Soil
Productivity Management
Now there is a strong belief among large section
scientists and farmers that the yield of the crop will fall if
chemical fertilizers are stopped. The fertilizers are applied to
soil based on soil tests on status of nutrient minerals required for
high yields. This was based on the experiments of scientists like
Von Leibig on balance of nutrients in soil considering soil as a
sponge like thing that hold nutrients and supply to plant. Deficient
nutrients required for the next crop are supplemented to soil in the
form of chemical equivalents. Here plants are fed with chemicals
but soils are not enriched. Actually soils are gradually turning
infertile in green revolution areas. At CSA we believe, soil is a
living body, not an inert material.
Confessions of proponent of the
chemical fertilisers
“I have sinned
against the wisdom of the creator and received my righteous
punishment. I wished to improve his work and in my blindness
believed that, in the marvelous chain of laws binding life on
earth’s surface and keeping it always new, a link had been forgotten
which I weak and powerless worm must supply”. - Justin Von
Leibig
It is estimated that it takes few hundreds to thousands of years for
one inch of soil to form naturally and it takes as low as a few
weeks to be destroyed. This soil building is facilitated by several
physical, chemical processes and enormous biological activity.
“Feed the soils, not plants”
Building healthy soils:
The first and foremost principle is ‘healthy soils yield
healthy crops’. The health of the soil has much to do with soil
organisms [flora and fauna] facilitated by organic matter. This
vital component takes care of modifying soils physically, chemically
and biologically for growing healthier crops.
Soil organisms: The
crop yields are dependent on the diversity and populations of soil
organisms. As the practices in crop production required chemicals as
inputs, the natural soil life has been lost or suppressed. Now
reviving the soil life base is crucial.
Biofertilisers: It
is important to know that augmenting few microorganisms in sick soil
conditions like soil compaction, bad pH, presence of chemical
fertilizers, harmful organisms and little organic matter etc. is of
little use. The introduced microbes differing at strain level with
the native species try to suppress each other. Hence adoption of
native species is better.
Fight diseases: Soil
organisms not only supply the plant nutrients but also protect the
plants from harmful organisms. The kind of practices received by the
soil reflects the kind of micro-organisms inhabiting it. It is
observed that those soils that receive chemicals as nutrients tend
to decrease the microbial diversity and only the hardy harmful
microbes that are harmful to plants tend to dominate the soils.
CSA works with
farmers in making their agriculture self-reliant basing on their
local resources
-
Enriching soils by
crop rotation with legume crops like gram, groundnut and pea
etc.
-
Adding organic
matter and nutrients to soil in form of manures like oil cakes,
incorporating green manure crops in to soil, FYM, compost and
vermicompost etc.
-
Enriching soil with
micro-organisms by adding preparations like Panchagavya,
Jeevamrutham and amrutha jalam etc.
“Human race will reach the
organic (biological) age or cease to exist” -H. P. Rusch
