Soil health cards to be given to 12 cr farmers not 14 cr: Govt

Now, soil health cards under a central scheme will be issued to 12 crore farmers instead of 14 crore as suggested earlier, with states revising the data based on 2011 census, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today.
So far, soil health cards -- unveiled in February 2015 -- have been issued to 9 crore farmers across the country, while 16 states like Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra have done 100 per cent, he said.
Soil health card is issued after testing the nutrient level of the farm fields to help farmers to apply the right fertilisers/pesticides.
"Two years before, we started the programme on soil health card. That time, we decided to give cards to 14 crore farmers. Now, the target will be 12 crore as states have revised the data based on 2011 census," Singh told reporters after reviewing the scheme with state agri-ministers here.

Earlier, the government had estimated the total number of farmers to be 14 crore in the country. However, the states found that the number of farmers have reduced to 12 crore while taking the soil samples and going by the 2011 census.
One sample was taken from a grid of 2.5 hectare irrigated land and 10 lakh hectare unirrigated land.

Stating that the central scheme has made good progress so far, the minister said that so far soil health cards have been issued to 9 crore farmers. And 5 crore samples have already been updated on a portal, he said.

As many as 16 states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have issued cards cent per cent in their states, he said.
"There are some states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which are lagging behind, but they too will pick up in the coming months," Singh noted.
For instance in Uttar Pradesh, soil health cards been issued to one crore farmers so far against the target of 2.3 crore farmers, a state government official who attended the meeting said.
The process has been fastened under the new administration in the state and hope to achieve the target soon, the official added.

As per the central government's plan, soil of farm fields of 12 crore farmers will be tested once in two years on 12 parameters including the status of micro-nutrients.
The first cycle (2015-17) of the scheme is expected to be completed by July 2017.