Soil Health Management: Indian Perspective by S K Chaudhari - Day 1

1. Soil Health Management: Indian
Perspective
S K Chaudhari
Assistant Director General
(Soil Water Management)
Indian Council of Agricultural Research

2. Soil Health Issues of India
• Land Degradation- 104.2 mha out of 141
mha
• Annual Soil Loss - 5.3 Billion tons
• Annual Nutrient Loss- 8 Million tons
• Average Soil Loss- 16.4 t/ha/yr.
• Physical Contraints-89.5mha
• Crop Production Losses-
Water Erosion-13.4mt, Salinity-5.66 mt,
Alkalnity-11.18 mt, Wind Erosion-6.85 mt
Soil Erosion 74.21 mha
Wind Erosion 12.03 mha
Soil Salinity 06.73 mha
Soil Acidity 10.72 mha

3. Soil Health Issues of India
• Low soil organic Carbon ( < 0.5 %)
• Multi nutrient deficiencies
• Low nutrient use efficiency
• Decline in fertilizer response ratio
• Imbalance fertilizer use
• Crop residue burning

4. Major concerns
• Monitoring land degradation for conservation of soil resource
• Improving Soil physical, Chemical and Biological health
• Managing crop residues
• Soil carbon sequestration to reduce carbon footprint and global
warming
• Improving nutrient use efficiencies and fertilizer response ratio
• Reduce soil contamination

5. Challenges of Soil Health in India
• Inadequate soil testing laboratories
(1268 static + 368 mobiles)
• Aggregate analyzing capacity of 15
million samples per annum
• Fertilizer quality control
laboratories-82 nos.
• Farm Science Centers (KVK) 700 Nos
with portable soil testing kits
• Fertilizer plants – 172 Nos
• Bio fertilizer production units - 400
Nos with a capacity of 100,000 tons
per annum

6. Research Initiatives
Research Institutions
• Indian Institute of Soil Science
• National Bureau of Soil Survey & LUP
• Central Soil Salinity Research Institute
• Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation
All India Coordinated Research Projects
• Soil Test Crop Response
• Micro-and Secondary Nutrients and Pollutant Elements in soils and
Plants.
• Long Term Fertilizer Experiments
• Salt Affected Soils
Network Projects
• Soil Biodiversity-Biofertilizers
• Organic Farming
Consortia Research Project
• Conservation Agriculture

7.  Coating urea with Neem (Azaridicta indica) oil
 Integrated Watershed Management Program
 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
 National Mission on Soil Health Card
 Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)- A scheme on organic
farming
 National Biogas and Manure Management Program
 Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS)
Policy Initiatives

8. Priority areas to be addressed
 New tools and techniques of soil testing
 Soil test based site specific balanced & Integrated Nutrient
Management
 Liquid fertilizer use through Drip Fertigation
 Use of organics (FYM, green manure, bio fertilizers)
 Conservation Agriculture & Precision farming
 Soil & water conservation and land reclamation
 Bio-waste management

9. Thank You