RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov.30: People in Jharkhand will be able to know the health of forest soil as the Institute of Forest Productivity (IFP) will release the Forest Soil Health Card of the state on December 2.
The release programme will be organized in Institute campus at Lalgutwa in the Jharkhand capital. Senior officials of IFP besides senior officers of the forest department are expected to participate in the programme.
Chief Technical Officer of IFP, Sambhu Nath Mishra informed that the study will provide information on soil quality parameters which will be useful for the State Forest Department’s (SFD’s) for sustainable management of forests, plantation growers to identify suitable place for growing trees with respect to soil quality and ultimately its benefits will reach the rural people living near the forests.
“The Forest Soil Health Card will be very useful to identify the soil constraints of the area,” Mishra said.
Talking about the importance of soil health he said: “We Indians believe that man was born from soil and will end with soil. In Prithvi Sukta, the Vedic seer solemnly declares the enduring filial loyalty of humankind to Mother Earth, “Mata Bhumih Putroham Prithivyah” meaning ‘soil is my mother, I am her son’. Soil is also called Vishwagarbha (world’s womb). Soil is the most wondrous gift of nature to human society. Truly, 4.5-billion-year-old earth is the mother of soil. It perhaps establishes the earliest reverence for soil and the closest bond between soil and human society.”
