World Soil Day 2020 and its campaign theme "Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity" aims to celebrate the importance of maintaining healthy soil ecosystems and as a vital contributor to human well-being The WSD is observed in 140 countries across globe for promoting affirmative actions for healthy soils.
The World Soil Day was celebrated virtually at ICAR-IIHR on 5th December 2020 to create awareness on importance of soil. Dr. K. H. Vinaya Kumar, IFS (Rtd), Former CCF Forest Resource Management and Director, EMPRI, and presently EMPRI Fellow-Environment, Bengaluru was the Chief guest. Dr. K. H. Vinaya Kumar, said that soil is not just a physio-chemical entity and its full exploration is beyond human capacity. He informed that nearly 33% of soil is degraded and rapid utilization and industrialization will create lot of pressure on depleting soil resources and emphasized the importance of soil for human survival
The Director IIHR Dr M R Dinesh chaired the function and emphasised the need to focus attention on revival of soil health and to preserve the pattern of nature. By promoting soil health, we promote ourselves. During the event, soil and plant health cards were prepared for distribution to 85 farm holdings covering more than 30 villages to check the declining soil fertility and to promote the judicious use of the fertilizers thus reducing the cost of cultivation.
