IFFCO has taken the plunge and begun rejuvenating soil through a network of its employees across states. The cooperative goliath’s initiative has suddenly gained visibility in a sleepy village Shreepur, in the district of Supual in the northern part of Bihar.
A farmer of the village named Nirlobh Acharya approached this correspondent to tell his story of woes. He was tired of irrigating a piece of land about an acre in dimension; planting vegetables for last couple of years had yielded no produce. The soil had no life and no matter what labour was being put in, there were no results.
He has heard about IFFCO’s campaign “Mridda Jirnodhar kaayakram (resuscitating life in soil)” and thus he contacted this correspondent who in turn presented the case to IFFCO Director Prem Chandra Munshi who was recently busy touring remote areas of the state educating farmers , as reported in these columns earlier.
Mr Munshi referred the matter to Mr Rajender Yadav area manager of IFFCO based in Purnea. To this correspondent’s utter surprise, Yadav who must be a middling on the IFFCO food chain turned out to be quite 
knowledgeable and explained the reasons responsible for lack of productivity to both the farmer and this correspondent.
Later talking to this correspondent Yadav thanked IFFCO’s MD Dr U S Awasthi and said “ Our MD ’s constant emphasis on save our soil and rejuvenation of Mother Earth has instilled awareness among thousands of staff like us spread across the country.
Some of the figures Mr Rajender Yadav uttered offhand were no less revealing. He said that percentage of organic carbon is continuously sliding in our soil leading to a dangerous situation. If there is no life in soil how can there be growth!
In 1952 the average percentage of organic carbon in our soil was between 0.5 to 0.8 which today has come down to 0.2-0.3- a matter crying for urgent attention, Mr Yadav said.
Readers would know that IFFCO MD Dr Awasthi has been touring remote areas and mingling with farmers in order to make them aware of the impending peril in the wake of excessive use of chemical fertilizer.
“It is heartening that the new government led by Narendra Modi is as seized of the matter as IFFCO has been for decades. The idea of soil health card by the government is a welcome move”, Awasthi had tweeted recently.
Coming to Shreepur and Supaul the farmer Nirlobh Acharya received instructions from IFFCO Manager Rajender Yadav on how to revive his tiny piece of land. Later a crisis management team of local IFFCO office visited the village and enlightened farmers on the issue. A campaign was soon launched in the village to save the soil and enrich it with what is known as organic carbon. ”The field would turn green once again and I do not have words to thank them,” thanking IFFCO an emotional Acharya told this correspondent.
