Soil Fertility Status in India: Challenges and Solutions

India feeds over 1.4 billion people, but the soils that make this possible are under serious stress. Widespread nutrient deficiencies, declining organic carbon, and years of intensive farming have left a large share of Indian agricultural land in poor health. Understanding the current soil fertility status across India is not just important for agronomists – it directly affects crop yields, farmer incomes, and the country’s long-term food security.

The current nutrient status of Indian soils 🔗

According to a 2025 assessment by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), based on data from the government’s Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme, 64% of Indian soil samples tested low in nitrogen and 48.5% were low in organic carbon. These two parameters are closely linked – organic carbon is the primary source of nitrogen in soils through a natural process called mineralization. When organic carbon drops, nitrogen availability drops with it.

The deficiency picture extends beyond just nitrogen. A research paper on soil fertility status of Indian soils reports that over 90% of cultivated Indian soils are deficient in available nitrogen and phosphorus, while about 50% are deficient in available potassium. Analysis of over 2.4 lakh soil samples from 615 districts across 29 states found that roughly 41% of soils were deficient in sulphur, 36.5% in zinc, and 23.2% in boron. Deficiencies of iron, manganese, and copper were also present, though at lower rates.

These numbers reveal a troubling pattern: India’s soils are lacking not just one or two nutrients, but often multiple nutrients simultaneously – a situation sometimes called multi-nutrient deficiency.

Why organic carbon is the foundation of soil fertility 🔗

Soil organic carbon (SOC) deserves special attention because it influences almost every aspect of soil health. It improves soil structure, increases water-holding capacity, supports beneficial microbial life, and acts as a slow-release storehouse of nutrients. A study published in ScienceDirect notes that the average SOC content in Indian soils is around 0.54%, which is well below the 1-1.5% level considered optimal for productive agriculture.

When SOC levels are this low, soils lose their ability to hold and cycle nutrients effectively. Farmers then need to apply more and more synthetic fertilizers to get the same results – but the CSE assessment found that current fertilizer application is not translating into improved nitrogen or organic carbon levels in the soil. This points to a fundamental inefficiency in how nutrients are being managed on Indian farms.

According to Drishti IAS analysis of the Global Soil Conference 2024 data, over 70% of Indian soils suffer from either excessive acidity or alkalinity, both of which disrupt the natural nutrient cycle and make it harder for plants to access the nutrients present in the soil.

Micronutrient deficiencies: the hidden crisis 🔗

While nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) get most of the attention, micronutrient deficiencies are equally serious. Plants need micronutrients in small quantities, but without them, crop growth, quality, and human nutrition all suffer.

Zinc deficiency 🔗

Zinc is the most widespread micronutrient deficiency in Indian soils, affecting roughly 36-49% of cultivated land depending on the dataset. Zinc-deficient soils produce crops with lower zinc content, which contributes to zinc deficiency in the human population – a significant public health concern in India. Alkaline soils, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh, are especially vulnerable because high soil pH reduces zinc solubility, making it unavailable to plant roots.

Boron deficiency 🔗

Boron deficiency affects an estimated 23-33% of Indian soils. Boron is essential for cell wall formation, flowering, and fruit development. Its deficiency leads to poor seed set, hollow stems, and reduced crop quality. Boron is easily leached from sandy and light-textured soils, making it a recurring problem in many regions.

Sulphur and iron deficiency 🔗

Sulphur deficiency, once considered rare, now affects about 41% of Indian soils. The decline is partly because farmers have shifted away from sulphur-containing fertilizers like single superphosphate in favour of high-analysis fertilizers like DAP. Iron deficiency is particularly severe in calcareous soils of northern India, where high pH and calcium levels lock iron into forms that plants cannot absorb.

What is causing the decline in soil fertility? 🔗

The fertility decline in Indian soils is not caused by a single factor. It is the result of several interconnected pressures building up over decades.

Soil erosion 🔗

India loses an estimated 5.3 billion tonnes of soil every year to water and wind erosion, according to research published in the journal Sustainability. This erosion strips away the nutrient-rich topsoil, carrying with it an estimated 8 million tonnes of plant nutrients annually. Nearly 29% of eroded soil is permanently washed into the sea. The Brahmaputra Valley in Assam, parts of the Western Ghats, and the Shivalik Hills are among the worst-affected areas.

Nutrient mining 🔗

Every crop harvest removes nutrients from the soil. In India, growing crops remove roughly 20 million tonnes of NPK annually, but the total nutrients added back through fertilizers and organic sources fall short by 8-10 million tonnes every year. This persistent gap between removal and replenishment is called nutrient mining, and it gradually exhausts the soil’s natural reserves.

Imbalanced fertilizer use 🔗

India’s fertilizer consumption is heavily skewed towards nitrogen. The NPK consumption ratio was 10.9:4.4:1 in 2023-24 against a desirable ratio of 4:2:1. This imbalance is largely driven by the heavy subsidy on urea, which makes it much cheaper than phosphatic and potassic fertilizers. A report by ICRIER on soil health degradation highlights that urea receives over 80% subsidy, encouraging farmers to overuse nitrogen while neglecting other nutrients.

Monocropping and intensive agriculture 🔗

Repetitive cropping patterns like the rice-wheat cycle in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh extract the same set of nutrients season after season. Without rotation or diversification, specific nutrient reserves deplete faster, and problems like zinc, boron, and sulphur deficiency become entrenched.

Decline in organic inputs 🔗

In the 1950s, about 16% of soil nutrients came from organic sources. Today, over 90% of nutrient inputs come from inorganic fertilizers, with only a small fraction from organic manures. As Mongabay India reports, reduced livestock populations in some regions, rising labour costs, and the practice of burning crop residues have all contributed to a sharp decline in organic matter returning to the soil.

