Conserve soil

Dr Monika Koul
“It is impossible to have a healthy and sound society without a proper respect for the soil.”
Peter Maurin
December 5  is observed as the World Soil Day to acknowledge the importance of soil as a critical component of the nature and as a vital contributor to human well-being all across the globe. Life is gestated in soil, a miraculous womb on earth.  It contains nutrients to transform seeds into plants, the new life forms.  Celebration of World Soil Day (WSD) was initiated in 2002 by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) after lots of discussions and deliberations. But the question is why dedicate a day to SOIL? The reason is that we have undermined the importance of soils as support systems of all biological diversity on this earth. Soil without any doubt is the most significant part of the ecosystems, contributing to our food and water without which the life would just not be possible on this planet. In fact, soils are interesting ecological systems that carry out ecological functions such as flow of energy and nutrients. These ecosystems have unique structures that are contributed by its various components. Mineral matter, organic matter, air, water and the biota present in soil attribute various properties to this system. Each component of the soil plays an important functional role and the ratio of these also is responsible for the typification and classification of soils. Besides these, climate of the place, the topography of the region and the land use pattern also affect many functional properties of the soil. It has been clearly demonstrated that soil also plays an important role in reducing the negative impact of climate change and maintenance of biogeochemical cycles.
However, the assessment of status of soils from various biogeographic zones of India depict that soil health is deteriorating fast. In fact, soil is considered to be the most abused and over-exploited natural resource. But the signs of overuse and misuse cannot be seen and understood by visually. For that deeper understanding of soil structure, soil properties and its composition is required. Since soil is the substratum for growth of crops and vegetation, fertilizers and other amendments are most often done to improve the productivity of crop plants. Besides, there is lot of subsidy allotted to Urea and farmers can procure it at very low cost. So, they just use it randomly. However,excessive use of nutrients can cause adverse effects on plant growth, increase the potential for environmental contamination due to leaching and loss of resources.In particular, above optimum nitrogen and phosphorus levels in chemical fetilizers can lead to excessive plant and algal growth in waterways that can degrade drinking water, fisheries, and recreational areas.  High potassium can lead to an imbalance of base saturation levels as well as high soluble salts. In addition, high organic matter levels can cause poor drainage.
National governments are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of their soil resources and are shaping strategies accordingly. Implicit in any such strategy is that degradation threats and their potential effect on important soil properties and functions are defined and understood. Lot of work is being undertaken in university departments, colleges and research institutes to understand the underlying ecological principals and develop strategies to combat the problems. Last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued Soil Health Cards to farmers to help them use fertilizers in a scientific way and make soils sustainable ecosystems. A SHC is meant to give each farmer soil nutrient status of his holding and advise him on the dosage of fertilizers and also the needed soil amendments that he should apply to maintain soil health in the long run. This will go a long way in remediating the soils and make them resilient. It is our foremost duty to conserve the precious natural resource and lead campaigns to raise awareness. For this outreach programmes for farmers and orchard owners is a must.
Therefore, December 5 is a day to reach out to masses, hold workshops on soil quality parameters and spread awareness that soil health reflects plant health and productivity. Let us all join this year’scampaign that will take off in FAO headquarters in Rome, FAO regional offices and through national and local eventsconnect to people and raise awareness on their critical resource. Let us do whatever we can to take care of the womb, the bearer and nurturer of all plants and important biological resources.
(The author teaches at Hansraj College, University of Delhi)
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