The United Indian

HOME ENVIRONMENT SOCIAL CAUSE GOVERNMENT SECTOR TECHNOLOGY ECONOMY RECENT EVENTS ABOUT US

ENVIRONMENT

Holding Our Roots Tight With Black Soils

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Image Source

Have often heard mid aged people often complaining about

All About This Treasured the deteriorating quality of fruits & vegetables in todays’s
Resource time? Well, they might be actually right and all thanks to the
deteriorated soil quality that we have in present conditions.
Share Soil is one of the earth's most important natural resources. It’s
a rich and complex ecosystem, accommodating a staggering
    array of biodiversity. Therefore, the significance of soil on life is
vast. Healthy soils are essential for healthy plant growth,
human nutrition, and water filtration. Soil is also an indicator of
Posted Apr 26, 2023 environmental quality, and its health can indicate the overall
health of an ecosystem. They are diverse in terms of their
Category Environment
structure, depth, texture, and fertility ie each type of soil has
Tags its own features and composition. They can be categorized
into sandy soil, silty soil, clay soil, peaty soil, saline soil, and
ENVIRONMENT loam soil.
Each type of soil is useful for particular functions like some are
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT suitable for producing crops, some for construction, and then
pottery and prevention of water runoff, and much more. We
AGRICULTURE SOIL HEALTH would here like to talk about one of the Importance Of Black
Soil, ie one of the most crucial soils in the world, owing to its
SOIL PRESERVATION ability to retain water and its wide variety of fertile layers.

Black Soil : World’s Food Basket

Black Soils are also called as Regur soil. These are rich in
metals such as Iron, Magnesium and Aluminum. This type of
soil is considered to be of high quality and is often used for
PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 agricultural purposes. Lava spread from Volcanic eruption
leads to the formation of black soil from rocks. Black soils are
carbon-rich and highly fertile soils known as the world's food
basket due to the variability of crops they sustain. These are
very fine and dark and have a high proportion of calcium
carbonate and magnesium carbonate and are very clayey. The
soil is exceptionally moisture resistant and very sticky when
wet. For decades, these fertile soils have been widely
cultivated and have played a key role in the global agricultural
production of cotton, cereals, tuber crops, oilseed, pastures,
and forage systems. It is also suitable for growing crops such
as peanuts, wheat, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, spices and jowar.

These black earth belts, which account for only 5.6% of the
world's land area, provide food for not only the 223 million
people who live there but also for millions of others in nations
that import goods made in black soils, significantly
contributing to the growth of the global economy and food
security. This shows the importance Of Black Soil in human
lives. In India, black soil can be found in the irregular triangular
area covering the Deccan, including the plateaus of
Maharashtra, Savlarstra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh, and extends southeastward along the Godavari
and Krishna valleys. While 31 percent of global black soils are
cultivated, great portions remain with their natural land cover
of forests and grasslands.

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Significance of Black Soil
The importance Of Black Soil lies in the fact that these fertile
giants feed billions, store carbon, and quench droughts –
protecting our planet and nurturing our future.
1. These soils are best suited for cotton crops. Rice and
sugarcane are equally important crops grown where irrigation
facilities are available.
2. These directly impact climate change mitigation and
adaptation due to their ability to remove carbon from the
atmosphere and lock it up in soil organic matter.
3. In some cultures, black soil uses are also associated with
health and prosperity.
4. These also promote the preservation of biodiversity through
the best traditional agricultural practices.
5. Black soils have the potential to provide 10% of the total Soil
Organic Carbon (SOC) sequestration globally if they receive
proper attention.
6. Black soils have distinctive soil properties that are key for
providing essential ecosystem services, for example, high soil
organic matter contents and cation exchange capacities,
better soil physical properties.

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Global Status on Black Soils : An Eyeopener by FAO
Unfortunately, this rich treasure is under threat as Black soils
are quickly losing their SOC stocks. Most of them are suffering
from moderate to severe erosion processes along with
nutrient imbalances, acidification and biodiversity loss. Land-
use change, unsustainable management practices and
excessive use of agrochemicals are the major factors that
have led to this situation.