Regional variations in soil fertility 🔗

India’s soil fertility challenges are not uniform across the country. They vary significantly based on soil type, climate, cropping patterns, and management practices.

The Indo-Gangetic plains, once considered among the most fertile in the world, are now showing signs of nutrient exhaustion from decades of intensive rice-wheat cropping. States like Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh have particularly wide NPK consumption ratios, meaning nitrogen is applied in extreme excess relative to other nutrients.

The black cotton soils (Vertisols) of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, while naturally rich in some nutrients, are increasingly deficient in phosphorus and zinc. The red and laterite soils of peninsular India are inherently low in fertility and prone to acidity, leading to deficiencies of calcium, magnesium, and several micronutrients.

The acidic soils of northeastern India, Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala, and Himachal Pradesh face distinct challenges, including molybdenum deficiency and aluminium toxicity, which further limits nutrient uptake by crops.

Solutions for restoring soil fertility 🔗

Reversing India’s soil fertility decline requires a multi-pronged approach that addresses both nutrient supply and the underlying health of the soil ecosystem.

Balanced fertilization 🔗

Moving from a nitrogen-centric approach to balanced NPK application – along with secondary and micronutrients – is critical. The Soil Health Card scheme, which has issued nearly 24.7 crore cards as of February 2025, provides farm-specific fertilizer recommendations. Studies have shown that farmers who followed SHC advice reduced chemical fertilizer use by 8-10% while increasing yields by about 5-6%. The key is actually getting farmers to follow these recommendations, which remains a challenge.

Integrated nutrient management (INM) 🔗

INM combines organic manures, crop residues, biofertilizers, green manures, and chemical fertilizers in balanced proportions. Long-term fertilizer experiments conducted by ICAR have consistently shown that the combination of NPK fertilizers with farmyard manure outperforms any other nutrient management approach in terms of both yield and soil health maintenance. Replacing even 50% of mineral nitrogen with organic sources can boost microbial diversity by 12-15%, according to research published in Frontiers in Microbiology.

Organic amendments and biochar 🔗

Compost, vermicompost, green manuring, and crop residue incorporation are proven methods to rebuild soil organic carbon. Biochar – a charcoal-like material produced by heating biomass in the absence of oxygen – is gaining attention as a soil amendment that can improve fertility, retain moisture, and sequester carbon. However, India currently lacks standardized production protocols for biochar, limiting its large-scale adoption.

Soil conservation measures 🔗

Controlling erosion through contour farming, terracing, cover cropping, mulching, and agroforestry is essential to keep nutrients where they belong – in the field. Conservation agriculture practices that minimize tillage can reduce erosion rates by up to 95% compared to bare, conventionally tilled fields.

Policy reforms 🔗

The PM-PRANAM scheme, launched in 2023, incentivizes states to reduce excessive fertilizer use and promote alternative inputs like biofertilizers and organic manures. By 2023-24, 14 states had already saved 1.51 million tonnes of fertilizer use under this programme. The Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme is also being reformed to encourage more balanced use of phosphatic and potassic fertilizers alongside nitrogen.

Crop diversification and rotation 🔗

Breaking away from monoculture systems by introducing legumes, oilseeds, and other crops into the rotation helps restore soil nitrogen naturally (through biological nitrogen fixation), disrupts pest cycles, and reduces the depletion of specific nutrients. Legume-based rotations can fix 50-200 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year, significantly reducing the need for synthetic nitrogen.

The role of soil testing and monitoring 🔗

Accurate soil testing is the starting point for any fertility management strategy. While the SHC scheme represents the world’s largest soil testing programme – with a network of over 8,200 laboratories across India – gaps remain. Only about 1.1 crore of India’s 14 crore farmer households have been reached in recent testing cycles. Moreover, the current testing protocol covers only 12 chemical parameters, missing important physical indicators (like soil compaction and water-holding capacity) and biological indicators (like microbial biomass and enzyme activity) that international bodies like FAO recommend for a complete picture of soil health.

Expanding the scope of soil testing, increasing coverage, and – most importantly – ensuring that farmers actually use the recommendations will be key to turning the tide on soil fertility decline.

Looking ahead 🔗

India’s soil fertility crisis has been decades in the making, and fixing it will not happen overnight. But the tools, knowledge, and policy frameworks are increasingly available. From the Soil Health Card scheme and PM-PRANAM to emerging solutions like nano fertilizers, biochar, and precision agriculture using drones and AI, the roadmap is becoming clearer. The real challenge is translating these into on-the-ground action across millions of small and marginal farms.

Soil is not just a growing medium – it is a living ecosystem that underpins everything from crop productivity to carbon sequestration and water purification. Investing in soil health today is investing in India’s food security tomorrow.

What do you think? With fertilizer subsidies still heavily favouring urea, can policy reforms alone drive the shift towards balanced soil nutrition? And in your region, have you seen any real impact of the Soil Health Card scheme on farming practices?

References

1. https://www.cseindia.org/indian-soils-severely-deficient-in-essential-nutrients-12908
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398073039_Soil_Fertility_Status_of_Indian_Soils
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667006222000375
4. https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/global-soil-conference-2024-and-soil-in-india
5. https://www.agronomyjournals.com/archives/2024/vol7issue1S/PartC/S-7-6-8-148.pdf
6. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/4/3528
7. https://visionias.in/current-affairs/news-today/2026-02-20/geography/report-on-soil-health-degradation-in-india
8. https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/soil-degradation-in-india-spells-doom-for-millions/
9. https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/soil-testing/95/international-environmental-technology/restoring-soil-health-indias-ambitious-soil-monitoring-program/65439
10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12067421/