Let’s Care and Maintain Our Soil Health

Let’s Care and Maintain Our Soil Health

Hemchandra Saikia

(The writer is a Subject Matter Specialist (Agricultural Economics) & PhD Scholar Assam Agricultural University, Assam. He can be reached at saikia.hemchandra@rediffmail.com)

(World Soil Health Day)

PART-I

Soil is the most essential and vital natural resource in the world which provides a natural dwelling place for many living beings, promotes biodiversity, supports the growth of flora and fauna and these plants in-turn produce food, clothing, furniture, medicine etc which are part and parcel for varied sides of growth and development of human race. We get food from soil by cultivating crops or by harvesting from forest or vegetation. Around 95% of our food is directly or indirectly produced on our soils. It also supports foundations of buildings, roads and communication infrastructures.

Besides, soil gives us some important mineral medicines and other substance like petroleum jelly, steatite for cosmetics, talcum powders etc. Bacteria and microbes present in soil help in environmental balance like retaining of moisture, decay of dead bodies of animals, plants etc., scavenging of waste and other toxic chemicals including plastic. Soil contains essential minerals and elements like phosphates, sulphates, calcium, zinc, magnesium and many others which are very essential for the growth and development of crop plants capable of yielding sufficient food production and thereby help to tackle the menace of food crisis in the world. It also keeps weather temperature cool by way of absorbing water when there it rains. Soil contents like gravel, clay, sand, etc. are widely used for construction of homes, buildings, roads etc.

In fact, it is not possible to imagine a life without soil. There cannot be food, shelter, growth and development and peace without the sustainable use, care and maintenance of soil in this world. But with the passage of time the very health of soil is getting degraded, deteriorated or damaged due to the injudicious activities of human beings in the name of development. The increasing rate of human population in the entire world is aggravating this process of soil degradation at a very alarming manner.

The great proverb “Health is wealth” has great significance not only in human life but can also be applied to the very health of soil. This is because only healthy soil can breed and maintain healthy food, healthy environment, healthy human being, healthy and sustainable development in our great world with sufficient quality and quantity.

Importance of stopping soil pollution

From last several decades, the very health of soil is getting degraded dangerously in the world creating a great challenge and threat to the sustainable existence of mankind. Soil degradation has been defined as a process that leads to decline in the fertility or future productive capacity of soil as a result of human activity (United Nations Environment Programme, 1993).It occurs whenever the natural balances in the landscape are changed by human activity through misuse or overuse of soil. Factors like deforestation, extensive cultivation on marginal land, improper cultivation practices like mono-cropping, poor manuring, misuse of fertilizers or excess use of fertilizers, excessive irrigation, over-grazing, and fragility of soil, adverse weather and mining are mainly responsible for soil degradation. Due to this the fertility of soil is decreasing year after year leading to poor crop production and crop failure which is a great threat to our food security aspect. Continued use of high yielding crop varieties, mono-cropping, intensive cropping pattern, injudicious and imbalanced use of fertilizers and irrigation water have aggravated the health of soil very badly making our healthy soil unfit for sustainable food production due to the occurrence of salinisat ion, alkalinisation and also due to the loss of the good physical properties of soil. Of the world’s total land area of 13.5 billion hectares, only 3.03 billion hectares (22 per cent) is actually cultivable and about 2 billion hectares is degraded. In India alone, about 188 million hectares or almost 57% of total land area is degraded (Sehgel and Abrol, 1994). Indian Council of Agricultural Research (2010) reported that in India, out of the total geographical area of 328.73 mha, about 120.40 mha is affected by various types of land degradation.

Again it is reported that 1/3 of our global soils are already degraded. Yet we risk losing more due to this hidden danger. Soil pollution can be invisible and seems far away but everyone everywhere is affected. With a growing population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, soil pollution is a worldwide problem which degrades our soils, poisons the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. The entity of the problem is still unknown as not certain data are available on a global scale.

Several agriculturally developed states of India is now facing the great problem of soil degradation due to the very heavy and injudicious use of irrigation water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides in their enhanced way of crop production. In fact, in the present day context soil degradation and soil health is becoming a global phenomenon affecting the food security of mankind and sustainability of environment where we live. If we allow this soil degradation to continue for several decades in high magnitude, then our very existence, growth, development and peace with sustainability will in great threat and dangerous. That is why the 32nd President of United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt rightly said “A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” Keeping in view the growing importance of sustainable soil health and the menace of degradatio, the very concept of caring and maintenance of soil health is receiving great emphasis in the entire world. As a result, the concept of celebration of World Soil Health Day was realized in the 2002. Actually, an international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002. Under the leadership of the Kingdom of Thailand and within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership, FAO has supported the formal establishment of World Soil Day (WSD) as a global awareness raising platform. The FAO Conference unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th UN General Assembly. In December 2013, the UN General Assembly responded by designating December 5, 2014 as the first official World Soil Day. The date was chosen because it corresponds with the official birthday of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the ninth King of Thailand, who officially sanctioned the event. Thus, the World Soil Day is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources.

The former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that without healthy soils, “life on Earth would be unsustainable.” Healthy soil—along with water, air and sunlight—is essential to the ecosystem and to our survival. Thus there is a strong ground or real relevancy of celebrating World Soil Health Day on a particular day of a year by every country or state in the world. But this celebration must be able to yield a very fruitful and sustainable positive result in the very health of our earth soil. (To be concluded)

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