DHAKA, Dec 4, 2020 (BSS) – The World Soil Day-2020 will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe tomorrow highlighting the importance of taking care of soil and conserving soil biodiversity.
The theme of this year’s day is ‘Keep Soil Alive, Protect Soil Biodiversity’. The World Soil Day is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
On the eve of the day, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages greeting all concerned and wishing all programmes of the day a success.
In his message, President Abdul Hamid said soil is the habitat of about one-fourth of the world’s biodiversity.
“Soil biodiversity is an essential component of healthy soil. Soil biodiversity is the ecology of all living things including, plants, animals and microorganisms living in the soil and their combination,” he said.
The President said different types of microorganisms, fungi, protozoa living in the soil play an important role in protecting the health of the soil.
At present, he said, the loss of soil biodiversity is a matter of concern as it is reducing the fertility of the soil.
He said soil biodiversity is being deteriorated day by day due to intensive cultivation to meet the food demand of the growing population, unplanned use of agricultural land, expansion of industries and urbanisation.
“Let us work together to take care of the soil and conserve the soil biodiversity. To implement Bangabandhu’s dreams, I hope that Soil Resource Development Institute will be more active in innovating new technologies to ensure the rational and profitable use of the declining land and soil resources of the country,” Abdul Hamid said.
He hoped that through sustainable soil management, Bangladesh would be able to conserve soil biodiversity as well as ensure the food security for the gradually increasing population.
In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said continuing sustainable agricultural production and protecting soil biodiversity are major challenges in the changing global climate situation.
“We have made great achievement in agriculture. Even, in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh’s agriculture has made a significant contribution to the country’s food security,” she added.
Noting that high-yielding and hybrid varieties have been added to modern agriculrure, the premier said, cropping intensity has increased several times, while the pressure on the soil is constantly increasing in order to produce more crops.
“We are emphasising on modernisation and mechanisation of agriculture in the country. New high value crops are being added to the agricultural sector to implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” she said.
As a result, Sheikh Hasina said, the use of various biochemical agricultural inputs is also increasing.
Attention must be given to ensure that these agricultural technologies do not create any threat to soil health and biodiversity, she added.
Mentioning that soil health is closely related to human health, the prime minister said sustainable soil management is required for safe food production.
She said agriculture in Bangladesh is now going through a transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.
In addition to increasing production, Sheikh Hasina said, the quality of agricultural products must be maintained and in this case, balanced application of fertiliser and other inputs to soil is very important.