Years of unthoughtful agricultural practices have dented the soil’s health. The organic matter & nutrients of the soil are slowly decreasing to an extent where vast pieces of lands are waiting to become infertile, threatening the entire food chain.

According to a recent report, out of 350 million hectares of soil in India, 120 million hectares has already turned problematic & the demand for food grains is expected to increase to 355 mn tonnes  in 2030 from 192 mn tonnes in 2000.

So is our earth ready for this? Are we even doing something about it today?

India started heavily subsidising fertilisers to kick start green revolution. This resulted in rampant usage of Urea by the farmers. This overdose of Urea on our lands resulted in throwing the chemical composition of the soil off-balance. In recent times, Government has taken some initiatives like providing ‘Soil Health Cards’ to farmers. This has sensitised farmers about the life of the soil and thus reducing the usage of Urea by a marginal percentage; but that’s not enough.

Farmers, with big or small farming lands should start thinking about giving back to earth by establishing sustainable agricultural practices.Some of them include crop rotation, growing leguminous crops between crop cycles, planting cover crops or using biological options as fertilizers.    

At Binsar, we took a step back and questioned whether our practices are environment friendly. To begin with, we put some simple practices in place to protect our soil. The main resource we have is Cow dung, urine etc which can be used to regenerate the soil’s health. Using manure is a good way to rejuvenate the moisture in the soil. Dry lands absorb more water, thus increasing the water usage.

We have started conceptualising the idea of treating wastewater & using it for the crops just to create a cycle of sustainability. We hope to conceptualise more practices & create a sustainable model.  

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