Key Details
Limited progress: Only 10% of regional assessments reported an improving trend in the adoption of sustainable soil management practices. Around half combined low or very low adoption with worsening soil threats.
Erosion dominates: Soil erosion remains the most serious and interconnected global threat. Its management was assessed as deteriorating in 65% of regional and subregional assessments.
India’s degraded land: The report cites India’s Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas, which estimated that 97.85 million hectares, or 29.8% of the country’s geographical area, experienced land degradation in 2018–19—1.45 million hectares more than in 2011–13.
Nutrient stress: Indian agriculture faces both excess application of nitrogen and phosphorus and the depletion of other nutrients. The report points particularly to potassium deficiency in intensively cultivated northwestern India.
Salt-affected soils: India has an estimated 6.7 million hectares of salt-affected land. Earlier research cited by the report places the associated annual crop loss at 16.84 million tonnes, valued at about ₹23,020 crore.
The Assessment Measures Management, Not Just Soil Condition
The publication is the second global soil assessment after the 2015 edition, but the two should not be read as directly comparable soil censuses.
Because consistent time-series data on soil condition remain unavailable across many countries, the 2026 assessment examines whether practices capable of controlling particular threats were being adopted between 2015 and late 2024. Its conclusions therefore indicate the direction and adequacy of soil management, rather than providing a new measurement of every hectare affected.
This distinction matters for India: figures such as the extent of degraded or salt-affected land are drawn from earlier national assessments and studies compiled by the report, not newly measured 2026 estimates.
India’s Soil Pressures Reinforce One Another
The report identifies erosion as South Asia’s foremost soil threat. In India, water erosion is widespread in cultivated and hilly areas, while wind erosion is concentrated in arid regions. Loss of topsoil also removes nutrients and organic carbon, reducing the soil’s capacity to retain water and support crops.
Nutrient management presents a different imbalance. Intensive cultivation and low inherent soil fertility have encouraged heavy fertilizer use, but crops absorb only part of what is applied. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus can pollute water and degrade soil, while insufficient replacement of potassium and micronutrients can progressively weaken productivity.
Salinization adds another geographically concentrated risk. Nearly three-fourths of India’s salt-affected soils are located in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan. The report also identifies agrochemicals, industrial wastewater, heavy metals and emerging contaminants such as microplastics among India’s soil-pollution concerns.
More Knowledge Has Not Produced Adoption at Scale
The report points to established combinations of practices — reduced tillage, crop-residue retention, cover crops, balanced nutrient management and agroforestry — that can address several threats together. India is also reported to be implementing strategies intended to reduce chemical dependence, protect soil biodiversity, build organic matter, conserve moisture and control erosion.
The constraint is no longer simply the absence of technical solutions. Adoption depends on whether farmers can manage the costs, operational demands, uncertain yields and local suitability of changing established practices. Benefits such as lower input expenses or better yields can motivate adoption, while longer-term public benefits — carbon storage, biodiversity or reduced downstream sedimentation — may require financial support.
What Is Sustainable Soil Management?
Sustainable soil management (SSM) means managing soil so that it continues to support food production, water regulation, biodiversity and carbon storage without being progressively depleted or degraded. The appropriate practice varies by soil, crop, climate and farming system; it is not a single prescribed technique.
Policy Relevance
For India, the assessment points towards a more integrated soil-policy architecture:
Measure adoption and outcomes: Programme monitoring should establish how much land actually moves to improved practices and whether erosion, salinity, nutrient imbalance and organic-carbon loss decline as a result.
Connect fragmented datasets: Soil Health Cards, land-degradation maps, salinity assessments, fertilizer-use records and watershed data need to inform a common, location-specific diagnosis.
Correct the fertilizer imbalance: Support should extend beyond increasing aggregate fertilizer availability towards crop- and soil-specific nutrient use, including potassium, sulphur, micronutrients and organic inputs.
Fund the transition: Where conservation produces wider environmental benefits but imposes near-term costs on farmers, targeted incentives and payments for verified ecosystem services may be needed.
Build local delivery capacity: Extension systems require the ability to translate soil-test results into workable recommendations suited to individual farming systems—not merely issue test reports.
Follow the Full Report Here: Status of the World’s Soil Resources 2026