NE NEWS SERVICE
COIMBATORE, APR 22
If only we give Mother Earth a chance, she will restore everything in absolute abundance and beauty, said a spiritual leader here on Thursday.
“Mother Earth is so generous. If only we give her the chance, she will restore everything in absolute abundance and beauty,” said Sadhguru, Founder-Isha Foundation, in his message on World Earth Day today.
Mother Earth is so generous. If only we give her the chance, she will restore everything in absolute abundance and beauty. #SadhguruQuotes #EarthDay pic.twitter.com/HnXb0IPyyn
— Sadhguru (@SadhguruJV) April 22, 2021
Fertile soil is the real asset of the nation, says Sadhguru adding that planting trees is crucial to protect the fertility of the soil and the health of the people. This is the primary objective of Isha’s Cauvery Calling movement which is encouraging farmers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to adopt tree-based agriculture which has proven to yield enormous ecological and economic benefits for the farmer.
Sadhguru has launched several large-scale grassroots ecological projects over the last two decades and has spoken extensively on the most critical ecological challenge of our times: soil degradation. It is estimated that 60% of India’s 16 crore hectares of arable land lacks adequate soil nutrients posing a real danger to food security over the next 25-30 years. The only way to increase soil nutrients is to plant more trees – something that the farmers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been doing on a massive scale.
In the 2020 planting season, farmers in both states planted 1.1 crore saplings on their farmlands in the Cauvery river basin which is expected to have a significant impact on the soil health and water holding capacity of the densely populated river basin.
Sadhguru says that without fertile soil, there is no question of abundant water as healthy soil is the greatest reservoir of water. Nutrient-rich soil can absorb rainwater and store it underground, protecting it from evaporation and recharging groundwater tables.
The Cauvery Calling movement aims to cover one-third of the river basin area with 242 crore trees. Farmers will plant high-value saplings on their own farmlands in the river basin in a tree-based farming model that has been proven by Isha on ground over the last two decades. Farmer incomes have risen 3 to 8 times from the model while soil and water health has improved substantially in these areas. The model is now being replicated in the Cauvery river basin to augment the source flow of river Cauvery which is estimated to have shrunk more than 40% since Independence.
