Healing Soils in India: For Better Crop Health and Human Nutrition’ Report
Healing Soils in India: For Better Crop Health and Human Nutrition’ Report
It has been released by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
Soil Erosion
Soil Erosion refers to the
- loosening,
- detachment,
- transport,
- and deposition of topsoil particles from land surfaces by physical agents, primarily water and wind.
Accelerated soil erosion, also known as man induced erosion, results from human altered land use patterns and removes soil at rates ten to several thousand times faster than natural soil formation.
According to L.D. Meyer and W.H. Wischmeier
soil particle detachability is the critical stage in erosion, controlled by grain size, cohesion, and flow velocity.
Particles larger than 0.2 mm require higher water velocity for detachment. When erosion exceeds soil regeneration capacity, it transforms into severe soil degradation, undermining ecological balance and agricultural sustainability
Soil Erosion Types
Water Erosion:
Caused by rainfall and surface runoff, water erosion includes splash, sheet, rill, gully, streambank, landslide, and coastal erosion.
Raindrop (Splash) Erosion:
Raindrops of about 5 mm diameter strike soil at 32 km/hr, dislodging particles and destroying soil aggregates. It is a sub-type of water erosion.
Sheet Erosion:
Uniform removal of thin topsoil layers by overland flow, often unnoticed but responsible for major nutrient losses.
Rill Erosion:
Formation of shallow finger-like channels after sheet erosion, which gradually deepen and multiply annually.
Gully Erosion:
Deep channels exceeding 30 m in width and depth, severely restricting land use and farm operations.
Streambank Erosion:
Wearing away of riverbanks during floods, altering river courses and damaging infrastructure and farmland.
Landslide Erosion:
Sudden downslope movement of soil due to gravity, slope instability, or saturation, causing major land loss.
Coastal Erosion:
Wave action and sea ingress remove coastal soils, depositing sand inland and degrading agricultural land.
Wind Erosion:
Dominant in arid and semi arid regions, removing fine particles through suspension, saltation, and surface creep.
Tillage Erosion:
Soil displacement caused by repeated ploughing on slopes, often exceeding water erosion in cultivated lands....
Primary Causes of Soil Degradation
- Distorted Fertilizer Policy:
- Intensive tillage
- prolonged water stagnation in rice cultivation,
- heavy reliance on monocropping (e.g. cereal-cereal rotations)
- burning of crop residues
accelerate native carbon loss and damage soil structure.
Negative Impact on Crop and Human Health
- Dropping Crop Efficiency: Plants can no longer absorb nutrients well. This reduces the efficiency of crop production.
- Loss of Nutritional Quality: Weak soils produce crops deficient in essential micro nutrients such as zinc and iron.
- Rise of Hidden Hunger: Nutrient deficient crops cause stunting, wasting, malnutrition in children.
- Water Contamination: Over-dose of fertilizer leaches out in groundwater making it unsafe for drinking.
Way Forward
- Bringing urea under the NBS regime would rationalize prices.
- Provide direct income support
in place of subsidy. - Promote Innovative Products:
Customized fertilizers, water-soluble formulas, and bio-fertilizers etc. - Using AI and machine learning
to combine land records, satellite imagery, and fertilizer sales to identify and support tenant farmers. - 4R Framework:
Applying the Right Source at the Right Rate, Right Time, and Right Place.
- Other:
- Promoting Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) by combining synthetic fertilizers with organic inputs (like farmyard manure and biochar).
- Cover cropping, and crop diversification (such as integrating legumes) will rebuild soil organic carbon and restore ecosystem balance.
Government Initiative to Promote Soil Health:
- Soil Health Card Scheme;
- PM-PRANAM Scheme;
- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana;
- Neem-Coated Urea, etc.
reasons for soil erosion:
- Tilling or ploughing -
increases the chances of erosion because it disturbs the natural soil surface and protective vegetation. - Continuous cropping:
Continuous cropping of the same land and extending of cultivation of marginal and sub-marginal lands encourages soil erosion. - Cultivation on mountain slopes:
Cultivation on mountain slopes without appropriate land treatment measures such as bounding, terracing, and trenching cause soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients. - Monoculture:
Monoculture refers to the practice of planting of the same variety of crops in the field. Monoculture practices can lead to soil erosion in three ways.
- (i) A monoculture crop is harvested all at one time, which leaves the entire fields bare exposing it to both water and wind.
- (ii) Without vegetation natural rainfall is not retained by the soil and flows rapidly over the surface rather than into the ground. It also carries away the topsoil which results in soil erosion and degradation.
- (iii) In the event any disease or pest invades the field, the entire crop is usually wiped out leaving the bare soil susceptible to water and wind.
- 5 Overgrazing:
It means too many animals are allowed to feed on a piece of grassland. Trampling and grazing by cattle destroy the vegetation of the area. In the absence of adequate vegetative cover, the land becomes highly susceptible to both wind and water erosion.
extraction of useful natural resources such as
- metals,
- minerals,
- and fossil fuels, etc., from the land causes serious disturbance to the land leading to soil erosion and drastic changes in the landscape.
Soil erosion may also occur because of various developmental activities such as
The construction of such facilities causes massive disturbance to the land, resulting in soil erosion and disruption of the natural drainage system.
- housing,
- transport,
- communication,
- recreation, etc.
- Building construction also promotes soil erosion because accelerated soil erosion takes place during the construction of houses, roads, rail tracks, etc.
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