Need of soil management

(MainsGS3:Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.)

Context:

• World Soil Day (WSD) 2022 observed on December 5 with its guiding theme, ‘Soils: Where food begins’, 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.

Soil degradation:

• Nutrient loss and pollution significantly threaten soils, and thereby undermine nutrition and food security globally. 
• The main drivers contributing to soil degradation are industrial activities, mining, waste treatment, agriculture, fossil fuel extraction and processing and transport emissions. 
• The reasons behind soil nutrient loss range from soil erosion, runoff, leaching and the burning of crop residues. 
• 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.
• Further, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, and irrigation with contaminated wastewater are also polluting soils.

conservation strategy

• Strategy for soil conservation includes making soil chemical-free, saving soil biodiversity, enhancing SOM, maintaining soil moisture, mitigating soil degradation and preventing soil erosion.
• Earlier, farmers lacked information relating to soil type, soil deficiency and soil moisture content thus, to address these issues, the Government of India launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme in 2015.
• The SHC displays soil health indicators and associated descriptive terms, which guide farmers to make necessary soil amendments.

Other initiatives:

• Among many initiatives the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana is to prevent soil erosion, regeneration of natural vegetation, rainwater harvesting and recharging of the groundwater table.
• 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.
• Further, 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.

Conclusion:

• 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. 
• 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.