Volume-II, Issue-III November 2015 196 International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies (IJHSSS) A Peer-Reviewed Bi-monthly Bi-lingual Research Journal ISSN: 2349-6959 (Online), ISSN: 2349-6711 (Print) Volume-II, Issue-III, November 2015, Page No. 196-206 Published by Scholar Publications, Karimganj, Assam, India, 788711 Website: http://www.ijhsss.com Soil Fertility and Its’ Impact on Agricultural Productivity: A Study in Sapar Mouza, Burdwan-I C.D. Block, West Bengal Kshudiram Chakraborty Research Scholar, Dept. of Geography, The University of Burdwan, W.B., India Biswaranjan Mistri Asst. Professor, Dept. of Geography, The University of Burdwan, W.B., India Abstract Soil is the principal medium of plant growth for providing nutrients in adequate manner. At the dawn of the civilization, agriculture based sedentary civilizations have been grown up in fertile soil of the river. Over time, with the increase of population and food demand, methods of agriculture and stress on soil have been accelerated simultaneously because of mismanagement of soil fertility. Declining soil fertility has become a threat in agricultural productivity and agro-economic scenario. In this study, soil fertility and factors of agricultural productivity have been studied in Sapar Mouza where double cropped paddy is cultivated for last 35 years using inorganic fertilizer. Declining soil fertility has created an adverse effect on productivity of paddy. Soil pH is an important factor for productivity followed by phosphate and nitrogen content in soil. Phosphate, organic carbon and potassium are the main three components of production system of paddy which has shown that not only chemical fertilizer but also organic manure can sustain the productivity of paddy. Hence, integrated management of chemical fertilizer and organic manure are essential for sustainability of agricultural productivity of the mouza. Key Words: Soil fertility, Agricultural productivity, Soil pH, Declining soil fertility, Organic manure. Introduction: Soil is one of the fundamental bases of agriculture because soil is a medium of plant growth. In Atharva Veda (1200-1000 B.C.), an ancient Indian philosophical text, soil has been considered like mother as providing foods for human society and the establishment, survival and disappearance of civilizations have been based on the performance of productivity of soil to provide food, fiber and further essential goods for humans (Mueller et. al., 2010). Soil productivity, the capability of a soil to produce plants and or crop (yield), is dependent on soil fertility (Basak, 2000; Hatfield, 2006). In ancient Indian literature, on the basis of fertility, soil was divided into two, urvara (fertile) and anurvara or usara (sterile) and on cropping practice, urvara mritika was divided into tila (sesamum), vrihi (rice) and mandiena (mung) etc. (Raychaudhuri, 1975). Soil fertility is the intrinsic capacity of soil to provide essential plant nutrients in adequate amounts to ensure optimum plant productivity including maximum economic benefit and minimum environmental degradation (Basak, 2000; Dalal and Rao, 2006; Biswas and Mukherjee, 1994; Singh, 2006; SSSA, 1996; Foth, 1990; Prasad and Power, 1997). Soil fertility can be measured by soil test, plant analysis and deficiency symptoms of plant (Dalal and Rao. 2006). Though soil test provides the chemical