The World Soil Day-2019 will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe today highlighting the importance of healthy soil. The theme of this year’s day is ‘Stop Soil Erosion, Save Our Future’. The World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
On the eve of the day, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages greeting all concerned, including the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and wishing all programmes of the day a success. The President, in his message, urged all to maintain the purity of soil as it is the most critical component of nature saying it is time that people should move towards nature and organic farming and learn to protect the purity of soil in the country.
He said in addition to energy and life-saving materials, soil is the main tool to protect the ecology. As Bangladesh has achieved mentionable success in agriculture, the president hoped that everyone would continue their collective efforts in sustainable development of the country to build the ‘Sonar Bangla’ dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message, said the soil has enormous contribution towards crop production and biodiversity. The present government has achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the utmost efficiency in various sectors, the premier said. “We have made tremendous progress in agriculture, which has grabbed the attention of the global community.
The strength of crop cultivation alongwith food production of the country has increased several times,” she added. She said the government is working relentlessly to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to maintain the existing developments of the agriculture.
An international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002. Under the leadership of the Kingdom of Thailand and within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has supported the formal establishment of WSD as a global awareness raising platform. The FAO
Conference unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th United Nations (UN) General Assembly. In December 2013, the UN General Assembly responded by designating 5 December 2014 as the first official World Soil Day, according to the UN website.
