The ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur celebrated World Soil Day on 05 December 2021 to make the farmers aware about the importance of maintaining a healthy soil for sustaining better productivity. This year the theme of the occasion was ‘Halt soil salinization, boost soil productivity.’ About 155 farmers from the different villages of Jabalpur along with the scientists and technical officers of the Directorate participated in the programme. Dr. J. S. Mishra, Director, ICAR-DWR mentioned that soil is a living body and it is our moral responsibility to take care of its health. It is possible to have healthy human, healthy environment and healthy society only from a healthy soil. To feed the ever increasing population we need to produce more and more from the same piece land, and side by side we must be careful that the problem of soil salinity does not arise due to our intervention for getting higher yield. He advocated to follow the balanced fertilization and conservation agriculture practices, and also talked about utilizing weed biomass and crop residues for making good quality compost so that excessive use of inorganic fertilizers could be avoided and soil fertility is improved.

Dr. P.K. Singh, Principal Scientist emphasized on the importance and methodologies of improving soil health. He informed the audience about the possibilities of soil pollution due to improper use of agro-chemicals and also urged the farmers to avoid burning of crop residues in field as it harms the beneficial soil organisms besides causing air pollution. He advised the farmers to obtain soil health cards from the concerned department and apply proper amount of inorganic fertilizer.

Dr. K.K. Barman, Principal Scientist while welcoming the participants highlighted the problem of soil salinity and its impacts on crop production, and the precautions to be taken to prevent anthropogenic salinization process. Mr. Dibakar Roy, Scientist talked about remediation methods of soil salinity. Dr. VK Choudhary, Senior Scientist highlighted the benefits of conservation agriculture. Dr. Yogita Gharde, Scientist anchored the programme. At the end, the farmers were shown the improved composting and vermicomposting techniques, performance of improved weed management techniques in conservation agriculture in the technology park of the Directorate.