Agriculture Dept Kashmir commemorates ‘World Soil Day’

By
Ziraat Times
-

SRINAGAR: The World Soil Day-2024 was commemorated by Agriculture Department Kashmir across the division, with the main event held at Agriculture Complex Lalmandi Srinagar.

Speaking on the occasion, Joint Director Agriculture Mushroom Kashmir, Sartaj Ahmad Shah highlighted the importance of World Soil Day. He said this day provides us an opportunity to highlight the issues confronting Soil Health.

The theme of this year is ‘Caring for Soils: measure, monitor, and manage’ and emphasizes the urgent need for accurate soil data to drive sustainable soil management practices for global food security and environmental resilience.

Joint Director marked the importance of awareness among the masses (farmers) regarding the Soil Health management. He said we are the custodians of this irreplaceable natural resource and it is our professional, moral and ethical duty to preserve this treasure for our generations to come.

He said Soil gets depleted because of the over usage of chemicals, Agro chemicals fertilizers and erosion therefore, it is important to ensure, raise awareness among farmers regarding these issues.
Similar programmes were organized by the department in different educational institutions to sensitize the students regarding the soil health.
Earlier pledge was administrated to the participants to raise awareness among the farmers regarding Soil Health. Participants reiterated their commitment to work for the sustainable Soil Health management.
The Programme was attended by Sectoral heads, Scheme heads, divisional Officers and other officials of the department.

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  1. Readers like to know the present status of the soil erosion UT is reeling under and measures taken to contain it and how much.
    Sharing a write up to review.

