New Monkey Times
17th January 2024
Misuse of soil in India
What is happening to
the soil in India? Over
decades of cultivating and
overuse of the same soil in
India it is slowly becoming
degraded. Soil
degradation takes place
when the same land is used
over and over and slowly
becomes deprived of the
nutrients it once had. Soil
degradation is provoked
when plants are grown in
one area which use up all
the nutrients ,but are
harvested before they die
so they cannot replenish
the soil in which they were
grown. This makes the soil
unusable for farming and
also unable to support plant
life. Soil degradation is
starting to take effect in
some places on a major
scale.According to
‘Desertification and Land
Degradation of Selected
Districts of India’, 96.40
million hectares, or about
29.32% of the Total
Geographic Area of the
country is undergoing
degradation.
To fully understand soil
degradation you must
acknowledge the root
causes which include the
following: clear cutting,
forest fires,urbanization
and unsustainable
farming.India is currently
dealing with severe
problems related to soil
degradation, which are
having an adverse effect on
agricultural landscapes and
sustainability.. India is the
3rd largest exporter of
wood, making up for 4.4
percent of wood traded
internationally and also, in
2019 The Forest Survey of
India said “out of the total
area covered in
forest(712,249 square km),
152,421 square km are
highly or extremely prone
to forest fires”. Sustainable
farming methods have also
only been adopted by
around 4 percent of Indian
farmers, causing the soil
degradation crisis to
worsen.
The devastating effects of
soil degradation have taken
their impact on both locals
and the environment and
have shown through
desertification and the
worsened conditions of the
land owned by locals in
some parts of India. A
portion of Punjab and
Haryana, particularly in the
northwest, have seen
desertification and soil
degradation. This is
partially explained by
intensive farming methods,
such as irrigation with
groundwater, which causes
salt in the soil and
waterlogging. The biggest
state in India, Rajasthan
includes a number of
desert-prone locations. The
state's semi-arid
and dry areas are
vulnerable to land
degradation, which could
 New Monkey Times
Misuse of soil in India
jeopardize agricultural
output, which in turn will
cause food shortages in
those areas.
India's soil degradation
problem persists due to a
lack of knowledge about
sustainable farming
practices. These issues are
getting worse every day,
and neither the community
nor the government are
making any effort to find a
solution. This is because
the government claims to
be working on the issue but
only offers a speech and
ignores the matter later,
and the locals lack the
education to know what is
right and wrong to do. Not
just in India but globally,
there are potential solutions
to this issue that can
encourage sustainable
farming practices and
lessen the degradation of
soil.
A broad approach that
requires involvement in the
17th January 2024
community, advances in by Mehtab Randhawa
technology, and depicts our earth being
appropriate land destroyed by climate
management techniques is change while members of
required in order to prevent the human race try to save
soil degradation. Minimal it from climate change.
cultivation and agroforestry
are examples of
conservation agriculture
techniques that reduce soil
erosion; on the other hand,
cover crops improve soil
structure and nutrient
cycling. Fighting for
organic farming and
agroecological methods
promotes richer soils, while
precise farming technology
maximizes the use of
resources. The goal is to
educate them about crop
rotation, proper irrigation,
and reasonable fertilizer
use. To maintain soil
health, all parties must
collaborate.
This political cartoon made