Webinar on ‘World Soil Day’ held

On the occasion of ‘World Soil Day’ or ‘Soil Health Day’ a webinar was organised on Saturday by the Institution of Engineers (India) J&K State Centre, Srinagar and Directorate of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kashmir. The webinar was inaugurated by Manzoor Ahmed Qadri, Director Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kashmir.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the Agriculture department had been making all efforts to ensure that benefits of various schemes percolate to the stakeholders, particularly the farmers.  Chairman IEI Aamir Ali said, “Our soil is under tremendous strain due to deforestation, urbanization, erosion, loss of soil biodiversity, improper agriculture practices, salinization, nutrient depletion, and chemical pollution and necessary measures need to be taken immediately.”

   

Former Director Agriculture Syed AltafAijazAndrabi said that due to the excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and other such chemicals the soil was losing its health which could have catastrophic impacts on soil as well as humans.  Consultants Disaster Management Bilquees Dar and Mohammed SuhailWani stressed on the role of soil health in disaster mitigation. They said that systematic planning of the land could help land managers to increase the soil-ability. 

Joint Director Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Kashmir Choudhary Muhammad Iqbal said that their department was putting in efforts in streamlining the activities of the farmers towards the use of organic farming.  Founder Editor Ziraat Times, ArjimandHussainTalib urged for a multi-disciplinary approach on addressing soil erosion, loss of soil vitality and bio-diversity challenges in Kashmir.

Honorary Secretary IEI JKSC, Aaquib Sultan Deva said that there was a need to avoid single use plastics, reduce, reuse and recycle non-biodegradables.

The webinar was on Zoom platform and live on Facebook.

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