Business

Soil is wealth: Karan

December 8, 2022 4:55 am

[Photo Credit: AG America]

Resource owners must play a significant role in sustaining soil health, particularly those involved in the sugar industry.

Permanent Secretary for Sugar, Yogesh Karan says sustaining soil health will help farmers achieve target sugarcane production in the coming years.

During the recent World Soil Day commemoration, Karan says about 83 percent of soil in Viti Levu and more than 95 percent of the soil in Vanua Levu are acidic.

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He urged everyone to show commitment to the efforts of protecting our environment and promoting healthy soil by adopting simple methods such as using mill mud, animal and poultry manures, composts, cover cropping, and green manuring, among others.

He pleaded with the cane growers to work together in mitigating and avoiding the burning of cane farms during harvesting, as it induces more costs to the environment, and public infrastructures destroy soil nutrients and affect the performance of the sugar industry.

The Sugar Research Institute of Fiji organized a celebration to commemorate World Soil Day.

World Soil Day is commemorated and celebrated on 5th December annually.

The theme for this year is “World Soil Day 2022, Soils: Where Food Begins”.