Haryana will soon become the first state to issue soil health cards to farmers, after testing the nutrient-content of the soil and quality of the sub-soil water.
The state agriculture department has already issued 13.65 million soil health cards to farmers and the remaining 1.63 lakh cards will be issued in the next two months, agriculture minister Paramvir Singh said told Business Standard on the sidelines a seminar “Agri Vision 2020: Harnessing Technologies: Harvesting Prosperity” organised by CII on Friday. “As per our data, there are 15.28 lakh farming families in Haryana who will be issued soil health cards.” Singh added.
Under this project, soil samples are collected and examined by scientists in laboratories for their mineral composition, to help scientists determine the appropriate quantity of fertilisers necessary to enrich the soil. Thereafter, based on the results, data is compiled, and health cards are prepared and delivered to the farmers. This card will help farmers know the condition of his agriculture land and get crop-specific prescription for the amount of manure and fertilisers needed. The agriculture department had also started an SMS service to inform farmers to collect the cards after they were prepared. Earlier, the state government planned to cover the entire state by March, but the project got delayed.
The department has also undertaken measures to treat saline and alkaline land in the state, which is about 49,000 hectares and 1.85 lakh hectares, respectively.
Also, it had made soil-fertility maps for its entire agriculture land in the state. These maps are global positioning system enabled and are available with the state agriculture department. The soil-fertility maps reveal fertility condition of the land and disclose deficiencies of minerals and micro nutrients.
