By Dr Kancheti Mrunalini
For decades, the story of Indian agriculture has been one of intensive growth, but this progress has come at a hidden cost to our most precious resource: the soil. Today, as we face the dual challenges of a growing population and a changing climate, the “more is better” approach to chemical fertilisers is hitting a wall. To ensure our long-term food security, India must pivot toward Integrated Nutrient Management (INM)—a holistic strategy that marries modern science with traditional wisdom to restore our land’s vitality.
The Crisis beneath Our Feet
Indian agriculture is characterised by small and marginal landholdings and a heavy reliance on nitrogenous chemical fertilisers. Years of imbalanced use and continuous monocropping have led to severe soil degradation. We are now seeing “multi-nutrient deficiencies,” where soils are desperately short of secondary and micronutrients like sulphur, zinc, and boron.
When soil health declines, so does “factor productivity”—meaning farmers have to apply more fertiliser just to get the same yield they used to achieve with less. This cycle increases production costs and leaves crops more vulnerable to the erratic rainfall and droughts that are becoming more frequent under Indian climatic conditions.
What is Integrated Nutrient Management?
INM is not about abandoning modern fertilisers, but about using them more judiciously in combination with organic and biological sources. It is a balanced “diet” for the soil that includes:
- Chemical Fertilisers: Applied in precise doses based on actual soil needs.
- Organic Manures: Utilising farmyard manure (FYM), compost, vermicompost, and green manures.
- Bio-fertilisers: Tapping into beneficial microbes like Rhizobium, Azotobacter, and Mycorrhizae to naturally fix nitrogen and solubilise phosphorus.
- Crop Residues: Recycling what is grown back into the earth.
The Pillars of Soil Health
To understand why INM works, we must look at the three pillars of soil health: physical, chemical, and biological.
- Physical: INM improves soil structure and water-holding capacity. For a farmer in a rainfed region, this means the soil acts like a sponge, retaining moisture longer during dry spells.
- Chemical: It balances pH levels and ensures that macro and micronutrients are actually available to the plant roots rather than being locked in the soil or washed away.
- Biological: Perhaps most importantly, INM stimulates microbial diversity and earthworm populations. These “tiny engineers” are critical for nutrient cycling and sustaining productivity in intensive systems like the rice–wheat or sugarcane belts.
Best Practices for the Indian Farmer
Moving INM from the lab to the field requires practical, site-specific strategies. National initiatives like the Soil Health Card Scheme are already providing a roadmap by recommending fertiliser applications based on actual soil tests rather than guesswork.
Key management practices include the split application of nitrogen to match critical crop growth stages and the use of slow-release options like neem-coated urea. Simple, low-cost tools like the Leaf Colour Chart (LCC) in rice help farmers decide exactly when to apply urea, reducing waste and environmental runoff. Furthermore, integrating legumes into cropping systems can naturally enhance nitrogen fixation, benefiting the entire system’s productivity.
Field-Level Impact and Economic Gains
The relevance of INM is most visible at the farm level. Long-term field experiments across India show that integrated use of fertilisers and organics sustains higher yields than chemical fertilisers alone.
For the average farmer, the benefits are tangible:
- Lower Costs: Partial substitution of expensive chemicals with on-farm organic resources reduces the need for external inputs.
- Resilience: Better root growth and soil tilth make crops more “climate-resilient”, helping them withstand the stresses of drought.
- Quality: Inclusion of micronutrients like zinc and iron results in visible improvements in both crop yield and produce quality.
A Sustainable Path Forward
Beyond the individual farm, INM aligns with India’s national priorities for environmental sustainability. By minimising nutrient losses through leaching and volatilisation, this approach reduces environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
As we look toward the future of Indian agriculture, it is clear that we cannot simply “mine” our soils indefinitely. Integrated Nutrient Management provides a scalable, farmer-centric pathway that ensures our farming systems remain viable for generations to come. It is time to treat our soil not just as dirt, but as a living system that requires a balanced, sustainable diet to feed a nation.
(The Author is a Scientist at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.)
