additional Rs 56 crore for 100 mobile STLs. The commitment to soil health has to be part of a landcare movement.

Central to this movement would be the involvement of the local communities with knowledge garnered from traditional know-how to cutting-edge science. Apart from government programmes, effective synergies will need to be forged with farmer collectives, network of landcarers, panchayats, rural youth, agri-entrepreneurs, the corporate sector and NGOs. Government should be the enabler, setting up social, political and economic institutions, real and virtual, that can envision the future and take a holistic view of landcare and soil health.

Agriculture doesn't have to degrade soils. Food production can enrich the Earth, restore nutrients, conserve water, and prevent further erosion. Our food supply begins in the good earth beneath our feet.

— The writer is former Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development & former Land Resources

Commisssioner Ministry of Agriculture

 
SOURCE : http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/for-the-sake-of-the-good-earth/37893.html
 


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