World soil day was held at ICAR-DGR on 05 December 2022. About 160 persons including 50 farmers from Ivnagar and nearby villages participated in the event. The theme for 2022 World Soil Day (WSD) is ‘Soils: Where Food Begins’. It emphasizes upon the importance of maintaining soil as a living being. The objective of WSD is to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining Healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, increasing soil awareness and encouraging societies to improve soil health.
The event started at the main Campus of ICAR-DGR, Junagadh with ICAR song and the welcome remarks by Dr. Kiran Reddy, Scientist, Soil science. While explaining about Theme and objectives of world soil Day, Dr. C.S. Praharaj, PS & Head, Crop Production at ICAR-DGR who reiterated the fact that about 95% of the food we eat comes directly or indirectly from our soils. Hence food is to be safe and nutritious to provide energy and basic nutrients; and to prevent disease and the intake of harmful toxic substances. Therefore, there is a need for greater awareness for efficient soil management for better crop production and improved soil health. Soils need a balanced and varied supply of nutrients in appropriate amounts to keep it productive while maintaining its fertility. Agricultural systems often lose nutrients following each harvest, and if soils are not managed sustainably, fertility is progressively lost, and soils produce nutrient-deficient plants and thus, rendering it barren in the long-run. Dr. KK Pal, Head, Basic Sciences at ICAR-DGR explained about the importance of soil as a living medium.
The chief guest of the function, Dr. Bhaskar Suryanarayana, ADG (Agronomy, Agroforestry and climate change) emphasized on reducing the soil degradation processes for improving soil organic carbon for better soil health. He also pointed out that most of soil-nutrient are lost as a result of soil degradation process threatening both crop/human nourishment in time to come. Therefore, with reduced soil fertility and poor crop productivity, food security and sustainability issues are at stake and thus affecting Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, every effort need to be made to restore our soil when climate change and other man-made factors are major concerns, he added. The Chairman of the event Dr. SK Bera, Director, ICAR-DGR highlighted the role of soil in everyday life and its direct contribution to one’s health.
The program concluded with vote of thanks