Sir,
World Soil Health Day was celebrated all over the country on December 5, 2016.On this occasion, messages were published in the newspapers on behalf of the ministers and bureaucrats exhorting the farmers to maintain good health of soil of their fields and get their soil tested to increase their crop yield and returns.There is no doubt that soil is an important resource and ultimate medium in which we produce all the food on the the globe.Therefore, there is need to conserve soil and maintain good health of the soil for optimum production of crops.But as a result of man’s indiscriminate activities coupled with imbalanced use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, there has been a great deterioration of the soil health, which necessitates that efforts are made to better the health of soil.It can be done by making the farmers aware about the importance of soil testing.But a large no. of the farmers in our state are unaware of soil testing and donot know the benefit of getting their soil tested.It is, thus, the duty of the concerned officers/officials of the Agriculture Department to organise camps in different villages to aware the farming community about the need for soil health management for sustainable agricultural practices.Mobile soil testing labs need to be pressed into service to test the samples of soil at village level so that crops relevent to the soil are grown.
Soil tests also enable the farmers to know the chemical and biological composition of the soil and in what plant nutrients and micronutrients their soil is deficient and for what crops the soil is most suitable.On the basis of the reports of soil testing,the farmers can take remedial measures and improve their agricultural/horticultural produce by making up the required deficiencies of macro and micronutrients by using the recommended quantity of various fertilizers and growing crops suitable to the quality and nature of the soil of their fields.Last but not least., it is the duty of the government and every citizen to contribute his/her mite to conserve this valuable resource called soil which sustains us all on this beautiful planet.
Yours etc….
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur.
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