World Soil Day: Preserving and restoring soil health is crucial for a prosperous and sustainable future

Soil is a finite medium that provides habitat for millions of microorganisms. As the foundation of life on Earth, 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. With pressing population needs and greed, soil productivity is consistently decreasing. 

Application of excessive chemical fertilisers and pesticides, deforestation, improper land use, soil compaction by machinery, water logging, lack of cover crops in the field,  mulching and most importantly, excluding organic matter from the crop care regime are some of the factors responsible for soil degradation and soil fertility.

Additionally, it has been estimated that soil organic carbon (SOC) content in India has come down to 0.3 per cent from 1 per cent in the past 70 years, which poses a significant threat to soil health. 

Read more: Black soil in red: Climate change threatens world’s food basket

The United Nations celebrates December 5 as World Soil Day every year to commemorate the birthday of the late King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej for his lifelong commitment to raising awareness of the importance of sustainable soil management and rehabilitation for food security, poverty alleviation and more.

Need for soil-centric agriculture 

Healthy soils create a healthy world. On this Soil Day, researchers and policymakers are looking forward to driving change in soil management practices, which will ultimately lead to sustainability. This is the right occasion to launch soil-centric agriculture. 

According to scientists, soil-centric agriculture encompasses the following: 

• Adopt conservation agriculture, which involves no-till, residue mulch, crop rotations and the integration of crops with trees and livestock to restore soil nutrients and improve soil health.
• The age-old practice of broadcasting fertilisers should be discouraged by promoting the use of seed-cum-fertiliser drill machines to increase water use efficiency in the soil.
• Use of cover crops 
• Use of mulching
• Promote Agroforestry
• Adopt smart soil system solutions like Bhoomitra and Krishi-RASTAA
• Promote soil / crop / water management practices that enhance sequestration.
• Encourage crop diversification
• Eliminate the practice of farm residue burning 
• Adopt direct-seeded and aerobic rice in place of traditional puddled and flooded rice.
• Reduce use of chemicals and enhance use-efficiency by improving soil health 
• Use precision agriculture, digital innovations, robotics, and artificial intelligence
• Practice carbon-farming as it offsets emissions and also restores degraded soils
• Reclaimation of saline, alkaline and acidic soils; need-based use of micronutrients (zinc, iron, manganese, etc) and biofertilisers
• Mechanisation for deep placement of fertilisers is another option for fertiliser use efficiency. 
• Integrated nutrient management (using organic manures like cattle dung, vermicompost, and poultry manure in combination with mineral fertilisers) could considerably improve soil health as well as crop yields. 
• The use of happy turbo seeder in rice-wheat system also ensures in situ conservation of straw, resulting in increased SOC

Collective responsibility for soil health management

World Soil Day is a day dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of soil and advocating for sustainability to ensure a healthy and prosperous future for our planet. Inadequate and imbalanced nutrition in the soil is limiting crop productivity and adversely affecting the nutritional quality of our food. 

Read more: How nutrient-deficient are Indian soils?

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.

Awareness campaigns should be organised with youths at the forefront to bring a change in the mindset of the people. People should be educated on the importance of soil conservation for the present and future in order to shift the focus from traditional farming to regenerative farming for improving soil health and fertility. 

Increasing awareness about the importance of soil health through education campaigns and outreach programmes is essential for fostering a global understanding of the need for sustainable soil management. This day serves as a platform to highlight the significance of soil conservation and sustainable land management practices.

World Soil Day serves as a poignant reminder of the vital role that soil plays in sustaining life on Earth. In the era of global challenges like erratic climate change and food and nutritional security, the health of our soil becomes even more critical.

Read more: Soil microbiomes should be included in One Health goals: Study

Through raising awareness, educating people across the length and breadth of the world, adopting sustainable land management practices, promoting biodiversity, we can work towards the preservation and restoration of soil health and ensure a prosperous and sustainable future for generations to come.

Dr Smriti Singh is Assistant Professor, School of Agriculture, Sanjeev Agrawal Global Educational University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth

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