Friday, 17 November 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The 928th day of the online voluntary ‘Yogahaar’ programme themed on soil health concluded at Patanjali Organic Research Institute (PORI), Haridwar on Thursday. The organisers said that a large number of agriculture experts and farmers from across the country attended the programme. Sharing details, the PORI officer bearers said that from the discussion held on this day, it emerged that there is an urgent need to work with a holistic vision for soil health. The participants stressed that taking care of soil health is required in view of the soil holding an abundance of organic items and nutrients in it aside from its water holding capacity. These determined the continuity of crop vitality, they pointed out.
The programme commenced with the address of a senior PORI functionary Pawan Kumar who dwelt on the significance Yogahaar and informed about the upcoming presentations. This was followed by discussions. Manohari Rathi and Tarun Sharma, through their presentation on soil health, explained the methodology adopted, tools identified for measuring soil moisture, earthworm count, Soil Health Card, Dharti Ka Doctor and Soil Health Ladder Chart. They further said that the Soil Health Ladder and Dharti Ka Doctor are being tested among the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. According to them, the farmers are showing keen interest in this and this has been helping them move forward along with increased awareness about the presence and quality of soil biodiversity, nutrients and water in the soil. Further, they have started taking interest in evaluating soil health themselves on the basis of some selected methods and becoming self-reliant or atma nirbhar, they highlighted in their presentations.
While Suresh Kumar said that by continuously giving crop residues in the field, the soil gets the desired nutrition from the field itself, agriculture expert Vinay Swarop Mehrotra from Bhopal suggested collective and holistic work for soil health. Besides, Sanjay Naithani emphasised on holistic health as well as the management of organic waste and Hariraj Singh talked about the importance and relevance of visiting the fields daily.
