94 pc farmers in Chhattisgarh given soil cards: Agri Min

Around 94 per cent farmers in Chhattisgarh have been provided with soil health cards against the national average of 50 per cent, a union minister said today.
"The government in Chhattisgarh has provided soil health cards to 94 per cent farmers in the state," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh informed members in Rajya Sabha.
Responding to questions, he said against this, the national average was 50 per cent for farmers who have been provided with soil health cards.
"Our target was to take 7 lakh samples of soil, but the government has taken 7.87 lakh samples of soil for testing," he also said.

In his written reply, Singh said the government of Chhattisgarh has declared the soil testing laboratory at Raipur's College of Agriculture, under Indira Gandhi Agriculture University of Chhattisgarh as Referral Soil Testing Laboratory.
He also said that during the year 2015-16 under the Soil Health Management (SHM) scheme, the executive committee in approved the setting up of 8 static soil testing laboratories in Chhattisgarh, with a central share of Rs 300 lakh against which first instalment of Rs 225 lakh was released on September 11, 2015 and second instalment of Rs 75 lakh on January 30, 2017.