Context:
India’s food security debate has progressed beyond simply increasing food production to focusing on the quality and sustainability of food. Central to this evolving discourse is the critical but often overlooked factor of soil health.
Global and Local Challenges:
- Dependence on Soil: Over 99.7% of global food relies on soil, yet degradation undermines productivity, water resources, ecosystems, and nutrition.
- Undernourishment: 735 million people face chronic hunger, linked to declining soil fertility.
- India’s Soil Crisis: Intensive farming, fertilizer overuse, and monocropping have degraded ~30% of soils (147 million ha).
- Erosion: Soil erosion and sediment loss reduce yields, crop quality, and climate resilience.
- Nutrient Deficiency: Depleted soils lower crop nutrition, worsening rural malnutrition.
Restoration Pathways:
- Beyond Land Preservation: Restoring soil health is vital not only to halt land degradation but also to enhance the nutrient content and quality of food crops.
- Sustainable Practices: Sustainable farming practices such as organic farming, cover cropping, biofertilizers, and crop rotation naturally rebuild soil fertility.
- Regenerative Agriculture:
- Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) Build-up: Increasing SOC through composting organic waste and mulching.
- Crop Diversification: Promoting pulses, vegetables, and traditional grains to replenish soil nutrients, control pests, and break disease cycles.
- Natural Inputs and Indigenous Seeds: Encouraging use of indigenous seed varieties and natural inputs, reducing reliance on synthetic chemicals.
Impact on Food Security and Livelihoods:
- Improved Productivity and Nutrition: Healthy soils boost agricultural productivity and crop nutritional value while fostering resilient ecosystems and climate adaptation.
- Economic and Livelihood Threat: With agriculture employing a majority of India’s workforce and contributing significantly to GDP, soil degradation threatens both food availability and the livelihoods of millions of farmers.
- Urgency for Sustainable Management: Emphasizing sustainable soil management is crucial to feeding India’s 1.4 billion people nutritious food and ensuring long-term health and well-being.
