On Soil Health Card Day today, know here 10 significant facts about SHC scheme

News Bharati    19-Feb-2020 12:42:34 PM
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Soil is a vital resource for achieving food, nutritional, environmental and livelihood security and thereby managing soil resource and conserving this vital natural resource base for future generations without any deterioration is the major challenge in 21st century.
 
Given that more than half of India’s 1.27 billion population depends on agriculture for their livelihood, the declining productivity of soil should be a matter of grave concern for all especially the fact that 86% of these farmers are marginal and small category. Today, on the Soil Health Card Day, here are 10 interesting facts to school you about 'Soil Health' that leads to sustainable farming:

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1. Soil Health Card Day commemorates the day Soil Health Card Scheme was launched by the PM Modi on February 19, 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan. The objective is to issue soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in fertilization practices.
 
2. Soil testing is developed to promote soil test based on nutrient management, where it reduces cultivation cost by application of right quantity of fertilizer. It aslo ensures additional income to farmers by increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.

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3. Soil Health Card Scheme provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.
 
4. Deterioration of soil chemical, physical and biological health is considered as one of the reasons for stagnation of agricultural productivity in India.
 
5. Indian soils are working with negative nutrient balance to the tune of 12-14 million tons per year and the negative balance is likely to increase in future even after using the full potential of fertilizer industry.

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6. Improving nutrient use efficiency is important rather than applying more fertilizer in Indian agriculture. The overall strategy for increasing crop yields and sustaining them at a high level must include an integrated approach for managing soil health along with other complementary measures which have a major impact on soil quality, plant growth, crop productivity and agricultural sustainability.
 
7. Center, under the component of Soil Health Management is promoting soil test based balanced and integrated nutrient management. It has set up soil testing laboratories, established bio-fertilizer and compost units, encouraged use of micronutrients, trainings and demonstrations on balanced use of fertilizers.
 
8. 11.74 crore Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers. The Government has spent more than Rs.700 crores on the SHC scheme since its launch five years ago.
 
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9. So far 6,954 villages have been identified by the States in which against the target of 26.83 lakh Soil Health Cards, 21 lakh samples have been collected, 14.75 lakh have been analysed and 13.59 lakh cards are actually distributed to farmers.
 
10. During the next five years, Center proposes to cover four lakh villages under individual farm holding soil sampling and testing and organize 2.5 lakh demonstrations aligned.
Soil Health Card provides two sets of fertilizer recommendations for six crops including recommendations of organic manures. While awareness among farmers is being stepped up by coordinated efforts of the Department of Agriculture, it is also backed by technology and network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras of Indian Council of Agriculture Research.
 
A 2017 study by the National Productivity Council (NPC) found that the SHC scheme has prmoted sustainable farming and led to a decrease of use of chemical fertilizer application in the range of 8-10%. Besides, overall increase in the yield of crops to the tune of 5-6% was reported due to application of fertilizer and micro nutrients as per recommendations available in the Soil Health Cards.