Soil Productivity Management

“Feed the plants by feeding soils”

Building healthy soils:

The important principle is ‘healthy soils yield healthy crops’. The health of the soil has much to do with soil organisms [flora and fauna] that live on organic matter. This vital component takes care of modifying soils physically, chemically and biologically for growing healthier crops. Therefore sustained productivity of soils is the result of biological and physical properties of the soil but not vice versa.

Soil organisms:

The crop growth, resistance to pests attack and yields are dependent on the diversity and populations of soil organisms. Upon the usage of chemicals in the soil, the soil organisms have been lost or their activities are suppressed. Now reviving the soil life base is crucial.

Biofertilisers:

It is important to know that augmenting few soil beneficial microorganisms in sick soil conditions like compacted soil, bad pH, presence of chemical residues, harmful organisms and little organic matter etc. is of little use. The soil organisms can flourish only where there is organic matter primarily along with moisture and air. The introduced microbes may compete with their own native species trying to suppress each other. It is better to provide congenial conditions for the native soil organisms to flourish.

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. Whereas the practices like diverse cropping, organic ammendments etc increase the diversity of soil organisms and also improve their numbers.

The practices that depend on their local resources and help farmers in making their agriculture self-reliant are discussed in this sections that follow.

“Human race will reach the organic (biological) age or cease to exist” -H. P. Rusch