Assocham advocates soil fertility index to ensure food security

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has suggested evolving a soil fertility index for agriculture regions across India to secure the agri sector and avoid negative growth of foodgrain supplies.

The demand has come in the backdrop of sharp deterioration in soil fertility due to soil erosion, repeated cropping and agro practices,that deplete nitrogen and micro-nutrients.

“Satellite imagery shows that soil degradation has become endemic in large tracts of land, especially the Ganges agri belt. An index should be formed for specific regions or sub-divisions and updated regularly,” Assocham General Secretary D S Rawat said.

In the report, he claimed there were multiple nutrient deficiencies in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Gangetic belt produces 50 per cent of food grains and feeds 40 per cent of the Indian population.

He said the most important nutrient, nitrogen is deficient in half of the areas in Uttar Pradesh, all parts of Haryana, most of Bihar and some parts of Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

Rawat said, in most states phosphorous deficiency is 20 per cent and micro nutrients like zinc, potassium, copper and sulphur are deficient in almost all kinds of soils found across India.

The situation is worsening because the close relationship between farm animals and agriculture is being replaced by modern farm practices, where economic value rather than environmental concerns are main determinants.

It would be critical to raise food grain production from the current level of 230 million tonnes (MT), as over 30 per cent of output will be required to support proposed food security entitlement, which the government intends to legislate shortly.

With another 20 MT required for buffer stocks, any fall in foodgrain output could jeopardise implementation of basic foodgrain basket for 70 per cent of households. The demand is estimated to rise to 262 MT by 2021.

About 128 million hectares (MH) of cultivated area is suffering from water erosion due to lack of proper humus on top soil. Satellite imagery shows 25 per cent of cultivable land (81 MH) is facing desertification due to top soil being lost to water, wind and other erosion.

“Some 100 MH or 70 per cent of farmland is heading towards a situation where it will not be able to support economic cultivation,” Rawat warned.