| | AUGUST 20228INDUSTRY INSIGHTSG reen revolution was the product of use of hybrid seeds, irrigation and most important chemical fertilizers. All these increased the yields wonderfully and transformed India from a ship to mouth economy to a country self-sufficient in food. Year after year the yields increased until they started plateauing after 1980s. The reason was primarily attributed to loss of organic matter, reduction in micro-flora, soil compaction, salinity and reduction in water holding capacity.The ground water was obsessively removed by providing cheap or free electricity leading to depletion of ground water bodies. The soils could not absorb and retain moisture and carried with them precious top soil increasing silt and nitrates in ground water leading to mounting health hazards. This was compounded by reduction in profits due to reduction of input use efficiencies­ fertilizers, pesticides and water. This was further aggravated by straw burning [rice/ sugarcane] and reduction of use of organic matter to soils.Soils have a wonderful capacity to store carbon which not only improves its fertility but also is food and home to millions of microbes. They run the nutrient fertility cycles and also help keep absorb air pollutants. Soil Carbon acts like a bio-sponge for purifying and retaining water thereby increasing the ground water table.There is a micro-ecosystem con-sisting of many agriculturally impor-tant microbes for Nitrogen, Phospho-rus, Potassium, Zinc supplementation and more [N fixers, P solubalizers, Zn, K mobilizers] Efficient strains can be formulated into useful products called bio-fertilizers.Field bio-efficacy show that bio-fertilizers help to improve the nutrient use efficiency of chemical fertilizers too adding to a favourable cost benefit ratio USE OF BIO-FERTILIZERS FOR CROP PRODUCTION & SOIL FERTILITYBy Sandeepa Kanitkar, MD & Chairperson, KanBiosysSoils have a wonderful capacity to store carbon which not only improves its fertility but also is food and home to millions of microbesSandeepa Kanitkar,MD & Chairperson
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