Leading voices from academia, research institutions, and industry came together on June 02, 2025 at Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, for a high-level Round Table on ‘Improving Soil Health for Better Crop and Human Nutrition’. The discussions highlighted growing concerns over the indiscriminate use of highly subsidised urea, which is not only degrading soil health but also contributing to alarming levels of water contamination, posing risks to both agricultural sustainability and public health.
The round table was organised by the Agriculture Policy, Sustainability, and Innovation (APSI) vertical of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) focused on India’s soil health crisis and its far-reaching impact on food and nutritional security.
Participants reflected on India’s remarkable journey from a ‘ship-to-mouth’ economy in the 1960s to becoming the world’s largest rice exporter, while acknowledging the environmental costs of this transformation. Experts highlighted the consequences of decades of imbalanced fertiliser use, especially the indiscriminate use of highly subsidised nitrogenous fertilisers like urea, leading to widespread soil degradation, micronutrient deficiencies, water contamination, and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite annual fertiliser subsidies exceeding USD 22 billion, productivity and soil health outcomes remain suboptimal, with only 35–40% of applied nitrogen being absorbed by crops and the rest lost to the environment.
The eminent panellists underscored the direct link between soil health and human nutrition, noting that zinc-deficient soils contribute to stunted growth in children and threaten the nation’s long-term economic potential. Participants agreed that restoring soil health is essential not only for increasing crop yields but also for improving the nutritional quality of food and securing the well-being of future generations.
Drawing attention to the gravity of the situation, the event concluded with an expert noting that India’s soils require ‘INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (ICU) care’, reinforcing the need for urgent and collaborative interventions of multi-stakeholders across sectors for national health and prosperity.
