The upper layer on Earth’s surface composed of various components like organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, organisms, etc. is known as soil. It has the fertile properties needed for the growth of plants. Plants get their nutrients from the soil. We get our main sources of food from plants. We can say that soil plays an important role in fulfilling our basic needs for food.

However, the quality of soil is not up to the mark now. The soil quality is decreasing day by day due to various reasons like soil pollution, soil erosion, water pollution, etc. Apart from all this, we still depend on soil through various means. Here we will discuss in a brief about the importance of soil for human survival.

What is the role of soil in human survival?

• We get food from soil

Plants produce various cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables, etc. which is one of our basic needs. The productivity of plants depends majorly on the quality of the soil.

The nutrients and minerals present in soil improve the quality of the soil. The plants absorb it as per their requirement to grow fruits & vegetables to fulfill human needs.

If the soil is poor in terms of quality i.e. it contains fewer nutrients & minerals, it will affect the productivity of plants. The plants grown in poor quality soil will suffer from malnutrition & easily prone to pest attacks, hence decreases in productivity.

• Soil provides the raw material

The plant needs various raw materials to grow healthy and produce different food items. The soil provides various raw materials for plant growth like nutrients, minerals, microbes, etc. The presence of these raw materials determines the quality of the soil. The soil rich in these raw materials determines as good quality soil, whereas the soil containing less quantity of raw material comes under poor quality soil.

• Soil helps in maintaining the atmospheric gases

Soil absorbs various atmosphere gases like CO2, methane, water vapor, etc. and helps to modify the atmosphere. Soil helps to regulate atmospheric CO2 and maintain a proper balance of other atmospheric gases.

• Soil provides the base for constructions

People work on various construction projects every day like homes, malls, roads, bridges, apartments, etc. The soil provides the base for these construction works and plays an important role in human projects.

• Soil helps to purify surface water

Soil acts as a natural water purifier. Soil soaks much amount of water through various modes like rainfall and snow-melt. Water absorbed by soil continues to move downward through many layers of Earth. While passing through these layers the water gets filtered from impurities present in it like viruses, metals, oils, etc.

• Soil is helpful for the growth of the plant

Plants and trees play an important role in human survival. Plants not only fulfill our need for food but also help in maintaining proper O2-CO2 balance in the environment.

Soil provides strong support to the roots of plants that stand robust for proper growth.

As soil provides strong support to plant roots that protect them from being uprooted during adverse weather conditions.

A very important feature of soil is that it holds water. Water is also necessary for plant growth. Plants absorb water from the soil as per their requirement to survive. We need plants to breathe healthily, eat healthily and stay healthy.

• Soil is a source of various metals

Soil is a natural treasure of various metals like iron, cadmium, copper, nickel, zinc, etc. We extract these metals from soil and make different uses of these metals in our daily life.

There is so much importance of soil in our life that cannot be completely described on this page. This is an endless topic to have a discussion on. Soil fulfills various needs of humans as mentioned. Unfortunately, the soil is getting polluted through various environmental pollution and most of these are caused by humans. We should protect the soil to save the environment. At least we can protect soil to get benefits to fulfill our needs.