India’s Soil in Crisis
- Bhuvan yadranvi
- Oct 24
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 11
The Silent Erosion: A Call to Action for Sustainable Farming
India’s farmland is slowly losing its lifeblood: the very soil that feeds millions. Over the past decades, there has been a steady decline in soil organic carbon across much of the country.
Healthy soil is more than just dirt; it holds nutrients, stores water, and hosts millions of microbes that keep crops alive and resilient. Without it, even the best fertilizers can’t sustain productivity.
Farmers are noticing the signs. Fields that once yielded abundant crops now struggle, even when fertilizers are applied. The soil’s natural vitality—its ability to recover, feed plants, and retain moisture—is steadily eroding.
The Fertilizer Dilemma
Fertilizers are meant to help crops grow. Yet, the very tools used to boost yield can inadvertently degrade soil.
Most commonly used fertilizers are single-purpose:
Ammonium-based fertilizers rapidly increase nitrogen availability, promoting quick growth and higher yields.
Magnesium- and carbon-rich fertilizers strengthen soil structure, improve microbial activity, and restore nutrients.
Farmers face a difficult choice: prioritize immediate yield or invest in long-term soil health. Applying multiple fertilizers can help balance these goals, but in practice, it’s often too complex or costly to manage.
The Practical Constraints
Modern farming practices add another layer of limitation. Most farms now rely on tractor-mounted pellet applicators, designed to distribute fertilizers efficiently and evenly.
These machines only work with pelletized fertilizers.
Uniform pellet size is required for the machinery to operate correctly.
This technical limitation restricts farmers’ choices. The image you see on the left shows the machine they use to plant seeds with fertilizers.
A Real-World Challenge
Beyond machinery, farmers operate under tight financial and labor constraints. Managing multiple fertilizers, each for different purposes, increases costs and effort, making it difficult to address both soil health and yield simultaneously.
The result is a systemic gap: fertilizers designed for immediate productivity dominate, while long-term soil vitality is often ignored. Over time, this threatens both crop resilience and farmers' livelihoods.
The Bigger Picture
The problem isn’t just individual crops or fields; it’s the sustainability of India’s farming system. Soil degradation reduces the land’s capacity to absorb water, retain nutrients, and resist stress. It makes farming more fragile, increases dependence on chemical inputs, and jeopardizes food security.
More than 30% of India’s farmland is already degraded. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)—the key indicator of soil health—has fallen from 1% to below 0.3% in most agricultural zones. Every 1% drop in SOC can reduce crop yield potential by up to 12–15%.
Healthy soil → >1% more SOC
Today’s reality → around 0.3% SOC, which is poor.
Awareness and Collaboration
We are working on solutions for the problems discussed above, and we have our philosophy called Waste to Value. This approach emphasizes transforming industrial by-products into valuable, sustainable raw materials. By adopting circular economy practices, we can help industries reduce their environmental footprint through innovative solutions and collaborations.
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Conclusion: A Path Forward
To address the challenges facing our agricultural system, we must prioritize soil health. This means rethinking our approach to fertilizers and farming practices.
We need to invest in research and development to create multi-purpose fertilizers that enhance soil vitality while promoting crop yields. Collaboration among farmers, researchers, and industry leaders is essential.
Together, we can build a sustainable future for agriculture in India. By focusing on soil health, we can ensure that our farmland remains productive for generations to come.
Let’s work towards a resilient agricultural landscape that supports both farmers and the environment.
Join us in this mission to transform the way we think about farming and sustainability.
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