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General Studies-3; Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation

Preserving and Restoring Soil Health

Introduction
• Soil plays a pivotal role in supporting agriculture, biodiversity, and overall ecosystem health.
• Soil is facing increasing threats from human activities, putting our food security, ecosystem health
and climate resilience at stake.

Decreasing Soil Productivity

• With pressing population needs and greed, soil productivity is consistently decreasing.
• Factors responsible for soil degradation and soil fertility
o Application of excessive chemical fertilisers and pesticides,
o deforestation,
o improper land use,
o soil compaction by machinery,
o water logging,
o lack of cover crops in the field,
o Mulching
• Soil organic carbon (SOC) content in India has come down to 0.3 per cent from 1 per cent in the past
70 years.
• Inadequate and imbalanced nutrition in the soil is limiting crop productivity and adversely affecting
the nutritional quality of our food.

Soil-centric agriculture
• According to scientists, soil-centric agriculture encompasses the following
o Adopt conservation agriculture, which involves no-till, residue mulch, crop rotations and the
integration of crops with trees and livestock.
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o promoting the use of seed-cum-fertiliser drill machines to increase water use efficiency in
the soil.
o Promote Agroforestry
o Promote soil / crop / water management practices that enhance sequestration.
o Encourage crop diversification
o Eliminate the practice of farm residue burning
o Adopt direct-seeded and aerobic rice in place of traditional puddled and flooded rice.
o Use precision agriculture, digital innovations, robotics, and artificial intelligence
o Reclamation of saline, alkaline and acidic soils
o Need-based use of micronutrients (zinc, iron, manganese, etc) and biofertilizers
o The use of happy turbo seeder in rice-wheat system also ensures in situ conservation of
straw, resulting in increased SOC

Way Forward
• In the era of global challenges like erratic climate change and food and nutritional security, the
health of our soil becomes critical.
• Urgent efforts and enabling policy environment are needed for restoring soil health.
• It is necessary to educate people about the importance of soil in the agro-food system and
biodiversity.

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