Agri Min to issue 14 cr soil health cards in 3 yrs

The Agriculture Ministry will issue 14 crore soil health cards to farmers in three years that will provide crop-wise recommendations of nutrients to help improve farm productivity.
Sharing the number of steps taken by the government in the first 100 days, the Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in a statement said: "These cards will be issued to 3 crore farmers during current year and 5.5 crore cards each during next two years. Also 100 mobile soil testing laboratories will be made available during the current year."
A soil health card carries crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilisers required for farms, so that accordingly farmers can use inputs and raise the productivity.

Singh said the government has taken all possible steps to meet the challenge of a drought and have announced a subsidy of 50 per cent in diesel, seeds, where 50 per cent rainfall deficit has been reported.
"An additional allocation of Rs 700 crore under Mission of Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) during current year for availability of fodder has been made," he said.
In addition, waiver of duty on import of de-oiled soya extract, groundnut oil cake, sunflower oil cake, canola oil meal, mustard oil cake, rice bran and palm kernel cake to increase availability of feed ingredients will also be given, Singh added.

During the course of its first 100 days, the government has launched Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana to promote the use of organic farming and reduce dependence on chemical inputs, the minister said.

Mentioning about the initiatives in horticulture sector, Singh said that after the launch of saffron park recently at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir, the facility for processing packaging and e-auction of saffron will be also provided.
"Under a new initiative named 'Chaman' the horticulture crops would be mapped through remote sensing (satellites)," the minister added.
For increasing production of fruits and vegetables, the government has also approved 'centre of excellence' under Indo Dutch Cooperation, in Jalandhar in Punjab, Baramati in Maharashtra and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.