Increasing penetration of agricultural inputs has helped Indian farmer achieve record food grain production year after year. For the record, the government estimates an all-time high total food grain production of 272 million tonnes in 2016-17. However, this does not automatically imply that all is hunky dory on India’s agricultural front. India’s land area is about 2.5 percent of the global land area, and it supports more than 16 percent of the total human population along with around 20 percent of the global livestock population.
Clearly, the pressures of constantly increasing production have in turn resulted in a persistent decline in soil fertility– a major challenge that Indian agriculture is currently facing.
With rising population, limited availability of agricultural land, small land holdings and declining soil fertility, India is under serious threat of losing its food surplus status in the near future. According to estimates, the demand for foodgrains is expected to increase from 192 million tonnes in 2000 to 355 million tonnes in 2030.
But, is our ‘fatigued’ soil healthy enough to meet these targets?
Excessive tillage takes a toll
Over the years, increasing pressure on limited agricultural land in India has resulted in overuse of chemical fertilizers on soil, excessive tillage, jettisoning of age-old organic soil revival practices and lack of appropriate crop rotation. This has resulted in soil degradation and loss of fertility, which are emerging as major challenges for the Indian farmers.
Soil degradation is estimated to be severely impacting the 147 million hectares of cultivable land in India, causing a successive deterioration in its productive capacity. In the recent years, experts have witnessed a worrying sign of declining total factor productivity and compound growth rates of major crops. In several agricultural regions across the country, there has been observed a gap between nutrient demand and supply including decline in organic matter status, deficiencies of micronutrients in the soil, soil acidity, salinization, and sodification.
If we do not take this disturbing trend into account and start acting now, our country might be saddled with vast swathes of land rendered infertile by lack of sagaciousness and long-term thinking. Experts say one of the main ways forward is to make agriculture more sustainable and reviving the age-old practices of soil regeneration while balancing the same with judicious use of agrochemicals. The agrochemical industry must also rise to the occasion and invest in producing organic biological products that help improve the health of Indian soil.
What causes soil fertility loss?
Apart from natural factors such as floods, volcanoes, and earthquakes, a number of human-induced factors such as deforestation, ill management of industrial wastes, over-grazing by cattle, and urban expansion, are also responsible for loss of soil’s productive capacity. Widespread land degradation caused by inappropriate agricultural practices has a direct and adverse impact on the food and livelihood security of farmers. Inappropriate agricultural practices that contribute to this include excessive tillage, frequent cropping, poor irrigation and water management and unscientific rotation of crops. A decline in soil organic matter causes limited soil life and poor soil structure.
Increasing penetration of agricultural inputs has helped Indian farmer achieve record food grain production year after year. For the record, the government estimates an all-time high total food grain production of 272 million tonnes in 2016-17. However, this does not automatically imply that all is hunky dory on India’s agricultural front. India’s land area is about 2.5 percent of the global land area, and it supports more than 16 percent of the total human population along with around 20 percent of the global livestock population.
Clearly, the pressures of constantly increasing production have in turn resulted in a persistent decline in soil fertility– a major challenge that Indian agriculture is currently facing.
With rising population, limited availability of agricultural land, small land holdings and declining soil fertility, India is under serious threat of losing its food surplus status in the near future. According to estimates, the demand for foodgrains is expected to increase from 192 million tonnes in 2000 to 355 million tonnes in 2030.
But, is our ‘fatigued’ soil healthy enough to meet these targets?
Excessive tillage takes a toll
Over the years, increasing pressure on limited agricultural land in India has resulted in overuse of chemical fertilizers on soil, excessive tillage, jettisoning of age-old organic soil revival practices and lack of appropriate crop rotation. This has resulted in soil degradation and loss of fertility, which are emerging as major challenges for the Indian farmers.
Soil degradation is estimated to be severely impacting the 147 million hectares of cultivable land in India, causing a successive deterioration in its productive capacity. In the recent years, experts have witnessed a worrying sign of declining total factor productivity and compound growth rates of major crops. In several agricultural regions across the country, there has been observed a gap between nutrient demand and supply including decline in organic matter status, deficiencies of micronutrients in the soil, soil acidity, salinization, and sodification.
If we do not take this disturbing trend into account and start acting now, our country might be saddled with vast swathes of land rendered infertile by lack of sagaciousness and long-term thinking. Experts say one of the main ways forward is to make agriculture more sustainable and reviving the age-old practices of soil regeneration while balancing the same with judicious use of agrochemicals. The agrochemical industry must also rise to the occasion and invest in producing organic biological products that help improve the health of Indian soil.
What causes soil fertility loss?
Apart from natural factors such as floods, volcanoes, and earthquakes, a number of human-induced factors such as deforestation, ill management of industrial wastes, over-grazing by cattle, and urban expansion, are also responsible for loss of soil’s productive capacity. Widespread land degradation caused by inappropriate agricultural practices has a direct and adverse impact on the food and livelihood security of farmers. Inappropriate agricultural practices that contribute to this include excessive tillage, frequent cropping, poor irrigation and water management and unscientific rotation of crops. A decline in soil organic matter causes limited soil life and poor soil structure.
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