2024-08-31 05:54:29
To tie: There is serious concern among farmers and agricultural experts in Bundelkhand about the use of salt in the fields. While some contractors are using salt to get more yield by taking the fields on contract. The real farmers consider it a crime like ‘killing the womb of the earth’. The soil testing department says that if this situation continues, the fields will gradually become barren.
Many farmers and agricultural experts insist that the use of salt in the fields, especially for paddy crop, can destroy the fertility of the soil. Banda’s agricultural scientist Radheshyam says that excessive use of salt increases the salinization of the soil, which can increase the crop yield. However, after a few years the same fields become barren. Due to this, the nutrients present in the soil, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are rapidly depleted, which destroys the fertility of the land.
Farmers protest
Charan Yadav, a farmer from Mohan Purwa in Banda, says that no real farmer will use salt in his crop. This is being done by the same people who take land on contract and ruin the fields to make quick profits. Putting salt in the fields is like destroying the womb of the earth. Similarly, Sagir, a farmer from Atarra, also calls it a ‘mahapaap’. He says that using salt in the fields is like destroying a newborn baby who is still growing in the womb.
Opinion of agricultural experts
District Agriculture Officer Manoj Gautam says that farmers should avoid not only salt but also chemical fertilizers. He stressed that the best solution is to use indigenous fertilizer made from cow dung, due to which the fertility of the field remains intact and production also increases continuously.
The use of salt and its consequences
Agricultural scientist Pramod says that due to lack of information, farmers are spraying salt to protect the paddy crop from diseases. Although it does protect from diseases, but in the long run it makes the field barren. The soil testing department also says that the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, which make the soil fertile, have gone down a lot in the fields, if this situation continues, the fields will gradually become barren.