Problems intensified
Depletion of micronutrients such as copper and molybdenum from the soil leads to poor food quality and micronutrient deficiency in humans. The most common deficiency is that of zinc, copper and manganese. Manganese deficiency has reduced productivity in coarse-textured soil under the rice-wheat system in Punjab, points out J S Kanwar, deputy director general (emeritus), International Centre for Research in Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad.
Boron deficiency is most serious in the Kosi project area of Bihar and iron deficiency in the rice, groundnut, sorghum and chick pea growing areas in coarse-textured soils as well as in black soils in many states in peninsular India, and central and western India. In the jute-rice-wheat system at Barrackpur, West Bengal, the deficiency of boron and sulphur has become an yield limiting factor, Kanwar points out. Going a step further, VAIDYA BALENDU PRAKASH, director, Vaidya Chandra Prakash Cancer Research Foundation, Dehradun, states that "Ayurveda suggests that imbalance of any of the micronutrients results in the manifestation of a disease. This concept is important in the present day world which faces major ecological disturbances and consequently newer diseases."
At the same time pollution related disease is rising at an alarming rate in developing countries like India. "The emphasis should be to find ways of preventing it," Balendu Prakash notes.
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