Non-usage of organic manure by farmers is causing deficiency of micronutrients
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Hyderabad: The soil in TS is deficient of important micronutrients like zinc, iron, manganese, boron and copper. Around 27 per cent of TS’ soil is deficient in zinc, while a further 34 per cent has borderline levels of zinc.
The figures were released in a report on micronutrient deficiencies in Telangana soil by AICRP on Micronutrients, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), after conducting tests on 4,799 soil samples from across the state over a period of three years. While deficiency in micronutrients in soil exists in many parts of the state, in many areas the levels are borderline.
The report states: “The combination of these two categories may add to the misery of micronutrient deficiencies in the state, especially Zn(Zinc), Fe(Iron) and B(Boron) if not managed properly.” “One of the main reasons behind the micronutrient deficiencies, as was also observed in earlier researches, is lack of organic manure usage by farmers,” said Dr P. Surendra Babu, head of AICRP on Micronutrients.
While farmers have been using fertilisers to make up for lack of natural micronutrients in soil, lack of organic manure usage results in soil degradation. As per agriculture experts, mainly two reasons restrict usage of organic manure by farmers. Many of them do not hold land larger than two to three acre and cannot afford the cost of manpower required to collect all organic material after harvest, construct infrastructure and spend money on maintenance for producing organic manure, like vermicompost. The other reason is dry-land agriculture. Due to lack of enough water for irrigation, almost half of the farmers raise just one crop in a year. Once harvest is done, they do not bother saving the organic waste for producing manure for next year’s sowing.
Extreme weather condition due to climate change also affects micronutrient levels in the soil. Dr Babu said, “Due to extreme temperatures, the movement of micronutrients across the soil is hampered, which results in deficiencies. Also, lack of rains over prolonged periods has an indirect impact on micronutrient levels.”
Deficient crop affects health:
Lack of micronutrients in soil has two main impacts, on food security and on the nutritional value of crops, which in turn, affect our health. Crops, which are grown in micronutrient deficient soil, need to be provided micronutrients through external sources like fertilisers. However, it only helps to an extent and experts say that natural presence of micronutrients in soil is imperative for proper growth of plants.
Micronutrients play a key role in a plant’s biochemical process and the lack of it stunts a plant’s growth and also affects crop yields. Another major issue arising out of micronutrient deficiency in soil is poor nutritional security. Crops, which are grown in micronutrient-deficient soil, contain less micronutrients in them and in their seed. For example, rice grown in zinc deficient soil will have less zinc and in turn people will consume less zinc.
Zinc plays an important role in human health and lack of it can affect immune, skeletal, reproductive and nervous systems. It is the same case with Iron. If a food crop is grown in iron deficient soil, the amount of iron in the harvest will be less, resulting in less intake of iron. Iron and zinc deficiencies are the leading health problems worldwide. A research paper on micronutrient deficiencies and its effect on food and nutritional security by IISS states: “The seeds grown on micronutrient deficient soil contain micronutrients two to three times lower than those grown on micronutrients adequate soils.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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