Soil Degradation Essay

“What you see depends on how you view the world. To most people soil is just dirt but to a farmer its potential.”-DOE ZANTAMATA.

Soil is a complex ecosystem; it is made up of organic materials, liquids, minerals and gases which forms a habitat for all animals and plants. We normally tend to take soil for granted but it’s much more than mud or dust. There is no life without soil because all the plants grow in soil and we either eat these plants that grow in soil or the animals that eat the plants and soil also acts as a filter for any water that passes through it.

All soils are initially formed from rocks known as parent material. The main cause of the formation of the soil is by weathering of these parent materials and weathering is the breaking down of this parent material because of different climatic conditions.

It is seen that the major factors limiting the production in small farms is low soil fertility, shortage of water, and soil degradation. Also proper soil enrichment by farmers is not done as they do not replenish as much nutrients back to the soil as the crops take from the

Management of soil is concerned with the ways of making the soil of better structure and quality. There are various methods employed by the farmers to do that-

1. Mulching- It is basically treating the soil with plants that were grown on it. The cut plants are put back on the soil to prevent the soil from blowing away by wind. The edible plants are used and the non- edible parts of the plant are spread on the ground. Mulch helps in reducing the velocity of runoff which helps in reducing the soil