India’s Soil Is Sick, and So Is the Food on Your Plate: New Study

From the Editor’s Desk

February 7, 2026

Most of the food we eat comes from the soil. But across India, the soil is badly damaged and missing key nutrients that crops need to grow well and carry the minerals our bodies depend on, a new report says. As a result, you can eat a full plate of food and still not get the nourishment you need.

The soil is low in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, zinc and iron, according to the report, “Healing Soils in India: For Better Crop Health and Human Nutrition.” If soil lacks zinc, the rice and wheat grown in it will lack zinc. If it lacks iron, so will the spinach and lentils. You can eat a full plate and still be hungry for nutrients. That’s why India has so many cases of stunting, anaemia, and hidden hunger. The food fills the stomach but doesn’t feed the body.

Only 7 percent of soil samples tested had enough nitrogen, says the report, published by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Only 45 percent had enough phosphorus, 32 percent had enough potassium, and just 25 percent had enough soil organic carbon. On top of this, 35 percent of samples were deficient in zinc, 24 percent in iron, 25 percent in sulphur and 45 percent in boron.

The crisis has been caused by decades of fertiliser policy that focused only on nitrogen, dating back to the mid-1970s, during the years following the Green Revolution in India. Urea was made cheap and easy to get. But other vital nutrients were ignored or made expensive. As a result, farmers overused nitrogen and underused everything else. Soils lost balance.

At the same time, there was a drop in the use of compost, manure, crop rotation and other traditional practices. That led to a loss of soil organic carbon, which helps soil hold water, store nutrients and support life. Without it, even added fertilisers don’t work well. Nutrients wash away or leak into the air before plants can use them. That means crops grow weaker, and their nutritional value goes down.

What can you do in the meantime while waiting for the government to change course, if it ever does?

First, eat more variety. Instead of just rice and wheat, include millets like ragi and bajra, different kinds of pulses, root vegetables and green leafy vegetables. Millets and pulses are more efficient at drawing nutrients from poor soil, and leafy or root vegetables often grow faster and absorb what little is available more effectively. Eating wider gives you a better chance of getting what your body needs, especially if you’re a child, a woman or an elderly person.

Second, if you can, ask where your food comes from, whether the farmer uses compost or a mix of fertilisers, and if they grow different crops or the same one repeatedly. Farmers who rotate crops, use compost or cow dung, or limit chemical sprays are more likely to grow food with better nutrient quality.

Third, don’t be fooled by perfect-looking vegetables. Uniform, shiny, spotless produce often comes from farms that use heavy chemical inputs. These may look good but have low micronutrient content. Crops with some irregularity in shape, colour or size, especially seasonal ones, can be more nutritious. The same applies to taste. A tomato that smells and tastes sharp usually has better nutrition than one that looks polished but is bland inside.

Fourth, cook in ways that keep nutrients in. Don’t boil vegetables in too much water and throw the water away. Use methods like steaming, sautéing or pressure cooking. Use iron pans when possible, especially for leafy greens. This helps add iron to your food. Soak and sprout legumes. Add lemon or tomatoes while cooking pulses, as vitamin C helps your body absorb iron better.

Fifth, if you grow anything, on a terrace or in pots, add compost. Use kitchen scraps and dry leaves. Avoid chemical sprays. Rotate what you grow. Even a few pots with coriander or spinach can teach you about soil and help you eat better. In rural areas, composting kitchen waste, using animal manure and growing legumes as green manure can all help repair soil.

Most important, speak up. It’s a public health emergency. The government heavily subsidises urea, which supplies nitrogen, by fixing its retail price and covering the rest through a direct subsidy to manufacturers. This keeps urea far cheaper than other fertilisers.

In contrast, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilisers are subsidised through a different scheme called the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS), where subsidy levels are linked to international prices and are not fixed to keep the final retail price low. This often makes DAP (a phosphorus fertiliser) and MOP (a potassium fertiliser) more expensive for farmers than urea.

As for micronutrients like zinc, boron and iron, they receive minimal to no subsidy unless they are coated onto other fertilisers. Even then, the support is marginal, just a few hundred rupees per tonne, which does not significantly offset the cost.

Food distribution schemes should include millets and pulses, not just rice and wheat. Nutrient data must be displayed where food is sold.

The food on your plate is only as good as the ground it came from. If the soil is sick, so are we. The way out begins with asking why the food we eat is weak.

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