Understanding the importance Of Black Soil in our

ecosystem, The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
marched forward and marked World Soil Day 2022 (5th
December) with the launch of its first Global Status on Black
Soils, which are at greater risk than ever due to the climate
crisis, biodiversity loss and land use change. Global status of
black soils is the first ever report to focus on the topic.
Preserving natural vegetation on black soils such as
grasslands, forests and wetlands and adopting sustainable soil
management approaches on cropped black soils were the two
PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 main goals highlighted by the report. The report also highlights
recommendations for farmers, national governments, research
and academia and the global platform International Network of
Black Soils.

Although black soils account for only 8.2 percent of the Global
Land Area (FAO, 2022a), the importance Of Black Soil can not
be understated in context of food security, as highlighted by
the UN Sustainable Development Goal of global food security.
Thanks to this report, Black soils are a hot topic in agriculture
these days, making experts wonder what the status of black
soils is and what needs to be done to improve them.

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Northeast China promotes conservational tillage on fertile
land : A Case Study
PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Black soil covers an area of 1.09 million square kilometres in
the Northeast China region, including around 29 million
hectares of farmland. But after continuous efforts and
practices like returning maize straw to the farmland for
mulching purposes not only increased the amount of organic
matter in the soil but also helped prevent wind and water-
driven soil erosion and preserve soil moisture, Xi said, adding
that the so-called Lishu model was worth promoting. They
followed the theory that "The key to conservational tillage is to
plough less soil through the no-tillage and stalk-covering
technology. The technology of mechanized planting, the
processes of cleaning straw, ditching, fertilizing, sowing and
covering soil can be completed in a single operation. "After five
years of the no-tillage and stalk-covering operation in the
experimental area, the soil organic matter increased by about
0.1 percent per year, six times that of conventional farming."

Key Takeaways
For Farmers –
Maintain or even increase SOC stocks through proven SSM
practices, such as no-till, manure addition, biochar, biomass
management, organic mulch, perennial crops, no-till strip
tillage, and soil and water conservation techniques.
Small watershed resource management to conserve moisture
and reduce erosion.
To reduce the impact of tillage and seeding systems on soil
health, the frequency (number of passes across the field) and
intensity (mass of soil disturbed) of soil passes must be
reduced.
Maintaining a low quantity but high frequency of mulch might
efficiently boost soil health without compromising crop yields
and as well optimize the use of stover.
Cover crops can be a good practice for sustainable black soil
management and needs to be adapted to the farming system,
black soil types and climate.
PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 For government organizations -
• Foster the adoption of proven sustainable soil
management practices by empowering farmers through
national financial incentives to protect black soils.
• Promote the RECSOIL (Recarbonization of Global Soils)
initiative in countries with black soils.
• Establish national programmes specifically including
targeted research to manage and restore black soils.

References
https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-
analysis/global-status-of-black-soils-
fao#:~:text=Black%20soils%20were%20home%20to,security%
20and%20the%20global%20economy
https://www.fao.org/3/cc3124en/cc3124en.pdf
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/black-
soil-in-red-climate-change-threatens-world-s-food-basket-
86392
https://indiaagronet.com/indiaagronet/soil_management/CON
TENTS/Management%20of%20black.htm
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/2016jilin/2021-
05/06/content_37544242.htm
https://www.gktoday.in/topic/global-status-of-black-soils-
report/
https://www.pmfias.com/alluvial-soils-black-soils-soil-types-
of-india-bhabar-terai-bhangar-khadar/

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Read More In Environment View all

ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENT

From Tigers to Trees: Going Green : 10 Ways To Ecotourism in India: Solar Radiation
Navigating Through The… Reduce Waste At Home… Transforming the Travel… Management : The…
Dec 12, 2023 • TUI Staff Oct 30, 2023 • TUI Staff Aug 23, 2023 • TUI Staff Aug 10, 2023 • TUI Staff

Home Environment       

About Us Social Cause

Contact Us Government Sector
Stay Tuned With TheUnitedIndian!
Our News Blog Is Dedicated To Sharing
Advertise With Us Technology
Valuable And Pertinent Content For Indian Privacy Policy Economy
Citizens. Our Blog News Covering A Wide
Range Of Categories Including Terms and Condition Recent Events
Technology, Environment, Government &
Economy Ensures That You Stay Informed
About The Topics That Matter Most.

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.
 Follow TheUnitedIndian To Never Miss Out
On The Latest Trending News In India.

©TheUnitedIndian2023 Powered By Online World Solution

PDFmyURL converts web pages and even full websites to PDF easily and quickly.