Healthy soil is vital not only for optimum crop production but also for the good health of people and farm animals. Sick soils can neither produce nutritious food nor wholesome fodder. The strong correlation between the physical and chemical condition of soils and the health of people and animals has been borne out by studies and surveys.
Consider these facts. The net shortage of food affects around one billion people who go fully or partly hungry worldwide. But many times, more people suffer from malnutrition and its health consequences despite consuming adequate amount of food. Reason: the food they eat, though enough to satiate their appetite, does not provide all the essential elements of a diet in the required measure. Experts link this to the widespread deficiencies of major and micronutrients in soils, which is also evident from the nourishment available in the food and fodder grown on them.
The situation is truly grave in India. Crops extract more nutrients from soils than are added to it through fertilisers or organic manures. The total “negative nutrient balance” is estimated at a staggering 8 to 10 million tonnes a year. And it is set to reach around 15 million tonnes by 2025. This will surely aggravate health hazards for humans and livestock.
The loss of three major plant nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus and potash – is usually made up, albeit partially, with fertilisers. But, the depletion of equally essential micronutrients, numbering over a dozen, is often not taken care of. Consequently, the deficiency of micronutrients like sulphur, zinc, boron, iron, molybdenum and manganese has been noticed in soils on a wide scale.
Almost half the agricultural land is deficient in zinc, according to A K Singh, deputy director-general (natural resource management) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). “Crops grown in these soils have differing zinc content in shoots and seeds. The level of zinc in the blood serum of males and females in Rangareddy and east Godavari districts mirrors the soil and plant zinc status of these areas,” he says, in a paper on “Soil nutrient depletion and farm health”.
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Since the paucity of macronutrients and micronutrients in soils varies from region to region and field to field, its impact on health also varies accordingly. Human beings and domestic animals, who thrive mostly on locally-produced foodstuff, are vulnerable to the health repercussions caused by local soil-fertility aberrations. Wild animals, however, are not affected much because they graze over wider areas, sourcing their food from different sites.
The replacement of organic manure with inorganic fertilisers, especially after the green revolution, is held responsible for the depletion of soil organic matter content and also for the widespread scarcity of micronutrients in soils. The reduction of organic matter lessens the soils’ micro flora-content, adversely affecting the vital process of decomposition of organic matter that releases micro-nutrients to improve soil health.
The United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) views human health in a broader perspective as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-bring and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
From this viewpoint, agriculture should not only be deemed merely as means of producing food for man’s survival but also as a protector of human health and well-being. For healthy living, people need adequate and, more importantly, balanced amounts of carbohydrates, lipids, fatty-acids, protein, vitamins and several other macro- and micro-elements. A deficiency or disproportionate intake of any of these elements causes poor health, diseases, debility or even mortality.
In the case of farm animals, too, balanced nutrition is imperative for good health. However, surveys conducted in different zones and states of the country have shown widespread incidences of mineral deficiency in animal nutrition. A survey of the micro-nutrient status of green and dry fodders in the Vadodara district of Gujarat has indicated that these were low in iron, zinc and copper. In fact, zinc and copper deficiency in animal diet has been traced in other areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan as well, where micronutrient malnutrition has been noticed among sheep and other domestic animals. Most districts of Haryana have reported a paucity of zinc and iron. In neighbouring Punjab, buffaloes have displayed molybdenum-related symptoms.
The bottom line, therefore, is that food and nutrition security of people and livestock is not possible without soil health security.