Soil Health and Food Security: India’s Degradation Challenge
Why in the news
India’s food security discussion has moved from raising output to improving the quality and sustainability of food, with soil health at its centre.
Key facts
- Global dependence: over 99.7% of food comes from soil.
- Hunger: 735 million people face chronic hunger, linked to falling soil fertility.
- India: about 30% of soils (147 million ha) degraded by intensive farming, fertilizer overuse and monocropping.
- Erosion and sediment loss cut yields, crop quality and climate resilience; depleted soils worsen rural malnutrition.
Restoration pathways
| Approach | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Sustainable practices | Organic farming, cover cropping, biofertilizers, crop rotation |
| SOC build-up | Composting organic waste and mulching to raise Soil Organic Carbon |
| Crop diversification | Pulses, vegetables and traditional grains to refill nutrients, curb pests and break disease cycles |
| Natural inputs | Indigenous seeds and natural inputs to cut dependence on synthetic chemicals |
Significance
- Healthy soils lift productivity and crop nutrition and support climate adaptation.
- Agriculture employs most of India’s workforce, so degradation threatens food supply and farmer livelihoods.
- Sound soil management is needed to feed 1.4 billion people nutritiously.
Exam angle
- Share of degraded soils: about 30% (147 million ha).
- Key term: Soil Organic Carbon (SOC).
- Related terms: regenerative agriculture, crop diversification.