Soil Health in India Challenges and the Way Forward

UPSC Syllabus: Gs Paper 3- Agriculture

Introduction

Soil health is essential for agricultural productivity, food security, environmental sustainability and human nutrition. However, imbalanced fertiliser use, unsustainable farming practices and declining soil biological health are weakening India’s agricultural foundation. Despite the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) reform introduced in 2010, nutrient imbalance has worsened, highlighting the need for better fertiliser policies and sustainable soil management. Soil Health in India Challenges and the Way Forward.

Present Status of Soil Health in India

1. Worsening Nutrient Imbalance: India’s nitrogen (N): phosphorus (P): potassium (K) ratio stands at 10.5:4.1:1, against the derived normative ratio of 2.8:1.5:1, reflecting highly imbalanced nutrient application.
2. Excessive Nitrogen Application: Nitrogen use has shifted from 7% below recommended doses to 6% above them, while 11 of 20 major states overuse nitrogen, led by Jharkhand (72%) and Punjab (65%).
3. Widening Potassium Deficiency: The potassium deficit has increased from 48% to 72%, with farmers applying only 9 kg per hectare against the recommended 32 kg.
4. Persistent Phosphorus Deficiency: The phosphorus deficit has narrowed only from 29% to 22%, showing that nutrient-based pricing has not ensured balanced fertiliser application.
5. Widespread Soil Nutrient Deficiencies: Among 96 lakh soil samples tested under the Soil Health Card scheme in 2025-26, 72% were low in nitrogen, 52% in organic carbon, 42% in boron and 37% in zinc.
6. Neglected Biological Health: Soil monitoring mainly focuses on nutrients, while microbial communities and biological functions remain largely unmeasured, limiting a complete assessment of soil health.

Major Challenges Affecting Soil Health

A. Imbalanced Fertiliser Use and Pricing Policy

1. Distorted Fertiliser Pricing: NBS (Nutrient Based Subsidy) allowed phosphatic and potassic fertiliser prices to fluctuate with global markets but kept urea prices fixed, encouraging excessive nitrogen use.
2. Rising Relative Fertiliser Costs: Between 2010-11 and 2024-25, DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) prices nearly tripled to ₹54/kg and MOP (Muriate of Potash) rose six-fold to ₹52/kg, while nitrogen prices in urea increased by only 1%.

B. Unsustainable Agricultural Practices

1. Degradation of Soil Ecosystems: Indiscriminate pesticide and agrichemical use, crop-residue burning, monocropping and dependence on high-yielding varieties disturb natural soil communities and plant microbiomes.
2. Loss of Soil Organic Matter: Poor organic matter recycling and excessive tillage weaken soil conditions, while soil compaction caused by mechanisation further affects soil functioning.
3. Low Nutrient Use Efficiency: Crops absorb only 30-40% of applied nitrogen and 15-20% of phosphorus, while unhealthy soil biology further limits nutrient availability and uptake.

C. Weak Monitoring and Institutional Support

1. Limited Biological Testing Capacity: Existing soil laboratories mainly test nutrients and lack the infrastructure and expertise to measure biological functions, restricting comprehensive soil health monitoring.
2. Weak Policy Implementation: Existing policies promoting non-chemical farming have achieved limited progress, while centralised soil testing has not sufficiently changed fertiliser use, cropping patterns or farmer decisions.

Implications of Declining Soil Health

1. Environmental Pollution: Excess nitrogen escapes into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 273 times as potent as carbon dioxide, while nitrate leaching contaminates groundwater.
2. Human Health Risks: Nitrate levels above safe limits have been found in parts of 502 districts, increasing the risk of blue baby syndrome in infants and chronic illnesses in adults.
3. Declining Crop Productivity and Quality: Potassium deficiency weakens drought and disease resistance and reduces grain quality, while phosphorus shortage delays flowering and affects crop development.
4. Nutritional Insecurity: Zinc and other micronutrient deficiencies reduce grain nutritional quality, contributing to hidden hunger, micronutrient deficiencies, stunting and wasting among children.
5. Rising Fiscal Burden: The fertiliser subsidy budget is ₹1.71 lakh crore for 2026-27, potentially rising to ₹2.5-3 lakh crore due to Strait of Hormuz disruptions, with urea accounting for two-thirds.
6. Unequal Subsidies and Resource Pressure: Punjab receives approximately ₹25,700 nitrogen subsidy per hectare, ten times Kerala’s benefit, while MSP-based procurement and subsidised power reinforce rice-wheat cultivation and increase pressure on aquifers.
7. Farmer Livelihood Concerns: Poor nutrient uptake increases dependence on fertilisers, while healthier soil biology can improve yields, reduce input requirements and support better farmer livelihoods.

