Agriculture minister launches soil health app

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today launched a mobile app on soil health for benefit of field-level workers.
The government has distributed soil health cards to 10 crore farmers so far against the target of 12 crore.
The mobile app on soil health was launched at Jajjar Krishi Vighyan Kendra in Haryana on the occasion of the World Soil day, an official statement said.
"The app will benefit field-level workers as it will automatically capture GIS (Geographical Information Systems) coordinates while registering sample details at the time of sample collection in the field and indicate the location from where the sample has been collected," Singh was quoted as saying at the event.

The soil health app will work just like other geo-tagging apps developed for other centrally-sponsored scheme Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, he said.
The app contains farmers' details including name, Aadhaar card number, mobile number, gender, address and crop details.

The soil health card lets farmers know about nutrient status of the soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage to improve soil health and fertility.
The card is issued once in two years so that nutrient deficiency can be regularly detected and improved.
The card is issued in 14 regional languages. Now, it is being done in local dialects such as Kumaoni, Garhwali, Khasi, and Garo.