C'garh: 'Soil health' programmes on World Soil Day tomorrow

To create awareness among people about the importance of soil, the Chhattisgarh agriculture department will organise a programme on 'soil health' all over the state to mark 'World Soil Day' tomorrow.
At least 25,000 farmers will be distributed 'Soil Health Cards' (SHCs) for their land during the programme.
"The programmes will be held in all 27 districts while the main function will be held at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV), Raipur, tomorrow," Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said.
Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai will preside over a workshop at Raipur where nearly 500 representative farmers from all districts will participate.

"Soil is an important ingredient of human life and it is necessary to hold such programmes to make the people realise its importance," Agrawal said.
In block-level programmes, soil scientists will give technical information to farmers about how to maintain soil fertility and sustain it for a longer period, he said.

The department has also set a target of distributing 25,000 SHCs to farmers on the occasion, he said.
So far SHCs have been distributed to about 3.40 lakh farmers and the target is to cover around 36 lakh peasants under the schemewhich will help them better understand the use of nutrients, fertilisers and improve productivity of soil, the minister said.

As per the guidelines of Government of India, the criteria for irrigated and non-irrigated land have been finalised to collect the samples of the soil toassess the current status of soil health.
In next three years, farmers will be provided SHCs after analysis of 8.78 lakh samples of soils, Agrawal said.
Thecardswill have technical and other key information regarding cultivation of the land concerned and details of type ofsoiland the proper crops to be cultivated in it, he added.