A new study has revealed a worrying trend for India’s soil health. As per the report, nearly 30 per cent of the country’s landmass is experiencing “minor” soil erosion, while a critical 3 per cent faces “catastrophic” topsoil loss.
- The study, Geospatial modeling and mapping of soil erosion in India, for the first time, classified soil erosion on a pan-India basis.
- The study employed the RUSLE equation to estimate potential soil loss at a pan-India level. The RUSLE equation is known as Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation.
- The equation takes into account various factors like predicted crop loss, rainfall and runoffs, also known as the R-factor, soil erodibility, steepness and length of a slope of a mountain, crop management and support practices like strip cropping, etc., to estimate soil loss at 250 metre spatial resolution.
