GROUND REALITY

What happens when the soil loses the ability to grow healthy, high-yield crops on its own?

- SHAGUN

SUKHVINDER SINGH is a worried man. Gazing at the standing lush green paddy crop on his family’s 20 hectare (ha) farmland, the 29-year-old farmer of Punjab’s Bhaini Mehraj village says, “The soil is nearly barren. On its own, it has lost the capacity to yield a crop that can fetch us a good price. We keep it alive with chemical fertilisers.” Sukhvinder’s 60-year-old father Kewal Singh has accompanied him to the field. He used to tend to the same land before his son. “Around 25 years ago, the soil in our district Barnala teemed with life—from earthworms to beetles. Chemicals finished them,” Kewal says.

As per the nutrient dashboard of Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the percentage of soil high in organic carbon in Punjab is just 6.9 per cent in 2024-25, down from 12.7 per cent in 2023-24, while the national average stands at 17.9 per cent. “This happened because the soil’s ability to absorb carbon has deteriorated to a great extent. The result is a loss of soil structure, stability and aggregation,” says Umendra Dutt, founding member and executive director of Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM), a Punjab-based non-profit. In April, kvm tested soils from four districts— Moga, Patiala, Faridkot and Bathinda—and found that the average soil organic carbon was just 0.3-0.8 per cent. It should be 1.5-2 per cent.

Poor soil microbial activity has caused a decline of mycorrhiza—a type of fungi—in the soil. Its role in the soil is to help plant roots absorb more nutrients. “Mycorrhiza converts nitrogen into ammonium, which plants can absorb and use. If the field does not have fungi or necessary bacteria, then no matter how much fertiliser you use, the plant will not absorb it to the required extent,” says Gulab Singh of Tapa village, who got his farm soil tested by Punjab Agricultural University in 2022.