Slow printing hits soil health card plan

The Centre’s ambitious target of providing a soil health card to every farmer in the country by March 2017 could be held back by the slow printing and generation of these.

Most of the work is in the domain of state governments. However, with 85 per cent of targeted soil samples collected till November 29, there is every possibility that distribution of cards could pick up pace if the testing, printing and generation of card facilities are quickly augmented. 

Till November 29, of the targeted 25.3 million soil samples, 85 per cent had been collected by state agencies and 53 per cent tested. The samples will be valid for three years, after which they need to recollected, to check for changes in nutrient content.

However, on printing and distribution of the cards, the performance seems way off the mark. Till last month, of the almost 140 million cards which needed to be printed (eah sample generates more than one card) and distributed, 27 per cent had been printed and 25.7 per cent distributed.

The scheme’s cost is being shared equally between Centre and states. The former had allocated ~368 crore for it in the 2016-17 Budget.

In Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Telangana, almost all the soil samples needed to generate cards for farmers have been collected. However, printing and distribution  is well below the target even here.

For example, in Goa, almost all the targeted 25,000 soil samples have been collected and almost all tested. But, only 26.5 per cent of the cards have been printed and an equal number distributed.

Similarly, in Haryana, almost all the targeted 788,670 samples have been collected, of which 58 per cent has been tested. But, till November 29, of the targeted 43,60,555 card to be given till March 2017, only 9.5 per cent had been printed and 7.5 per cent distributed.

Of 29 states and four Union Territories, almost all the soil samples had been collected till last month in eight states and three UTs. In some big ones — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal – it is worse. In UP till last month, 83 per cent of targeted soil samples had been collected and 34 per cent tested. In printing and distribution, it is 18 per cent of the target. It is even less in Bihar and West Bengal.