‘Save Soil’ is turning into a global movement. Projected data due to loss of biodiversity, poor top soil linked food shortage and malnutrition is very scary. It is an urgent requirement for leaders of the world to rejuvenate 15-20inches of top soil of the planet. In this context, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the occasion of the World Environment Day, he also stressed on the efforts that have been taken in last few years in order to rejuvenate the soil of India. PM Modi conveyed that to save the soil, the government has focused on five main things. First- How to make the soil chemical free. Second- How to save the organisms that live in the soil, which are called Soil Organic Matter in technical language. Third- How to maintain soil moisture, how to increase the availability of water till it. Fourth- How to remove the damage that is happening to the soil due to less groundwater. And fifth, how to stop the continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests.
All these five focal points have helped in health retention of soil through innovative schemes and initiatives which are based on collaboration, education and mordernisation. In 2015, the government launched the Soil Health Card, which is a printed report that is extended to the farmers for all their land or holdings. The card provides every farmer with soil nutrient status of his land and teaches him accordingly about the dosage of fertilizers and essential soil amendments that should be maintained for good soil health. Government also employs experts to help the farmers in carrying out the corrective measures. Thanks to this scheme, many Indian farmers now get a proper soil health record which assists them to undertake planned cultivation and largely prevents risks of crop failure that used to be very common before. So far, a total of 22,71,21,456 Soil Health Cards were issued to farmers between 2015-2019 across the country, whereas 11,531 new soil testing labs (491 static, 107 mobile, 8811 minilabs and 2122 village level labs) and strengthening of 829 labs have been sanctioned to the states. The massive success is indicated in the fact that since 2015, around 6.04 lakh demonstrations, 36,928 farmers’ trainings and 7,425 farmers’ melas have been organized/conducted under the programme. Village level rural development workers like Krishi Sakhis, Pasu Sakhis are even involved in educating farmers on right use of fertilizers.
The government has also been endorsing organic farming and use of Nano fertilizers that play a vital role in enhancing the efficiency of nutrients and in reducing soil contamination. The concept of ‘Low cost organic farming’ under the Schemes Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) & Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), is also being promoted for quite some time. Apart from financial support, capacity-building for organic farming through trainings and seminars / awareness camps has been integral part of these schemes. For maintaining soil moisture, mega promotion of intiatives like PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana, ‘Per drop more Crop’ campaign, etc. have worked wonders. Mass awareness through these has resulted in increasing water use efficiency at the farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies, i.e., drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Use of drones for irrigation and controlled fertilizer spray is a recent addition in the newfound efforts to preserve soil nutrients and maintaining balance.
Lastly, for controlling continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests, the government has rolled out strict initiatives to educate people and motivate them to go green. Some heartfelt initiatives also include the ‘Har Med Par Ped’ scheme to encourage tree plantation on farm land along with crops/ cropping system to help the farmers get additional income and make their farming systems more climate resilient and adaptive. Further, while National Afforestation Programme (NAP) is being implemented for afforestation of degraded forest lands, Green India Mission (GIM) aims at improving the quality of forest and increase in forest cover besides cross sectoral activities on landscape basis. In order to reclaim and develop barren lands, several location specific bio-engineering measures have also been developed to check soil erosion due to run-off of rain water. Concerned Indian Institutes have also developed reclamation technology, sub-surface drainage, bio-drainage, agroforestry interventions and salt tolerant crop varieties, etc. to improve the productivity of saline, sodic and waterlogged soils in the country.
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