Limestone Products
Can soil become sick?
A third of India's farmland has gone sour.
Dr. Lime Explains
Yes. Soil can turn acidic, and farmers have their own word for it. Sour.
Rain washes the calcium out of it, year after year. Fertiliser and decaying roots leave acid behind. Slowly, the soil turns.
In sour soil the nutrients are still there, but locked away. The plant cannot reach them. Fertiliser gets added, and much of it is wasted.
Lime is what brings it back. It corrects the acid, and as the soil recovers the nutrients become available again and the roots can take them up.
Farmers have called this sweetening the soil for centuries. It is one of the oldest practices in farming, and it still works.
Worth knowing
Roughly a third of India's farmland is acidic. Most of it lies in the east, the north-east, and the hills of the south. On that land, liming is one of the cheapest ways to improve a harvest. It is also one of the least used.
Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
