Role of indigenous soil health care practices in improving soil fertility: Evidence from South India

Excerpt

Expensive soil and water management technologies, high labor requirements to carry out maintenance for which farmers do not have enough time, and top-down approaches have contributed to the soil fertility problem. This has led to an increased recognition of indigenous soil management practices among agricultural researchers and extension specialists. Indigenous soil fertility management and soil conservation practices have evolved and been adopted and modified by farmers based on their informal experiments (Reij). Tapping into indigenous soil knowledge is a useful methodology on both a practical and theoretical level for fostering sustainable agricultural development (Rajasekaran).

Correcting problem soils

Recent studies have clearly demonstrated the value of indigenous soil management practices. Farmers in the Kerala and Karnataka states of India have used vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanoides) for more than a century for protecting field bunds from soil erosion. Farmers in the eastern Uttar Pradesh state of India reclaim alkaline soils by applying farmyard manure and water (Balasubramanian). Farmers in the Indo-Gangetic plain, India, break the soil crust by hoeing or plowing to renew gaseous exchange and thereby preventing wilting of crops (Reddy). In Auroville, Pondicherry, India, new crops are planted before harvesting the existing crop (Jhunjunwala). Aurovilleans mulch trees with …