Govt to run awareness campaign in 1 lakh villages on balanced use of fertilisers

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday said the government will run a mission mode awareness campaign this fiscal in over 1 lakh villages for promoting use of bio/organic fertilisers and reducing consumption of chemical soil nutrients.

A decision in this regard was taken after reviewing the progress of the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme, launched in 2015.

Under the scheme, soil health cards are given to farmers at an interval of two years. The cards provide information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and fertility.

"Deterioration of soil chemical, physical and biological health is considered as one of the reasons for stagnation of agricultural productivity in India," the ministry said in a statement.

Therefore, the ministry officials have been directed to run a mission mode awareness campaign for farmers in over one lakh villages in the current fiscal, educating about the need to follow recommendations of the SHC for better soil management, it said.

A comprehensive campaign will also be launched on soil test based rational application of fertilisers and promotion of organic farming, including Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) for safe nutritious food in association with the rural development ministry.

Tomar also advocated setting up of soil testing labs at village level by youth having agriculture background, women self help groups and farmer producer organisations (FPOs), thereby creating jobs after appropriate skill development, it added.

Under SHC, farmers get two sets of recommendations for six crops. They can also get recommendations for additional crops on demand. Farmers can also print the card, downloading it from the SHC portal which has a database of both the sowing cycles and is available in 21 languages.

A 2017 study by the National Productivity Council (NPC) found that the SHC scheme has promoted sustainable farming and led to a decrease in use of chemical fertiliser application in the range of 8-10 per cent.

Besides, overall increase in the yield of crops to the tune of 5-6 per cent was reported due to application of fertiliser and micro nutrients as per recommendations available in the soil health cards, the statement added.