In News
- Recently, ‘World Soil Day’ was celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of healthy soils and soil fertility.
More about the news
- About:
- World Soil Day (WSD) is celebrated annually on December 5th.
- WSD 2022 had a guiding theme, ‘Soils: Where food begins’.
- Significance of the day:
- It is a means to raise awareness on the importance of maintaining healthy soils, ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, encouraging societies to improve soil health, and advocating the sustainable management of soil.
Significance of healthy soil:
- Nutrition & Survival:
- Healthy soils are essential for our survival. They support healthy plant growth to enhance both our nutrition and water percolation to maintain groundwater levels.
- Regulating climate:
- Soils help to regulate the planet’s climate by storing carbon and are the second largest carbon sink after the oceans.
- They help maintain a landscape that is more resilient to the impacts of droughts and floods.
- Food production:
- As soil is the basis of food systems, it is no surprise that soil health is critical for healthy food production.
Degradation and its consequences
- Soil nutrient loss:
- Today, nutrient loss and pollution significantly threaten soils, and thereby undermine nutrition and food security globally.
- The reasons behind soil nutrient loss range from soil erosion, runoff, leaching and the burning of crop residues.
- Soil degradation:
- The main drivers contributing to soil degradation are industrial activities, mining, waste treatment, agriculture, fossil fuel extraction and processing and transport emissions.
- Further, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, and irrigation with contaminated wastewater are also polluting soils.
- Consequences:
- Soil degradation in some form or another affects around 29% of India’s total land area.
- This in turn threatens agricultural productivity, in-situ biodiversity conservation, water quality and the socio-economic well-being of land dependent communities.
- Nearly 3.7 million hectares suffer from nutrient loss in soil (depletion of soil organic matter, or SOM).
- Impacts of soil degradation are far-reaching and can have irreparable consequences on human and ecosystem health.
India’s conservation initiatives
- The Government of India is implementing a five-pronged strategy for soil conservation. This includes
- Making soil chemical-free,
- Saving soil biodiversity,
- Enhancing & Maintaining soil moisture,
- Mitigating soil degradation and
- Preventing soil erosion.
- Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme:
- Need:
- Earlier, farmers lacked information relating to soil type, soil deficiency and soil moisture content.
- About:
- To address these issues, the Government of India launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme in 2015.
- The SHC is used to assess the current status of soil health, and when used over time, to determine changes in soil health.
- Significance:
- The SHC displays soil health indicators and associated descriptive terms, which guide farmers to make necessary soil amendments.
- Need:
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana:
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana aims to
- prevent soil erosion,
- regeneration of natural vegetation,
- rainwater harvesting and
- recharging of the groundwater table.
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana aims to
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA):
- The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has schemes promoting traditional indigenous practices such as organic farming and natural farming, thereby reducing dependency on chemicals and other agri-inputs, and decreasing the monetary burden on smallholder farmers.
- Initiatives by FAO:
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) undertakes multiple activities to support the Government of India’s efforts in soil conservation towards fostering sustainable agrifood systems.
- Rainfed areas:
- The FAO is collaborating with the National Rainfed Area Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) to develop forecasting tools using data analytics that will aid vulnerable farmers in making informed decisions on crop choices, particularly in rainfed areas.
- Supporting Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission’s (DAY-NRLM):
- The FAO, in association with the Ministry of Rural Development, supports the Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission’s (DAY-NRLM) Community Resource Persons to increase their capacities towards supporting on-farm livelihoods for the adoption of sustainable and resilient practices, organic certification and agri-nutri-gardens.
Way ahead:
- Strengthening communication channels:
- There is a need to strengthen communication channels between academia, policymakers and society for the identification, management and restoration of degraded soils, as well as in the adoption of anticipatory measures.
- These will facilitate the dissemination of timely and evidence-based information to all relevant stakeholders.
- Greater cooperation and partnerships:
- Greater cooperation and partnerships are central to ensure the availability of knowledge, sharing of successful practices, and universal access to clean and sustainable technologies, leaving no one behind.
- Individual efforts:
- As consumers and citizens, we can contribute by planting trees to protect topsoil, developing and maintaining home/kitchen gardens, and consuming foods that are mainly locally sourced and seasonal.
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