    .
    Soil erosion unde r lens
    Kashmir Monitor Dated13/10/2020
    Bhushan Parimoo
    Looking at the horrifying magnitude of the soil erosion in the Himalayan watershed, an extremely grim picture emerges
    which is as large as the Himalayan range itself. Soil suffers, under decreasing green cover, causing disastrous flash
    floods these days. Indian Subcontinent is an agronomic country largely depending upon the nature of soil. Bombay
    National Institute of Hydrology Bombay has observed the extreme flow events had doubled with an increasing trend in
    annual maximum streamflow from five floods of the Himalayas between 2010 &2019. Soil is a critical ecosystem service
    provider besides one of the vital resources which are utilized by humans to sustain their livelihood. Jammu and Kashmir has
    come under the spell of the worst kind of soil erosion, unchecked at a very alarming rate, sending continuous & unbearable
    chill deep through the spine of the inhabitants. With the present trend of unchecked soil erosion, the future holds a grim
    picture for the present as well as the future generations.
    The status and rate of soil erosion has become a matter of deep concern, being felt by the hapless inhabitants. Authorities
    have failed to rise up to the occasion to contain it. One of the early warning on the decline of soil erosion was given way
    back in 1987 by Sh R.K. Mattoo IFS then director, social forestry, in a seminar that, “If earnest efforts are not taken to
    restore the existing forests and raise large-scale plantation, our state will turn into a muss bowl”. Persistent efforts by the
    Environment Awareness Forum over the years have failed to make concerned show any action at the ground level. Left with
    no option this writer brought the matter in the public domain through a write up under the caption, Soil Erosion: Cause for
    deep concern in the state, carried by Early Times, Jammu on Mon, Mar 13, 2017. It was appreciated widely but beyond that,
    nothing has happened. It has been estimated years back by the authorities that 80% of the geographical area of the state is
    affected by Soil erosion in one form or the other. Very little has been done to contain the process, which is growing worse
    with each passing day. Neither Agriculture nor Forest Departments has any present Soil erosion status with them of Forest
    Division or Agriculture block wise, though both the departments have full-fledged wings for the job. Decades back the All
    India Soil and Land Use Survey Organization; Govt of India, had finalized a nationwide system of delineating and
    codification of the Watersheds at a macro level, into five hierarchical stages such as Water Resources Regions, Basins,
    Catchments, Sub -Catchments, and watershed. The entire country is divided into 6 Water Resources regions, Indus, Ganges,
    Brahmaputra drainage, all drainages flowing into Bay of Bengal except Ganges and Brahmaputra, all drainages flowing into
    Arabian sea and Ephemeral drainages mostly western desert area. According to analysis, the hydrological behaviour and
    other characteristics of the catchments of the Indus basin within Jammu and Kashmir had been initiated during 1977-78.
    With the creation of the Department of Soil Conservation lately designated as Department of Soil Conservation and Water
    Resources. It carried the assignment against heavy odds with utmost dedication from a rented inadequate accommodation,
    both in Jammu and Srinagar. Catchment of Sindh (Ladakh), Krishnan Ganga was taken in hand in the year 1983 followed
    by Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi each and every basin was mapped and assessed right from its Catchment, Sub – Catchment,
    Watershed, micro Watershed and last of all mini micro watershed levels. Sh G.H.Kangu IFS has been its first director.
    Later the Department of Remote Sensing was established to assist it through satellite monitoring 24 /7, but less said the
    better. What is surprising, soil conservation figure in the State Forest Policy of Jammu and Kashmir (2010), Which admits
    that the conservation of biodiversity and natural habitat through preservation of natural forests with the vast verity of flora
    and fauna. Rehabilitation of degraded forests is dire need so as to optimize their productivity and restore their potential to
    provide ecosystem goods and services on a sustain basis. Extending tree cover outside forests to reduce pressure on natural
    forests for supply of forest produce. Checking denudation and soil erosion in catchments through integrated watershed
    management techniques and practices. Maintenance of the health of forest vegetation and forest soils for augmenting water
    supplies through recharge of underground aquifers and regulation of surface water flows, sediment levels and water quality.
    The Forest Department will prepare an implementation schedule for realizing the objectives of this policy. A high powered
    institutional mechanism will be put in place to monitor and review the implementation of the policy. Where and what are
    the results? Almost about nearly 20% of the affected area has reached a stage where more or less completely lost
    productive soil. The process of erosion goes in the geometrical progression over the years; top soil has been washed away in
    absence of green cover. Erosion causes valuable plant nutrients to be carried away from the lands and in termsof nitrogen
    alone state loses more than its annual consumption of chemical fertilizer That we lose +50 tonnes tons of valuable topsoil
    per hector from our fields and pastures every year and that in very severe cases the figure may be much alarming rate and
    that soil erosion is one of the main causes which is the result of reckless deforestation of green cover. only a fraction of the
    degraded forests are treated for restoration. Conservative estimates at present said to be about 15-18 lakh hectare of degraded
    forests of which just less than one percent is treated annually leaving 99 per cent untreated. This cumulative degradation is
    mounting and soil erosion is on at a very fast pace. Soil is the thin layer of material covering the earth’s surface that is
    produced from rocks through the processes of weathering and natural erosion. Water, wind, temperature change, gravity,
    chemical interaction, living organisms and pressure differences all help break down the rock, the parent material. Develop
    over time, layers (or horizons) form a soil profile; most soil profiles cover the earth as 2 main layers’ topsoil and subsoil.
    Soil is a non-renewable natural resource which is often overlooked, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization
    (FAO), it can take hundreds to thousands of years to form a centimetre of soil. But, that single centimetre of soil can be lost
    in a single year due to erosion. Soil minerals are divided into three size classes the clay, silt, and sand, classified according
    to the: colour, thickness, particular texture, and age of formation, chemical composition and some basic physical properties
    of the soil. Further classified on these features in the categories. Alluvial, Black, Red & Yellow. Laterite, Arid and Forest
    soils as further soils are classified. It is made up mainly of mineral particles, organic materials, air, water and living
    organisms—all of which interact slowly yet constantly. in general, is upper crust of the earth, is a material composed of five
    ingredients — minerals, soil organic matter, living organisms, gas, and water.
    Soils are among the great ecosystem service providers on earth (Haygarth& Ritz 2009). They store and provide Water for
    plants. They prevent floods by transferring water slowly to streams and groundwater. They filter and remediate pollutants.
    They cycle and recycle nutrients and wastes — transforming them into biologically available forms, storing them away for
    later use, and preventing their leaching to ground and surface waters. Soils provide habitat for a vast diversity of life. They
    take up and release important gases, including oxygen and greenhouse gases, a service called gas regulation. Many of these
    ecosystem services are being lost through the degradation and loss of soils. The conservation, restoration, and optimization
    of ecosystem services provided by soils are among the great challenges for humanity in the 21st century. All those connected
    with the soil related activities are conscious of the fact that the soil is a vital part of our environment. It allows plants to
    grow, holds and cleans water, recycles nutrients and provides a home for a multitude of organisms on Earth. Farmers are
    well aware without soil, no crops of any kind grow – with the exception of hydroponics. International Year of Soils was
    launched on World Soil Day, 5 December 2014, and has been celebrating every year the World over. Franklin D. Roosevelt
    32nd president had emphasised emphasis to save soil with utmost care in view of the fact that a nation that destroys its soil
    destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
    (the writer is a Jammu based environmentalist).

    —

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