Global Soil Partnership

The recent Global Soil Partnership Assembly discussed how to meet “ambitious and urgent” target of improving and maintaining health of at least 50 percent of world's soils by 2030.

Soil Map of India

In India, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has classified soils into 8 categories:

• Alluvial Soil:

  • Formation: Deposited by rivers, particularly originating from the Himalayas.

  • Composition: Contains clay, sand, and silt particles.

  • Characteristics: Highly fertile due to adequate potash, lime, and phosphoric acid.

  • Types: Old alluvium (Bangar) and new alluvium (Khadar).

  • Locations: Northern plains from Punjab to West Bengal, Assam, and delta regions of rivers like Mahanadi, Kaveri, Godavari, and Krishna.

  • Crops: Wheat, maize, sugarcane, rice, pulses, and oilseeds.

• Black Soil (Regur):

  • Formation: Derived from lava and volcanic rocks.

  • Composition: Rich in potash, lime, magnesium carbonate, and calcium carbonate.

  • Locations: Predominantly found in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.

  • Characteristics: High moisture retention and water holding capacity.

  • Crops: Cotton, wheat, millet, and tobacco.

• Peaty Soil:

  • Formation: Accumulation of organic matter in humid climates.

  • Composition: High organic matter, low potash, and phosphate content.

  • Locations: Few districts of Kerala, coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttaranchal, and Sundarbans of West Bengal.

  • Characteristics: Acidic, black soil.

  • Organic Matter Content: 10-40%.

• Saline and Alkaline Soil:

  • Formation: High sodium, potassium, and magnesium content, poor drainage, and dry climate.

  • Locations: Arid and semi-arid areas of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Maharashtra.

  • Characteristics: High salt content, calcium, and nitrogen deficiency.

  • Improvement: Enhanced irrigation, drainage, gypsum application, and cultivation of salt-resistant crops.

  • Suitability: Leguminous crops.

• Red Soil:

  • Formation: Weathering of metamorphic and igneous rocks, high iron content.

  • Locations: Parts of Karnataka, Orissa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.

  • Characteristics: Rich in potash, sandy or clayey texture, deficient in nitrogen, phosphate, and humus.

  • Color: Red due to iron oxide.

• Desert Soil:

  • Formation: High sand content (90-95%), low clay content, low rainfall.

  • Locations: Rajasthan, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, parts of Haryana, and Punjab.

  • Characteristics: Low water holding capacity, high phosphate content.

  • Vegetation: Cactus, shrubs; fertility increased temporarily by rainfall and irrigation.

• Laterite Soil:

  • Formation: Heavy rainfall regions, sedimentation of rocks, high iron oxide content.

  • Locations: Western and Eastern Ghats, Vindhya, Malwa Plateau, Satpura.

  • Characteristics: Pinkish color, high in nitrogen, acidic.

  • Suitable Crops: Rubber, coconut, coffee, cashew nuts, sugar, ragi, and rice.

• Mountain Soil:

  • Formation: Accumulation of organic matter from forest growth.

  • Locations: Himalayan regions, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, peninsular India, Eastern Ghats, and Assam.

  • Characteristics: Rich in humus.

  • Texture:

Issues

• Challenges: low nutrient levels, with the average soil organic carbon (SOC) being around 0.54 percent, land degradation, Nutrient depletions and deficiencies in soil, deterioration of soil health.
  • Acidic soil: Over 30 per cent of cultivable land in India is said to carry acidic soil, impacting plant growth. 
  • Sulphur Deficiency
  • Loss of soil inorganic carbon
  • 55 percent of the country’s soil is deficient in nitrogen, 42 percent in phosphorus and 44 percent in organic carbon (2019-20 Soil Health Survey)
• Impact: Negatively affected nutrition intake, declining productivity, threatened food security, soil erosion, reduced soil biodiversity, diminished soil fertility, and compromised water quality and availability, significant risks to human health and ecosystems.