THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just five months old and already a hit with visitors, the Soil Museum at Parottukonam in the district is about to get bigger. The Soil Survey and Soil Conservation Department which runs the museum is expanding the collection by adding soil samples from other South Indian states. The museum is wholly ‘Kerala-centric’ at present.
Initially, the department will introduce benchmark soils from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, P N Premachandran, director, Soil Survey and Soil Conservation Department, said. ‘’We intend to have soils from other parts of the south so that visitors can know how different they are from soils found in Kerala,’’ he said.
At the moment, the museum has as its chief exhibits eighty-two 1.5-metre-high monoliths of benchmark soils found in 27 Major Land Resources Areas of the state.
Benchmark soils are those found extensively in one region and play a crucial role in human activities such as farming and engineering.
Although all the samples are from within the state’s boundaries, their sheer number makes this museum perhaps the biggest of its kind, according to the department. ‘’The World Soil Museum at the Wageningen University in Netherlands, the second biggest, had 32 benchmark soils until recently. Now they have upgraded the collection to 70 and include samples from various parts of the world,’’ Premachandran said.
The 82 monoliths on district-wise display at the museum range from the ‘Kazhakkoottam’ and ‘Amaravila’ series in the south to the ‘Maloth Series’ found in Kasargod, with detailed explanations of the characteristics of each soil type.
Concession for Students
The Soil Museum is offering concessional rates to students in a bid to coax the younger generation to check out the wonders of soil. The ticket price for adults is Rs 20, but school students need pay just Rs 5, and college students, Rs 10. The Soil Survey and Soil Conservation Department is also planning to write to schools to encourage them to organise visits.