Tata Steel to pilot land fertility project
Business Standard — June 16, 2006

In a bid to increase agricultural productivity in around 12 lakh hectare of wasteland in Jharkhand, the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Steel on June 5 to launch a pilot project in 20 acres of wasteland in Ranchi in East Singhbhum district. The project will take up two years and will recycle different types of industrial waste. Birsa Agriculture University (BAU) officials said that lime, dolomite and chemicals were among things that could be used for reducing acidity in soil, but any mode of treatment using these materials was costly.

In a recent breakthrough of sorts, a trial conducted by BAU recently revealed that LD slag from steel plant blast furnaces blended with compost could be applied for improving soil productivity. According to an official of the state government, a considerable area of wasteland had already been identified.