‘Soil Health Card’ – An Innovation in Agriculture Sector

 ‘Soil Health Card’ Scheme has been introduced in current year to assist State Governments  to issue soil health cards to all farmers in the country. It is likely to develop an application software for the States  for online generation of soil health cards and  fertilizer recommendations. Dissemination of soil testing results through SMSs will be enabled.

The aims and objectives of the Scheme are:

i.      To issue soil health cards every 3 years, to all farmers of the country, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices.

ii.   To strengthen functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, involvement of agriculture students and effective linkage with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State Agricultural Universities (SAUs).

iii.    To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized procedures for sampling uniformly across states and analysis and design taluqa / block level fertilizer recommendations in various districts.

iv.  To develop and promote soil test based nutrient management in the districts for enhancing nutrient use efficiency.

v.  To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices.

The number of Soil Health Cards likely to be issued in 3 years time is as follows:

State-wise number of Soil Health Cards likely to be issued in three years

Sl. No.	State	Year -I	Year-II	Year-III	Total
1	Andhra Pradesh	1727317	3028344	2995128	7750789
2	Arunachal Pradesh	24773	43433	42953	111159
3	Assam	616535	1080911	1069055	2766501
4	Bihar	3669761	6433848	6363276	16466885
5	Chhattisgarh	849139	1488708	1472380	3810227
6	Goa	13053	22889	22637	58579
7	Gujarat	1073904	1882777	1862125	4818806
8	Haryana	366560	642657	635607	1644824
9	Himachal Pradesh	217799	381845	377657	977301
10	Jammu & Kashmir	328502	575935	569616	1474053
11	Jharkhand	613976	1076426	1064618	2755020
12	Karnataka	1775161	3112216	3078079	7965456
13	Kerala	1548189	2714299	2684527	6947015
14	Madhya Pradesh	2010914	3525548	3486875	9023337
15	Maharashtra	3104859	5443451	5383739	13932049
16	Manipur	34138	59849	59194	153181
17	Meghalaya	47481	83246	82333	213060
18	Mizoram	20825	36508	36112	93445
19	Nagaland	40305	70659	69885	180849
20	Odisha	1057879	1854678	1834334	4746891
21	Punjab	238561	418246	413656	1070463
22	Rajasthan	1561259	2737205	2707181	7005645
23	Sikkim	16984	29775	29445	76204
24	Tamil Nadu	1840034	3225958	3190575	8256567
25	Telangana	1258807	2206942	2182734	5648483
26	Tripura	125027	219200	216794	561021
27	Uttar Pradesh	5196916	9111255	9011319	23319490
28	Uttarakhand	206850	362655	358677	928182
29	West Bengal	1614492	2830530	2799483	7244505
	Total	31200000	54699993	54099994	139999987

  Ghanshyam Goel is ADG (M&C), PIB and Samrat Bandopadhyay is Assistant Director (M&C), PIB New Delhi

Courtesy: pib.nic.in