WORLD WITHOUT SOIL

During our field visit this month in Manglapur village of Sangamner Tehsil, I coined a word ' Soil Obesity'. We were launching our 'Kisankonnect Agri Clinic' at our local village collection centre. What I realized during our conversation with the farmers, is that its necessary to 'personify' the soil in order to make them understand how the soil can be healthy, sick, active, obese, productive, and what would be the reasons behind it.?

It has taken around 800 years to form one inch of 'Topsoil' (the upper layer of soil containing the most organic matter and microorganisms. Use of chemical fertilizers has been a boon to our Agriculture at one point of time. During the past 4 decades however, excess usage due to subsidized prices of chemical fertilizers and unscientific usage has lead to the soil getting 'sicker'. Along with the nutrients, a lot of 'non-organic' matter is dumped in the soil. Like in a obese body, there are lot of fats and less protein. Similarly, in an 'obese' soil, there are lot of dumped nutrients, which are not 'absorbed' or 'uptaken' by the plants. Like in humans, the metabolism of body should be good to process the food into nutrients, for soil, a healthy soil biology is of extreme importance. A chemically, physically and biologically healthy soil helps to make the nutrients 'available' for the plants and keeps the overall 'soil metabolism' healthy.?

I remember one of our farmers, Shantaram, seemed completely inattentive during our farmer meeting. He just kept starring at the ground. After the meeting was over, I met him personally and asked him about did he really understand the opportunity 'Kisankonnect' can provide everyone on the farmer group for getting 'konnected' with lacs of consumers in the city to provide healthy food. Instead answering me, he threw a question at me. “ My father got this land where I' farming from my Grandfather. There was enough production happening that time. As my father and I cultivate this land, the soil is already very sick. It does not yield enough and it requires more fertilizer than it used to require before 10-15 years. My worry is what am I going to give to my children, as this the only asset our family has got”. I did not have an answer.?

This incident had a deep impact on all of us. We started studying extensively and post 2 years of extensive efforts, we have been able to implement 'Soil Management System' our flagship program with our farmers now. The program has been designed based on the 'Regenerative Agriculture Principles'. Our other farmers like Shantaram have become very optimistic about the situation and we are committed to take this program to many more farmers in days to come.

The state of soil on our farm-lands is dire. The PH of the soil is around 8 – 8.5 in most of the area (A healthy one is about 7 – 7.5). The soil has become alkaline and hence it has impacted on nutrient uptake. This has got the farmers caught in a vicious cycle of using more fertilizers to fulfill the nutrient requirement of the crops. The organic carbon in most of the soild we have tested in our Soil testing lab is in between 0.5% to 1.0%. A healthy one is above 1.5% - 2.0%.

If the same story continues, it's a serious threat for the whole world. Like to topic of this newsletter, we will literally have to imagine a world without a 'healthy' soil. This is the worst we can do to our mother earth in return of the enormous good she has been doing for our human race. The good part is that a lot of farmers, agencies, governments and consumers have started getting aware about the issue and have started taking efforts towards improving and conserving soil. We at 'Kisankonnect' believe this can be achieved by providing farmers with alternative but most important, commercially viable solutions. We also believe consumers are becoming more aware about the source of their food.?Whether it comes from an obese soil and a sick crop, or is it comes from a healthy soil and a crop with good immunity. Responsible customers would go a step ahead to understand the 'real' carbon footprint of the produce they consume.

Awareness about the soil health has started increasing and it make me very optimistic. Lets remember, 'On Spaceship Earth, there are no passengers, we are all the crew' .