Our degrading soil may be aggravating climate change, feels soil scientist Rattan Lal

Heat waves, milder winters, irregular rainfall, excess rainfall... Extreme climate events have risen in recent years and that is having an impact on agriculture. Look at our own country. Last year, a below normal rainfall and deteriorating reservoir levels among other reasons have led to food prices spiking. Food inflation has been a concern for the Reserve Bank of India as well in its bid to tame inflation.

Soil scientist Professor Rattan Lal points out that the quality of our soil is already degraded, which is in turn affecting produce, and that these things are only aggravating weather vagaries.

"Soil degradation also provides a positive feedback to climate change, because degraded soil emits more greenhouse gases, especially those which have a high global warming potential, such as oxide and methane. So, it's kind of a vicious cycle, more degraded the soil, more global warming and more global warming, more soil degradation," Lal told THE WEEK during an interaction.

A professor of soil science at the Ohio State University in the USA, Lal was a Padma awardee in 2021. Recently, he has been awarded the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. He will jointly receive the €1 million prize along with Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming and Egypt's SEKEM for their sustainable agriculture work and contributions to food security, climate resilience and ecosystem protection.

While Lal agrees that chemicals to some extent are needed to supplement the elements that have been depleted, he is concerned about the indiscriminate use of them.

"The problem we have when you use indiscriminate chemicals, they become poison rather than medicine. So, if the chemicals are to be used to replace what is removed from soil, they must be used precisely. And this is called precision agriculture. You use only what is needed and no more," he said.

He also feels that certain practices used by farmers are leading to inefficient use of chemicals too. He cites the example of using fertilisers in paddy fields. The water level in these fields along with the high (40-45 degree) temperature of the water leads to the lower efficiency of the fertiliser. So, the problem is also how we can improve the use and efficiency of agri chemicals, he noted.

The professor is also against burning crop residue, a practice that is common in areas of Punjab and Haryana. Every year, such crop stubble burning leads to alarming levels of air pollution in several parts of north India, including the National Capital Region.

"Soil is a living thing. It is productive because it has microorganisms in it. When you burn it (crop residue), you are actually burning the live biomass. So, burning the stubble is anti-soil health management practices," said Lal.

He says India needs a policy that protects the soil against misuse and mismanagement and at the same time rewards farmers who do good practices.

India is already the most populated country in the world and the population is only going to grow over time. At the same time, land availability is going to be limited and therefore we will have to make the most of the land resources that we have, points Lal.

"It is very essential that whatever output that is coming from the land, we are optimizing that," he said.

The soil degradation problem in India is very serious and that in turn will have an impact on the quality of the food that is produced, he noted.

"Seed-centric green revolution has been very successful, but we now also need environment and soil-centric revolution so that when we are producing food, it is also leading to restoration of soil health, water quality, air quality and environment."