Way Forward: Towards Sustainable Soil Management

A. Reform Fertiliser Subsidies and Incentives

1. Introduce Nutrient-Neutral Support: Shift from input price subsidies to per-hectare direct benefit transfers, neutral across nutrients and crops, so farmers face market prices without urea’s artificial price advantage.
2. Ensure Practical Subsidy Transition: If direct transfers seem too abrupt, bring urea under NBS while reducing DAP and MOP prices proportionately, keeping the overall subsidy budget around ₹2 lakh crore.
3. Strengthen Digital Fertiliser Delivery: Link AgriStack farmer IDs, land records and crops sown with fertiliser sales through the Framework for Fertiliser Sale (FFS), while addressing tenant identification challenges.
4. Reward Balanced Fertiliser Use: Fix and expedite PM-PRANAM, which aims to reward states for balanced fertiliser consumption, as no disbursements have been made so far.
5. Set Measurable Reduction Targets: Establish state-level goals to reduce chemical fertiliser use by 25-30% over five years, supported by monitoring and financial incentives for sustainable farming transitions.

B. Improve Soil Management and Nutrient Efficiency

1. Follow the 4Rs Principle: Apply the right source, rate, time and place of fertilisers through plot-level soil testing and crop-specific recommendations to improve nutrient management.
2. Promote Crop Diversification: Rotate cereals with pulses to reduce the next crop’s nitrogen requirement by 20-30%, while improving crop diversity and supporting healthier soil systems.
3. Adopt Soil-Friendly Farming: Reduce excessive tillage, stop puddling of rice, improve organic matter recycling and promote cover crops, mulching and intercropping to maintain living roots and microbial communities.
4. Promote Efficient Irrigation: Redirect fertiliser subsidy savings towards drip irrigation and fertigation to improve resource efficiency and support sustainable nutrient application.

C. Strengthen Monitoring and Innovation

1. Integrate Biological Health Monitoring: Include soil biological parameters in routine national monitoring, using affordable dehydrogenase and urease tests costing ₹100-200 per test.
2. Develop Farmer-Friendly Testing: Promote simple, visual, real-time point-of-care soil tests, while improving validation, accuracy, awareness and farmer adoption.
3. Support Region-Specific Biofertilisers: Encourage decentralised biofertiliser production and develop locally adapted microbial formulations suited to regional soils, crops and growing conditions.
4. Encourage Fertiliser Innovation: Support customised and coated fertilisers, triple super phosphate (TSP) as an alternative to DAP, nano fertilisers and gene-edited seeds that use nitrogen efficiently.

D. Align Agricultural Policies

1. Reform Procurement and Power Pricing: Reform MSP-based procurement and electricity pricing in Punjab and Haryana to reduce the policy incentives that sustain rice-wheat cultivation and excessive resource use.
2. Support Sustainable Farming Transitions: Redirect financial support towards farmers adopting organic and natural farming, using an area-based approach supported by knowledge, training and financial assistance.

Conclusion

India must shift its focus from the quantity of fertilisers applied to balanced nutrient supply and overall soil health. Integrating biological monitoring, sustainable farming, subsidy reforms and farmer support can improve productivity and nutrition while reducing environmental damage. Timely reforms in fertiliser pricing, procurement and power policies are essential to protect soil resources and ensure long-term food security.

Question for practice:

Examine the major challenges of soil health in India and suggest suitable measures to address them.

Source: Indian Express; Downtoearth