The 68th UN General Assembly has declared 2015 as International Year of Soils (IYS). The UN has rightly driven home the relevance of soil health for achieving global food and nutritional security and in eco-system functioning. The main agenda of IYS is to create awareness on the fundamental roles of soils for human welfare, to sensitize decision-makers towards formulation of effective policies for sustainable management, protection of soil resources and enhance capacities and systems for collection of soil information and monitoring.
Soil is not only the basis of our biological wealth and agriculture, but is also essential for the production of many goods that we use daily for food, shelter and clothing like processed food materials, wood, paper, cotton, cement, paints, iron and steel, bricks etc. No other pursuit of natural resource has contributed to the welfare and sustenance of the whole mankind as soil does. The most important function soil performs in nature is the mineralization of dead remains and organic tissues of plant and animal origin, bio-wastes, industrial wastes (degradable) leading to the release of plant nutrients/minerals and CO2. This evolution of CO2 forms a vital process of the carbon cycle which is incessantly going on in nature, sustaining the most important fundamental phenomenon namely photosynthesis. Soil with its ion exchange behavior adsorbs many pollutants reaching the soil thus rendering them harmless through the buffer action. Even the maintenance of the O2 concentration in the atmosphere through the photolysis of water is mediated through the soil in general. The deleterious effects of hazardous radiations from the radioactive materials of the lithosphere are also annulled to a greater extent by the soil matrix. Many mineral deficiency symptoms manifested in plants and subsequently in animals including man are due to the inherent deficiencies of these elements in the soil. Hence correction of these deficiencies at the soil level is the best remedy to alleviate nutrient deficiencies in plants, animals and human beings. The sustainable management of our soils, no doubt, is imperative for a healthier Nature and in turn, for supporting healthy plants, animals and human beings.
But in Anthropocene, modern man’s chaotic lifestyle has continuously decimated the soil health which is challenging our quest for food and nutritional security and also our biological wealth. The imbalances in our ecological systems and changes in our climate can invariably traced to our illogical interventions in our soils and other natural resources. The Kerala Agricultural University is always committed to developing packages and practices which respects soil health in both cultivated and natural ecosystems. In the IYS, I would ask my scientists and students to develop soil based agro-technology crop protocols for all our agro-ecological zones. Concurrently, our experts must also give serious attention to OM budgeting at the panchayath level which will help us to reclaim the lost vitality of our soils. KAU scientists must also initiate developing location specific Soil Quality Indices (SQI) which will then act as the region wise ready reckoners of soil health of our state. Detailed investigations on soil pollution, especially heavy metal pollution and mitigating the same through phyto-remedial techniques are another areas where our scientists must focus research. The potential and limitations of engineered nanoparticles (like for eg., nano rock phosphate, other forms of nano fertilizers, bio-fertilizers and plant growth substances) must also catch our research attention in the IYS. Ready to use products of insecticides, fungicides, organic manures and chemical fertilizers should be developed to achieve maximum efficiency and to reduce wastage of nutrients and environmental pollution. This will also reduce substantially the cost of production of agro-products. Concurrently, long term experiments to understand soil nutrient management in relation to climate change must be carried out to understand the impact and possible mitigation strategies. It is high time to renew our interest in rotating crops to increase soil aggregate stability, decreased crusting of soil surfaces and increased granular structure and friable consistency.
Let us pledge to take affirmative actions to redeem the health of our soils and make IYS a meaningful dream.
Prof. (Dr.) P. Rajendran
Vice-Chancellor
