1,12,776 'Soil Health Cards' issued to Punjab farmers

To ensure sustainable productivity of land under cultivation and purity of water used for irrigation, the Punjab government has collected 3,10,120 samples of soil and 19,761 samples of water and analysed them at various laboratories across the state in 2014-15.
Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the Agriculture Department said that while ensuring land productivity, government has also ensured big incentive to the farmers by providing them the 'Soil Health Cards'.
The farmers possessing these cards were also imparted required awareness during the interactive sessions chaired by the subject matter specialists of Department of Agriculture, he said.
He said that 1,12,776 'Soil Health Cards' have been issued to farmers. The government has initiated an organised awareness campaign for the farmers regarding the usage of fertilisers in accordance with the nutrient status of his soil in accordance with the issued 'Soil Health Card', he said.

Awareness camps have also been organised in this regard, he said.
He emphasised that in the scientifically equipped laboratories at Patiala, Samana, Nabha, Rajpura and Patran, as many as 13,397 samples of soil and 1,043 samples of water were collected and checked in 2014-15.
He said that each soil test costs nearly Rs 40 to the government whereas a token fee of Re 1 is taken from the farmers for his soil nutrient analyses, while his irrigation water sample is tested for free.