World Soil Day

FAISALABAD Dec 5: Experts at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad have warned of deepening soil health issues that will aggravate food insecurity and rising hunger in the years to come. They called for caring soil, protesting and sustainably managing this invaluable resource. They addressed an event to mark the World Soil Day. The students of the Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences staged more than stalls depicting the present and future aspects of the soil health and its impact on our lives and the planet. Talking to the participants, UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Sarwar Khan said that the soil health was waning due to soil erosion, loss of organic matter, and nutrition depletion. He added that decreasing soil fertility is a real challenge for which agricultural scientists should enhance their efforts to address the issue at the national and international level. He said that serious intervention was needed to combat environmental, soil and water degradation with proper remediation. Director Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, UAF and President Soil Science Society of Pakistan Dr Zahir Ahmad Zahir urged everyone to commit to the soil health by adopting scientific tools to measure its quality, monitor its change and implement effective management practice. Together, we can ensure that our soils remain fertile , resilient and capable of supporting life for generations to come. He added that the soil erosion, polluted water irrigation, converting of fertile land into the colonies and cropping intensity etc were deteriorating the soil health. He said each additional degree of environmental damage adds to the miseries of the people.