Role of INM for Sustainable Agriculture

There has been good growth in agriculture over the years inspite of stagnant net cropped area.
Improving or maintaining such a growth in future would be a challenging task as the intensive agriculture which primarily relied on increased use of inputs and exploitation of natural resources has started showing signs of fatigue. Dwindling land and water resources; plateauing crop yields; declining soil organic carbon and crop response to fertiliser use; suboptimum use of secondary-and micro-nutrients; widening N:P2O5 :K2O use ratio; appearing multinutrient deficiencies; mining of nutrients due to mismatch between absorption and addition; decreasing population of microorganisms in soil; emerging environmental concerns in the form of climate change; shrinking biodiversity; and looming energy crisis may pose a serious threat to agricultural sustainability and food security. With only 2.3% of the world’s land and 4% of global freshwater resources, 16% of human, and 17% of cattle population, yearly growth in agricultural production should be around 4% on sustainable basis to meet the growing need of burgeoning population without damaging the agro-ecological system. Soil is the most valuable resource on the Earth. Quote a large number of crops are cultivated on the soil to meet the demand of food, feed, fuel and fibre for the evergrowing population and to provide raw materials o the agri-input-based industry. Soil comprises of three properties namely physical, chemical & biological and sustenance of soil health is linked
to these properties. Soil health is the capacity of the soil to function as a vital living ecosystem
that sustains plants, animals and human race. A healthy soil allows the crops to grow to realize the full productivity potential. Use of fertilisers is indispensable for agricultural development in the world.